Volkswagen has put development of the electric Golf on hold. "We simply can't afford this work right now," VW brand CEO Thomas Schäfer said in an internal memo reviewed by Reuters. Schäfer added that the decision "was really not an easy one for us."

Why now

  • The memo says the Wolfsburg plant is about €300 million short of its cost-cutting targets.
  • VW Group posted an operating loss of €5.9 billion in the third quarter, Electrek reports. It cited a write-down of its Porsche stake, weak sales in China, and lower margins on EVs.
  • Group CFO and COO Arno Antlitz warned: "We cannot afford to lose any time and must act quickly and decisively."
  • Last month VW's supervisory board approved its "Future Plan 2030" restructuring, which Electrek says includes cutting the global workforce by 100,000.

Is the car delayed?

VW's works council says the pause will not delay the launch and that lost time will be made up. The electric Golf, expected as the ID. Golf, is still due around 2030. It will be one of the first models on the Scalable Systems Platform (SSP). Electrek notes Schäfer earlier linked the move from 2028 to closer to 2030 to that platform, developed with Rivian, taking longer than expected.

Production of the combustion Golf is set to move to Mexico in 2027, with the electric Golf built in Wolfsburg toward the end of the decade.