Hybrid power to drive performance changes of next-generation models
Electrically boosted extra performance will be a feature of the next generations of both the 2019 Golf Mark 8 and the next generation Polo, Volkswagen has revealed.
The German company’s head of technical development, Frank Welsch, confirmed at the Golf Mk 7.5 launch that mild-hybrid power would both add speed at the top end of Volkswagen’s small and medium-sized models as well as improve economy in the middle.
EMISSIONS LAWS
With the looming death of its small diesels, VW needed something to lower CO2 emissions to meet upcoming 2020 EU emissions laws (96g/km for Volkswagen). With minor modifications, that same technology could be used to make the Polo and Mark 8 Golf GTi versions faster, too.
“We will have mild hybrids across the range,” Welsch said. “I think in most cases we will have 48 volt (and 12V) power, even for the Polo. Otherwise you can’t take full advantage of this technology. With 12V the recuperation is smaller. With 48 instead of 12 you get four times as much energy recuperation with the same current, otherwise you would have a huge diameter of cable for 12V.”
Welsch said the Golf Mk 8 GTi was targeting the Golf GTi Clubsport as its performance benchmark, which would lift its output from 169kW to 195kW, though an overboost function lifts the Clubsport’s output to 213kW for up to 10 seconds.
The core of the Golf Mk 8 GTi will still be the 2.0l four-cylinder engine, though it is likely to use an electric compressor instead of a mechanical turbocharger and will have an Integrated Starter Generator-type electric motor integrated into its dualclutch transmission.
LUGGAGE SPACE
It won’t be all good news, though, with Welsch admitting the new models would pay a price in underfloor luggage space to house the battery for the system.
“It (the Golf) will lose some luggage capacity and it will be heavier. I am now doing the Golf 8 and the focus is on petrol engines,” he said.