Volkswagen Golf

The Volkswagen Golf is a small-family car. It has been made from 1974 to the present day by Volkswagen. It has been made in eight generations.

Volkswagen Golf
Volkswagen Golf Mk8
Overview
Manufacturer	Volkswagen
Production	1974–present
Body and chassis
Class	Compact car/small family car (C)
Chronology
Predecessor	Volkswagen Beetle (first generation only, until 1998)
Successor	Volkswagen ID.3 (for e-Golf)

First generation (1974–1983)

Volkswagen Golf 3-door (Europe)

See the main article: Volkswagen Golf Mk1

The Volkswagen Golf Mk1 is the first generation small-family car made by Volkswagen. It was made from 1974^[1] to 1983.^[1]

In America, It was called the Rabbit, it was made from 1978^[1] to 1984.^[2][3][4]

In America, Volkswagen made a pickup truck called the Rabbit Pickup, It was made from 1978 to 1984^[5]: 28. In Europe, It was called the the Volkswagen Caddy and was made from 1982 to 1992.^[5]: 28

In Mexico, It was called the Caribe,^[6][7][8][9] it was made from 1977 to 1987.^[source?]

Second generation (1983–1992)

Volkswagen Golf (Europe)

See the main article: Volkswagen Golf Mk2

The Volkswagen Golf Mk2 is the second generation small-family car made by Volkswagen. It was made from 1983^[10] to 1992.^[10]

In America, It was called the Golf. it was made from 1985^[11] to 1992,^[11] The Rabbit name was dropped and was replaced with Golf.^[12]

In Mexico, It was called the Golf. it was made from 1983 to 1992. In 1983, The Caribe name was dropped and was replaced with Golf.

Third generation (1991–1998)

Volkswagen Golf CL (Australia)

See the main article: Volkswagen Golf Mk3

The Volkswagen Golf Mk3^[13][14] is the third generation of the small-family car made by Volkswagen. It was made from 1991^[14] to 1998.^[14]

Fourth generation (1997–2004)

Volkswagen Golf 2.0 Generation (Australia)

See the main article: Volkswagen Golf Mk4

The Volkswagen Golf Mk4 is the fourth generation of the small-family car made by Volkswagen. It was made from 1997^[15] to 2004.^[15]

The platform of the Mk4 Golf was also used for the New Beetle and the Bora.

From 2002^[15] to 2005,^[15] Volkswagen made a sports model called the Golf R32.^[16][17][18]

From 1999^[19] to 2005,^[19] Volkswagen made saloon and estate models of the Golf called the Volkswagen Bora^[20][21] and the Volkswagen Jetta.^[22][23]

Fifth generation (2003–2008)

Volkswagen Golf Comfortline (Australia)

See the main article: Volkswagen Golf Mk5

The Volkswagen Golf Mk5 is the fifth generation of the small-family car made by Volkswagen. It was made from 2003^[24] to 2008.^[24]

In America, It was called the Rabbit and the Golf,^[25][26] It was made from 2006^[26] to 2008.

From 2005^[27] to 2010, Volkswagen made saloon versions of the Golf called the Volkswagen Bora^[28][28] and the Volkswagen Jetta.^[29]

Sixth generation (2008–2012)

Volkswagen Golf TDI (United Kingdom)

See the main article: Volkswagen Golf Mk6

The Volkswagen Golf Mk6 is the sixth generation of the small-family car made by Volkswagen. It was made from 2008^[30][31] to 2012.^[31]

In America, It was called the Golf, It was made 2010^[32] to 2012.

Seventh generation (2012–2020)

Volkswagen Golf 1.4 TSI BlueMotion (Germany; pre-facelift)

See the main article: Volkswagen Golf Mk7

The Volkswagen Golf Mk7 is the seventh generation of the small-family car made by Volkswagen. It was made from 2012^[33][34] to 2020.^[35]

From 2014^[36] to 2020,^[source?] Volkswagen made a plug-in hybrid model called the Golf GTE.^[37][36][38]

From 2013^[39] to 2020,^[source?] Volkswagen made a sports model called the Golf GTI.^[40]

From 2014^[41] to 2019,^[42] Volkswagen made a sports model called the Golf R.^[43]

From 2013 to 2020,^[44][45] Volkswagen made an electric car called the Volkswagen e-Golf.^[46]

Eighth generation (2019–present)

Volkswagen Golf Style 1.5 TSI

See the main article: Volkswagen Golf Mk8

The Volkswagen Golf Mk8 is the eighth generation of the small-family car made by Volkswagen. It was made from 2019^[47][48] to the present day.

