Crisis Mode
Volkswagen went through very choppy waters in 2025, but 2026 has been anything but kind to Germany’s biggest automaker. In the third quarter of this year, it posted massive losses amounting to $6.6 billion. It posted profits of nearly $4 billion in the second quarter and $2.8 billion in the first quarter, but the most recent financial report reveals everything it had gained had practically been wiped out.
It’s been one problem after another for VW, as it needs to cut costs amidst plunging sales, the beating it’s getting in China, and resistance from workers’ unions due to mass layoffs. With the way things are going, projects are bound to be suspended, or worse, canceled altogether.
Electric Golf at Risk
With all of that going on, one project that has been put on ice is the electric Golf. Reuters noted VW Passenger Cars CEO Thomas Schäfer during the earnings call, saying, “I know what the Golf means for Volkswagen and for Wolfsburg. That’s why this decision was really not an easy one for us.”
Simply put, there simply isn’t enough money to continue the car’s development. Beyond the losses, another reason it’s been put on ice is that VW couldn’t hit its cost-cutting target, falling short by $336 million. VW could’ve carried on, or at least slowed, the electric Golf’s development if it had achieved that number, but that’s not the case right now.
This doesn’t mean the project is canceled outright. However, the electric Golf is at greater risk of becoming a stillborn model if VW can’t pull itself out of the rut it’s stuck in right now. On the flip side, if things do look up, perhaps a little work goes into it, but it likely won’t be of the highest priority.
Volkswagen
Just When Things Were Looking Up (Sort Of)
It’s a major blow to the automaker’s EV push, especially given that its subcompact EVs are actually making headway. The ID. Polo has already raked in a whole lot of orders, and the reviews so far are actually positive. That’s something that couldn’t be said about VW’s initial attempts at mass-market EVs. With the way things are going, the ID. Cross is poised to be a hit for the brand in Europe.
The electric Golf, likely to be called the ID. Golf, could have carried the momentum that the ID. Polo and ID. Cross have been gathering, but alas, it won’t be the case right away. That’s a bit of a shame given that it was being hyped up just a few months ago. Based on the previous report, it will follow the form of the MK. 4 Golf, and it will have a button-rich cabin like the subcompact EVs.
The ID. Golf does, indeed, sound promising, but we won’t know what it would be like for the next couple of years, and that’s if development for it pushes through. Right now, though, there are more urgent matters that VW has to attend to before moving forward.
Volkswagen
