For fifty years now, the Volkswagen Golf has been living life in
the fast lane.
The Zeitgeist poured into automotive form – a bestseller
that's moved over 37 million units worldwide.
So, what makes the most successful model in German automotive
history so special?
Nothing!
There is nothing exceptional, but everything fits.
It is simple.
It's clear, and I think it was ahead of the time and that means:
a car for everybody.
The Golf – sold in the US as the Rabbit – hit the market in
1974. Two years later, the sports version – the Golf GTI –
generated new hype.
The compact car changed the industry, even establishing a
new category of vehicle: The 'Golf class'.
Its creator was Giorgio Giugiaro.
Awarded the title 'Designer of the Century', the Italian visionary
has worked for numerous car manufacturers.
Volkswagen commissioned him to develop a successor to
the VW Beetle.
He took a fresh approach to everything: Angular instead of
round, front-wheel instead of rear-wheel drive, smaller –
but more spacious.
I'll take you through the most important features of the Golf:
First up, the sloping hood, then the steep rear end, and
the low waistline.
All together it creates a harmony that you might not consciously
notice, but you can feel it.
Over the years, the VW Golf hasn't changed much.
Now in its eighth generation, it's had only slight modifications.
Each new generation recalls the previous model.
VW doesn't want to drive away customers with completely new
designs, after all.
When selecting a Golf, buyers should know what they're getting.
Some of them will remain loyal for a lifetime...
You live with it, you identify with it.
Somehow that expression 'Generation Golf' is true.
'Generation Golf'; The catchphrase used by Volkswagen's marketing
department also gave German author Florian Illies a title
for his book.
Published in 2000, he used the term for people born in West Germany
between 1965 and '75 – trendy, consumer-oriented, and apolitical -
everything the Golf was supposed to represent.
The Golf stands in the middle, stands in the middle in a very nice
way: with an ambition to be the best of the middle.
With no ambition really to become, i don't know...
the sportiest, the most stylish, the most emotional car in
the market… just to be a good car.
With that recipe, the Golf was a market leader.
At times it's been the world's best-selling car, with fans from
South Africa to Brazil.
Even aged 50, the mid-range car is still in its prime.
Volkswagen's first purely electric compact car – the ID.3 – hasn't
been selling so well.
Now, VW is instead focusing on the next-generation Golf when it
comes to e-mobility.
That will likely be fully electric.
The cult car simply never goes out of fashion.
Everything fits together – it's like a hit song, where the notes
come together in such a way that they create a wonderfully
harmonious work of art.
The VW Golf has been a global favorite for 50 years.
But can the electric version keep pace with the success of
its combustion cousin?
We'll be watching.