Next VW Golf and Polo to go hybrid

Electrically boosted extra performance will be a feature of the next generations of both the 2019 Golf Mark 8 and the next-generation Polo, Volkswagen has revealed.

The German company’s head of technical development, Dr Frank Welsch, confirmed at last week’s Golf Mk 7.5 global launch that mild-hybrid power would both add speed at the top-end of Volkswagen’s small models and improve efficiency in mainstream models.

The next Golf and Polo won’t be all mild hybrid -- there will still be stock petrol motors with no MHD in the heart of the range, with particulate filters to clean up their NOx -- but there will be eco-style MHDs at the bottom end of the range for economy and hybrid power for the GTI to boost performance.

With the looming death of its small diesels, Volkswagen needed something to lower CO2 emissions to meet upcoming 2020 EU emissions laws (96g/km for Volkswagen). With minor modifications, that same technology could be used to make the Polo and Mk8 Golf GTI versions faster, too.

“We will have mild hybrids across the range,” said Dr Welsch. “I think in most cases we will have 48-volt (and 12-volt) power, even for the Polo.

“Otherwise you can’t take full advantage of this technology. With 12 volts the recuperation is smaller. With 48 instead of 12 you get four times as much energy recuperation with the same current, otherwise you would have a huge diameter of cable for 12 volt.”

Dr Welsch admitted the Golf Mk 8 GTI was targeting the Golf GTI Clubsport as its performance benchmark, which would lift its output from the current 169kW to 195kW, though an overboost function lifts the Clubsport’s output to 213kW for up to 10 seconds.

The core of the Golf Mk 8 GTI will still be the 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, though it is likely to use an electric compressor instead of a mechanical turbocharger and will have an Integrated Starter Generator-type electric motor integrated into its dual-clutch transmission.

It won’t be all good news, though; with Dr Welsch admitting the ISG Volkswagens would pay a price in underfloor luggage space to house the battery for the system.

“It (the Golf) will lose some luggage capacity and it will be heavier. I am now doing the Golf 8 and the focus is on petrol engines.”