Next VW Golf revealed next month

Volkswagen has confirmed it will reveal a new Golf hatch next month. The announcement follows accusations, subsequently denied, that the heavily facelifted 'Golf 7.5' missed the Paris motor show over concerns it might upstage the German car-maker's ground-breaking I.D concept.

Confirming the new Golf will be unveiled sometime in "early November", VW hasn’t claimed the next hatch will be “all-new” because it will be based on the current car's MQB architecture.

It is however tipped to herald a huge step-change in engine technology following the #Dieselgate emissions crisis.

The new Golf will come with a state-of-the-art 48-volt petrol-hybrid powertrain. And with a shift in focus from laboratory to real-world performance, according to

To help it achieve that economy, the next Golf will feature new mild hybrid technology. Using the firm's recent turbocharged 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine as a starting point, an electrically-driven supercharger supplements 'norma'l turbocharging and combines with an enlarged starter/generator motor.

The advantage of the new mild hybrid engine is it avoids the need for a heavy separate electric motor and lithium ion batteries -- the Golf sticks to a normal lead-acid battery. Cleverly, the oversized starter/generator has also been designed to kick in and actively assist the engine when needed, boosting performance.

The process is then reversed to recover energy through engine braking.

It's not known how much power the tiny engine will develop, but it's said to come with at least 110kW and more torque that a much larger 1.6-litre diesel. The e-supercharger provides instant lag-free throttle response low in the rev-range, which allows engineers to fit a far larger turbo for top-end power.

Despite the added technology, Autocar claims the mild hybrid Golf will be priced around the same as an existing turbo-diesel.

The British magazine also suggests that the updates are so comprehensive that, it's hoped within Volkswagen, that customers will regard the new hatch as an eight-generation Golf, rather than just a facelift.

As well as the advanced mild hybrid 1.0-litre, VW will also offer a full-range of down-sized petrols and still continue to offer diesels globally. At the Paris motor show, senior Volkswagen execs hinted the next Golf diesel would come with the expensive urea injection system that outperforms its existing technology for emissions.

The new Golf is expected to be on sale in Europe in early 2017 and be in our local showrooms the middle of that year.