Next-gen VW Golf goes high-tech

New Volkswagen boss Dr Herbert Diess is already stamping his authority on the eighth-generation of Europe's biggest-selling nameplate, the Volskwagen Golf, even though the facelifted version of the current car is due late this year in Europe and early 2017 in Australia.

Dr Diess has already given a tentative thumbs-up to the first sketches of the brand's most important car, Golf, which is expected to debut late in 2018. It has been penned by long-time design boss Klaus Bischoff, but Diess has demanded cutting-edge in-car connectivity from his engineering tech team.

Volkswagen will also focus heavily on delivering clean, zero-emission battery-electric and plug-in hybrid versions of its Golf 8, in a bid to distance itself from the Dieselgate scandal.

The company will effectively create a two-tier Golf family, with the petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid versions sitting on a modest development of the current MQB architecture and both the three- and five-door models using the same 2630mm wheelbase.

The battery-electric version of the Golf, dubbed e-Golf, will use a different, five-door MEB architecture – shared with VW's stand-alone (and cheaper) new EV – though it will look identical to the rest of the Golf family both inside and out.

The e-Golf will boast a 48-Volt on-board power supply that will also be used in the GTE plug-in hybrid Golf 8, and which will spread throughout the Volkswagen Group's MQB cars, including the Polo, Tiguan and Passat.

Volkswagen Australia has consistently said electric versions of its cars are unlikely to be offered here in the near future, largely because there are no tax incentives for the relatively expensive vehicles, not to mention a lack of EV infrastructure.

Nevertheless, it's not inconceivable things could change by the time the eighth-generation e-Golf is ready for right-hand drive market, around 2019.

"The current e-Golf is 190km of range on paper and about 120km in the real world," Volkswagen Group small car development leader Dr Jochen Böhle explained.

"The Golf 8 e-Golf will have 300km of real-world range – genuinely 300km – and the current plug-in hybrid has 50km of electric range and we don't need more than that."

"Dr Diess has changed things on the Golf 8 already," said Böhle. "He had very clear objectives. He said it must have strong digitalisation and electrification of the drivelines."

The VW small car development chief said the increased connectivity needed to be a massive leap forward from where Volkswagen's sharpest products sit today.

"The most important targets for Golf 8 are design and connectivity. We can see it in the Tiguan but this is only the first stage. Dr Diess wanted to put us on the next level with the big step to the Golf."

Drivetrain and technology is one thing but getting new and existing buyers on side starts with the styling, and designing the Golf 8 is one of the industry's toughest jobs.

Moving forward one of the world's best-known shapes without leaving any customers behind, design boss Klaus Bischoff has already had positive feedback from Dr Diess.

"We are now discussing the first stage of design with him and he found the lines of Klaus Bischoff to be good. He [Diess] liked it," Dr Böhle revealed.

It's not clear which direction the new design will go, but it could be influenced by the wild Volkswagen Golf GTE Sport Concept (pictured).

"It is highly unusual that a designer survives three CEOs, especially at a place like Volkswagen. Klaus Bishoff is on one length the new Chairman."

The volume versions of the all-new Golf 8 will also begin life with modest developments of its current 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engines and the 1.6- and 2.0-litre TDI diesel engines, even though all-new engines are on their way.

Slated to make their debut about a year after the late-2016 Golf VII facelift, due in Australia in 2017, the new 1.5-litre engines will be more costly to make, but lighter and more economical, setting the Golf 8 up for the tighter 2020 European Union emissions regulations.

"They will make their debut in the facelift of the Golf VII, but not at the beginning," Volkswagen brand CEO Herbert Diess said during the Detroit motor show last month.