“With the next generation of the Golf, there will not be one with a manual gearshift,” Grünitz told the magazine, though the magazine reports that VW could change its mind if changes are made to the draft Euro 7 rules before the legislation is cemented into law.
The report doesn’t mention if the North American versions of the Golf, which are not beholden to Euro emissions regulations, would also lose their manual options, but that seems likely, purely from a production standpoint. The GTI and R are the only Golfs offered in the U.S., and shifted just 8,423 units between them in 2022. A good chunk of those buyers must have picked the DSG so we can’t see Volkswagen going to the effort of keeping the manual alive for such a tiny audience.
While the difference in CO2 emissions between manual and dual-clutch Golfs can be as little as 2 g/km, that can still have a big effect on fleet average emissions when you’re talking hundreds of thousands of Golfs.
Euro 7 regulations are due to come into force in mid 2025 but multiple automakers have been pushing back against the proposals, which they say are unnecessary and will result in buyers paying more for their cars.
Source: Autocar
