Automotive News Europe - January 2020 - 18

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

LATEST LAUNCHES

The Golf retains the classic look and proportions that have proved so successful over the last 45 years because VW
designers wanted the compact hatchback to be instantly recognizable.

VW goes digital with Golf
V

olkswagen engineered its latest Golf to
be its most technologically advanced
model to date. The exterior is familiar but
inside the compact hatchback has a fully
digital instrument cluster that can be configured by using the multifunction steering
wheel. "The real revolution is in the interior. With the Innovision Cockpit, analog
dials are history," said Nicole Hempe, who
is the Golf's product marketing manager.

the car's path if road markings are clear
enough for the vehicle to detect.

The eighth-generation Golf is the first VW
brand car to date to have Car2X technology. This allows the vehicle to communicate with other cars up to 800 meters
away, for example to warn of an emergency vehicle approaching from behind.

Settings for everything from the dashboard layout to ambient lighting and seating preferences can be stored in the cloud
via a user profile. That profile migrates
with the driver to other vehicles equipped
with the third-generation of VW's MIB infotainment system, which first debuted in
September with the refreshed Passat.

Like all new VWs, the base version has
emergency braking assistance with
pedestrian recognition to prevent accidents and collisions. It also now has
active lane keeping designed to correct

Fast Facts

❚ Powertrains: VW has improved fuel

efficiency by up to 17 percent, led by the
2.0-liter TDI diesel. The Golf will be available with 48-volt mild hybrid drivetrains with outputs of 108 hp, 129 hp
and 148 hp.
❚ Driver assistance: To make long
highway journeys easier VW has added
semi-autonomous Travel Assist, which
also debuted in the Passat in Europe.
The system can actively steer, acceler-

www.autonewseurope.com

All Golfs whatever their specification
have an embedded cellular modem with
access to VW's digital We user platform,
which serves as a central hub for services
connected to the vehicle. This can be
used to purchase upgrades such as automatic cruise control or a wireless hotspot
for connecting to the Internet.

"We have worked hard to incorporate as
many features in the standard version as
possible," Hempe said.

ate and brake the car on highways at up
to speeds of 210 kph.
❚ Rollout: VW is borrowing the idea of a

limited launch series from the ID3. The
first Golfs, with scaled back capabilities,
arrived in Germany last month. The U.S.
market will only receive the GTI performance version.
❚ Aerodynamics: Drag coefficient has

been reduced to 0.275 from 0.29.

The Basics
❚ Launch date: Europe (first

quarter); U.S. (late 2020)

❚ Base price: 27,510 euros

(Germany)

❚ Where built: Wolfsburg
❚ Main rivals: Ford Focus,

Opel/Vauxhall Astra,
Peugeot 308, Mercedes A class

Options include head-up display and a
10-inch middle console that replaces
dials for controlling the heating, cooling
and the volume of the radio with touch
sliders. The infotainment system responds to gestures or voice commands.
The Golf is underpinned by an updated
MQB architecture. Its electrical wiring was
overhauled to add the latest CAN FD standard to boost the volume of data transfer. This allowed elements such as the
48-volt battery and digital cockpit to be
incorporated into the vehicle.
-- Christiaan Hetzner

JANUARY 2020

http://www.autonewseurope.com

Automotive News Europe - January 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Europe - January 2020