Volkswagen Brags About Its Achievements in 2023, Teases Golf Facelift for 2024

"Volkswagen is on the move!" says the feature, and the company admits there were some challenges in 2023 they had to overcome. Of course, no one likes to dwell on the bad stuff, and they swiftly moved on to remind us of some of their greatest highlights this year. The look back at its most crucial product launches includes the CEO talking about the forgettable third-generation Tiguan, the arrival of the wagon-only Passat – a more extensive estate with up to 168 hp on tap, as well as the introduction of the fully electric ID.7 and the refreshed ID.3.

It seems the electric car sales are cooling down, and Volkswagen finally has an entire roster of EV offerings. It seems they just can't get the timing right. Anyway, right before signing off, the company's corner office head honcho also revealed the Golf Mk8.5 is coming sometime next year. The legendary compact car isn't faring all that well across the sales charts – once it was the undisputed king, and now it's fighting to stay in the top ten European nameplates!

Of course, all this could be attributable to a current generation that's not only dull but was also plagued with software issues. Well, it's still a popular model, even if Volkswagen is making the GTI part of the ID. sub-brand in the near future.

As such, it's only logical to see the facelift coming out to party – and the teaser probably showed the station wagon complete with the new headlights that we already knew about because we have seen them on prototypes testing for months. In fact, we have seen all Golf refreshes, including the feisty Golf R that's probably coming to North America, unlike the regular hatchback and the practical station wagon.

The full-width LED lightbar is here to stay, it seems, and now Volkswagen is also giving the Golf an illuminated logo. That's interesting, considering the facelifted Touareg launched earlier this year on the Old Continent also had an illuminated badge – though at the rear, not the front. As far as we know, the days of the Mk8 Golf are numbered because Volkswagen has already confirmed the next iteration will be exclusively offered with electric powertrains on the new Volkswagen SSP architecture and that it will arrive in 2028.

Well, they could easily let the ICE-powered Mk8 live a little alongside the Mk9 EV, but we are not sure that Volkswagen will regain the lead in sales. As far as we can tell, the changes are mostly subtle and won't have a significant impact on Golf's boring design. On the other hand, inside, we could see the latest massive touchscreen from the company – the new Tiguan, Passat, and ID.7 all have giant displays that could serve as an in-car home cinema, so most likely, the fresh Golf won't stay away from something like that.