Is this Golf R-Line retirement due to segment rivals or global ICE bans?
The current 8th generation Volkswagen Golf had its global introduction in 2019 and it surprised the ‘fans’ with its sharp edged styling and Audi like cabin features.
Then in February 2022, just about 12 months ago, the 8th generation VW Golf R-Line was officially launched in Malaysia at a starting price from RM155,000.
Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia managed to have this hot hatch locally-assembled in Pekan, Malaysia. The Golf R-Line was powered by a 1.4TSI 4-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine which produced 150PS and 250Nm of torque and was mated to a shift-by-wire 8-speed automatic transmission from Aisin. This allowed for a standstill to 100km/h acceleration time of 8.5 seconds. The 1.4L engine returns an impressive 7.0L/100km fuel economy figure.
Interestingly, by November 2022, the asking price of this Golf R-Line had moved up to RM170,560.00 due to various reasons and this reduced its sales appeal.
This meant its immediate European rivals, the Mercedes-Benz A200 which is priced at RM227,800 and the BMW 218i which was priced at RM218,000 had a stronger market presence despite their higher asking price.
Now, the Japanese rivals were taking the segment with stronger offerings. The latest Honda Civic arrived with an electrified engine and price at just RM166,000 and the Mazda3 Ignite Edition was at RM165,000. Both very well equipped and with features and equipment, it gave the Golf R-Line a tough fight.
Meanwhile, because of the electric car revolution coming from the European Union, there were reports recently on the internet that the current eighth-generation VW Golf will be last model to carry this iconic name plate.
Yes, VW Group might just retire the Golf all together and revert to full electric models that carry the ID nameplate.
Meanwhile, VW management in Germany have shared that there is increasing development costs of internal combustion engines (ICE) that have to follow stricter emission regulations set by the European Commission that make ICE vehicles much less profitable than before.
