The next Golf is apparently so close to finished that Volkswagen‘s own executives told the design team to stop messing with it. That’s the takeaway from a pair of conversations Motor1 Spain recently had with VW brand CEO Thomas Schäfer and technical development boss Kai Grünitz, and it’s the most substantive thing we’ve heard about the Mk9 since that teaser sketch surfaced a few weeks back.
The car itself is still a long way out. Volkswagen isn’t launching the ninth-generation Golf until at least 2028, it will ride on the new SSP electric platform, and it will sell alongside the current Mk8 rather than replacing it outright. The combustion Golf sticks around on MQB Evo as a plug-in hybrid. The electric Mk9 is the new flagship of the nameplate, not the only one wearing the badge.
A Mk4 Reference Point and a Design That’s Already 97% Done
Grünitz is the one who let slip how far along this thing is.
“From a design standpoint, our new electric Golf is already 96–97 percent done,” he told Motor1, describing a proportions model developed with design chief Andreas Mindt that was apparently good enough on first viewing to shut down further tinkering. “We started with a proportions model with Andy. And it was already so good that Thomas Schäfer and I joined in and said, ‘Hey, don’t touch anything.’”
Grünitz invoked the Mk4, the late-’90s Golf that most enthusiasts still point to as the generation that got the proportions exactly right.
“It’s reminiscent of the Golf Mk4, which was a big step forward. But it’s a modern-looking vehicle, a timeless-looking vehicle. I think you’re going to love it,” he claims.
Schäfer tells a similar story about the first full-size model he saw last November.
“The team is working on the car. Last year, in November, I was able to see the first full-size model, and all I could say was, ‘Wow. It’s so beautiful,’” he said, describing it as an early prototype rather than the final design. He added that the reaction from management was similar: “At the end of the year, we had a senior management board meeting—an end-of-year wrap-up—where we reviewed results and looked ahead. There we showed the car on stage and everyone was impressed.”
Taken at face value, it’s a confident pitch. Taken with the appropriate amount of salt for a CEO talking about his own upcoming product, it’s still important that Schäfer went as far as: “the team has created a design that has left all of us speechless: without a doubt, the best we’ve ever seen.”
Why It’s Not Called the ID. Golf
The more interesting question is why Volkswagen didn’t just slap “Golf” on the ID.3 refresh. The brand is publicly walking back its numeric ID naming scheme, the refreshed hatchback is being sold as the ID.3 Neo, and plenty of people inside and outside VW apparently floated the obvious move of rebadging it.
Schäfer says they considered it and said no. “We debated it, but it’s not a Golf. We’ve improved the car—it’s still an ID.3—but it needed a new name,” he explained, adding that the team eventually landed on Neo after briefly flirting with “some artificial modern name.”
That’s the clearest signal yet that VW wants the Golf badge to mean something specific again rather than being sprayed across whatever compact hatchback happens to be in the lineup. Mindt, now head of design for the entire Volkswagen Group, said as much back in 2024: “A Golf will always be a Golf; I promise you a recognizable Golf. And if we removed all the badges and left nothing on the car, you would recognize it as a Golf.”
Whether any of this survives contact with 2028 is another matter. Three years is a long time in electric-car development, SSP has slipped before, and VW’s recent track record on software-heavy EVs is not exactly a confidence-builder. But the Mk9 is real, the design is locked, and the people running Volkswagen have publicly staked their reputations on it being the best-looking Golf in decades.
The Mk4 comparison is either going to age beautifully or very, very badly.
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