Volkswagen Golf’s EV alternative delayed – report

Delays with Volkswagen’s upcoming Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) and its electrical architecture will mean the next-generation Golf will reportedly launch later than expected.

In response to German publication Manager Magazin, the market launch of the upcoming all-electric ID. Golf – as it could be called – has been postponed by 15 months to 2029.

A big electric SUV on the SSP platform called the T-Sport has reportedly been delayed even further, to 2031 – three years later than originally planned.

While the delay reportedly applies mostly to Volkswagen models, it might also affect some Audi vehicles.

That might mean all mass-production models built on the SSP architecture won’t hit the market until no less than 2029.

Manager Magazin reports the choice to postpone the launch of the SSP was made on July 2 – only one month after Volkswagen Passenger Cars CEO Thomas Schäfer confirmed it will launch in 2028.

It’s not yet clear if all the architecture will likely be delayed or simply variants of it for individual segments.

It’s been reported previously the SSP will turn into the standardised EV platform for varied Volkswagen Group models in a spread of sizes and applications.

Volkswagen hasn’t confirmed the postponement, let alone the rationale for it, nonetheless software issues have reportedly been blamed.

It’s not the primary time the Group has struggled with such issues either, with its in-house software division Cariad already having been blamed for delays with recent product launches just like the Audi Q6 e-tron. Last yr, it was reported 2000 job cuts were planned on the troubled division.

SSP vehicles are set to utilise the E³ 2.0 architecture developed by Cariad, but Manager Magazin reports its arrival is behind schedule.

This may reportedly mean models would need to be launched available on the market at very tight intervals and Volkswagen believes such a timeframe wouldn’t work, as multiple models might be hit with various launch delays.

The E³ 2.0 software was initially intended to be developed in-house by Cariad, though Volkswagen recently announced an agreement with US startup Rivian which could have altered its plans.

As a part of the agreement, the 2 firms will jointly develop a next-generation electrical/electronic architecture for EVs.

It was reported on the time that the SSP would use an “Adapted E/E Architecture” from the top of the last decade, before switching to the Volkswagen-Rivian architecture within the early 2030s. It’s not yet known what the Adapted E/E Architecture will entail.

To maintain its current EVs up-to-date until the launch of the SSP architecture, Volkswagen is reportedly developing its current MEB platform into the MEB+ platform. The primary cars to utilise the updated MEB+ architecture are set to launch in 2026.

Current models built on the MEB platform include Volkswagen’s ID. range (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Buzz), Skoda Enyaq, Audi Q4 e-tron and Cupra Born. It’s also utilized by Ford for the Capri and Explorer.

Manager Magazin reports there have been calls for the lifespan of the incoming MEB+ platform to be prolonged, which might justify the essential investment to get it up and running.

The upcoming electric Golf won’t be the primary version of the classic nameplate to feature battery power.

Volkswagen previously offered the e-Golf, based on the petrol Mk7 model. It went out of production in 2020.

The present Golf entered production in 2019, with a facelifted model revealed this yr. If the Mk9 doesn’t arrive until 2029, this will likely be among the many longest lifecycles of any Golf generation.