From 2021^{[49][50][51][52]} to the present day, Volkswagen made a sports model called the Golf e-Hybrid.^{[53][49][50][51][52]}

From 2020 to the present day, Volkswagen made a sports model called the Golf GTI.^[54]

From 2020^[55][56] to the present day, Volkswagen made a sports model called the Golf R.^[57]

Volkswagen emissions scandal

In 2015, there was an emissions scandal with Volkswagen Golfs and other Volkswagen automobiles. Volkswagen made and installed a software program that made emissions controls turn on only when people were doing emissions testing in laboratories. The software made the cars' nitrogen oxide output meet US standards during testing, but when driving in the real world it would emit up to 40 times more nitrogen oxide.^[58] It was violating different countries' emissions rules.^[59]

Awards and recognition

• The Golf Mk3 won the 1992 European Car of the Year award.^[60]
• In April 2010 Kelley Blue Book included the VW Golf TDI (clean diesel) among its Top 10 Green Cars for 2010.^[61][62]
• The Golf Mk7 was called the "The All The Car You'll Ever Need Car of the Year 2012"^[63] by Top Gear.
• The Golf Mk7 won the 2013 European Car of the Year award for the second time.^[64][65]
• The Golf Mk7 won the 2013 World Car of the Year award.^[66]
• Volkswagen Golf has been selected as the Car of the Year Japan 2013–2014, becoming the first imported car to win the award created in 1980.^[67]
• The entire Volkswagen Golf Mk7 line-up, including the 1.8T, Golf TDI Clean Diesel, Golf GTI, and e-Golf models, was called the 2015 Motor Trend Car of the Year.^[68]
• The Golf GTI Mk7 won the 2015 Yahoo! Car of the Year award.^[69]
• South African Car of the Year 2010^[70]
• The Volkswagen GTI has received the Car and Driver 10Best award for the 12th consecutive year in 2018.^[source?]

Sales

Year	Global (production)	Europe[71]	U.S.[72]	Canada[73]	China[74]	Australia	Brazil
1980			191,166	unknown
1981			159,588	unknown
1982			107,396	unknown
1983			83,222	unknown
1984			83,084	unknown
1985			77,699	unknown
1986	891,466[75]		73,891	unknown
1987			45,890	unknown
1988			26,086	unknown
1989	879,981		22,246	unknown
1990	887,738[76]		17,122	unknown
1991	712,754		14,339	unknown
1992	914,178[77]		9,359	unknown
1993	725,191		4,693	unknown
1994	767,609[78]		16,394	unknown
1995	717,873		18,429	unknown
1996	701,475[79]		24,208	unknown
1997	624,168	500,848	20,702	unknown
1998	893,820[80]	672,465	25,406	unknown
1999	791,969	703,932	23,456	unknown		2,807[81]
2000	818,955[82]	685,029	28,124	unknown		3,674[81]
2001	854,533	664,328	31,271	unknown		5,767[83]
2002	774,718[84]	596,415	40,157	unknown		4,809[83]
2003	647,067	494,832	29,342	unknown	15,093	6,467[85]	15,218[86]
2004	711,883[87]	585,356	24,669	unknown	20,901	5,920[85]	14,166[88]
2005	732,715	487,210	15,690	unknown	17,154	9,311[89]	9,638[90]
2006	693,376[91]	416,507	28,699	unknown	13,729	9,643[89]	8,294[92]
2007	763,491	435,610	41,844	unknown	4,396	11,029[93]	13,560[94]
2008	764,776[95]	461,620	35,408	unknown	3,576	11,632[93]	17,265[96]
2009	792,608	579,246	15,752	unknown	7,218	12,141[97]	20,959[98]
2010	828,910[99]	497,051	28,286	unknown	57,517	15,425[97]	17,731[100]
2011	913,693	493,899	34,706[101]	unknown	99,542	18,682[102]	15,515[103]
2012	825,591[104]	430,088	40,885[105]	12,198	127,376	18,112[102]	15,115[106]
2013	824,629	462,527	30,931[105]	11,871	101,802	17,342[107]	13,787[108]
2014	1,011,124[109]	523,729	33,675[110]	12,045	193,047	19,178	16,107[111]
2015	1,095,553	534,535	65,308[110]	20,515	192,410	22,092	10,895[112]
2016	982,495[113]	491,681	61,687[114]	19,966	178,791		6,948[115]
2017	968,284	482,177	68,978[114]	24,604	150,695		4,585[116]
2018	805,752[117]	445,303	42,271[118]	21,477	139,813		3,573[119]
2019	679,351	410,779	37,393[118]	19,668	105,795		1,245[120]
2020	408,528[121]	285,013	25,693[122]	13,113	91,114		105[123]
2021	267,352	214,069	9,253	8,587	63,203		8[124]
2022	300,090[125]	177,203
2023	309,414[126]