The Mk8 Volkswagen Golf arrived as a new model in Australia last year, but a mid-life upgrade is already on the way.
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A mid-life upgrade for the 2024 Volkswagen Golf small car is about 12 to 18 months from Australian showrooms – amid a roll-out of Volkswagen electric and hybrid cars.
While the latest, eighth-generation Golf (or ‘Mk8’) went on sale in Australia last April, customer deliveries began in Europe in late 2019.
That means it will soon be due for its mid-life facelift, at the four-year mark (2023).
Volkswagen Australia has indicated the first examples of the ‘facelifted’ Golf – known internally as the ‘Mk8.5’ – are due in local showrooms in late 2023 – assuming no further delays, which may push it into 2024.
It remains to be seen if the full range of model grades – from the base variants to the hot GTI and R – go on sale at the same time, or if the roll-out will be staggered, as with the updated versions of the previous -generation Golf in 2017.
Volkswagen Australia has signaled an intention to launch the Golf GTE plug-in hybrid (PHEV) offered in Europe – some time after its first PHEV arrives in mid-2023.
This model has not been locked in for Australia – however if it is given the green light, it would arrive with the Golf’s mid-life facelift from 2024.
Few details of what the Golf ‘Mk8.5’ will offer have surfaced, however reports out of Europe suggest Volkswagen will attempt to address criticism of the Golf’s controversial front-end styling, and capacitive touch button-heavy interior.
German magazine Auto Zeitung reports the facelifted Golf will introduce a new front-end design with a higher-set grille – addressing what the outlet terms an “unusually low nose” – plus 3D-effect LED tail-lights, and no more faux exhaust outlets on base variants.
Inside, Volkswagen is rumored to be doubling down on screens – growing the dual 10-inch displays in the current Golf to 10.4 and 12.9 inches, although it’s not clear which will be used for infotainment, and which will sit behind the steering wheel.
However, the touch-sensitive volume and temperature sliders below the touchscreen are at last rumored to gain illumination for easier use at night – and Auto Zeitung says the infotainment system will be simplified and “become more fail-safe”.
The facelift’s upgrades follow changes made in late 2021, adding a new processor reported to have cut the start-up time from 40 to six seconds – and revised software with larger, more relevant menu tiles.
Auto Zeitung claims the 2024 upgrade will also introduce a new gloss black center console, new suede-like ‘Atrilur’ recycled fabric for the door cards, and a ‘Trained Park Assist’ function, which will record tricky drives up to 50 meters into car parks, and repeat them autonomously at the push of a button.
Similar to the newest high-end luxury cars – there’s also slated to be a park assist function allowing drivers to stand outside the vehicle and maneuver it remotely into tricky parking spaces, both by moving back and forward in a straight line, but also by turning the wheels remotely.
The German publication claims the updated Golf will employ an updated, more efficient range of mild-hybrid engines – at least in Europe – in 1.0-liter three-cylinder and 1.5-liter four-cylinder forms, with up to 110kW.
It says the Golf GTE plug-in hybrid will swap its 1.4-liter turbo four-cylinder engine for a newer 1.5-liter unit, working with an electric motor to boost power from 180kW today, to 191kW.
The next generation of Volkswagen plug-in hybrids will offer up to 100km of electric driving range, according to an announcement last year – and Auto Zeitung reports the updated Golf will be one of these.
If the updated 2024 Volkswagen Golf is to launch in Australia by the end of next year, expect to see photos of prototypes on European roads within months – and a global unveiling in the next nine months.
The revised Golf’s launch will follow a wave of three new Volkswagen electric cars – the ID.4 and ID.5 SUVs, plus the ID.3 hatchback – due from late 2023 or early 2024.
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