Updated Volkswagen Golf previewed with design sketches

The eighth-generation Volkswagen Golf is about to receive a round of mid-cycle updates, and design sketches released by the brand give us an early look at the changes. While the standard Golf is no longer sold on our shores, the GTI and the Golf R should receive similar updates.

Andreas Mindt, the head of Volkswagen's design department, published the sketches on his official Instagram page. They suggest that the Golf's front end will feature a new-look bumper with horizontal slats and redesigned headlights that look a little flatter than the ones fitted to the current model. The light bar that stretches across the grille to connect the lights remains. Out back the changes include reshaped lights with LED clusters integrated into C-shaped accents. We're guessing the Golf will also get new paint colors and wheel designs.

Mindt didn't publish pictures of the cabin, but Volkswagen revealed it without camouflage at CES 2024. Some of the changes include an updated infotainment system with ChatGPT compatibility, a 12.9-inch driver-oriented touchscreen and a redesigned steering wheel with buttons instead of touch-sensitive surfaces. Volkswagen announced plans to ditch the touch-sensitive surfaces in October 2022, and it's not taking long for the brand to keep its promise. The new digital architecture called MIB4 should make the Golf's various screens faster, too.

Technical specifications haven't been published, so it's too early to tell whether the GTI and the Golf R — the only two versions of the eighth-generation Golf available on the American market — will get more power. Here's what they won't get: a six-speed manual transmission. The brand confirmed plans to no longer offer either hot hatch with a stick-shift after the 2024 model year, so it's now or never if you want one.

Blame emissions regulations in Europe (and the bureaucrats who write them) if you don't like the idea of an automatic-only GTI.

"When we started with the development [of the updated Golf], there was no clear understanding at which point of time EU7 will be released. At some point of time you have to start your development, otherwise you will not hit the timeline," Kai Gruenitz, Volkswagen's technical development boss, explained in an interview with Automotive News Europe. That's why the stick was left out of the program entirely.

More details about the updated Volkswagen Golf will emerge in the coming months. Nothing is official yet, but it's not too far-fetched to speculate that the facelifted GTI and Golf R will make their debut shortly after the regular Golf and go on sale for the 2025 model year.