Volkswagen Group’s technical development boss Kai Grünitz went on the record saying that unless Euro 7 emissions rules change, the manual VW Golf will die by the time the new legislation is approved in 2025. According to Autocar, this includes the GTI, which has been available with a stick shift since 1975.
According to VW data, the manual version of the Golf GTI emits two more grams of CO2 per kilometer compared to its automatic counterpart, which isn’t much at all. Euro 7, however, is putting serious pressure on automakers to bring down pollution from cars’ tailpipes and also particulate emissions from tires and brakes.
As we’ve previously reported, Euro 7 is not in its final form yet. A group of European nations, which does not include VW’s home country of Germany, has protested the rules in their current form. The eight nations are enough to block Euro 7 if it was put to a vote in the European parliament today.
This being said, many nations in the coalition seek not to completely scrap Euro 7, only delay it. In that case, it’s just a matter of when, not if the manual VW Golf will go away.
It’s unlikely that VW, which seeks to simplify the configurations its cars are offered in, would continue to sell a manual GTI in the United States. It has already scrapped the normal Golf from its lineup in an effort to cut costs, for instance. Likewise, it seeks to kill slow-selling models like the Arteon and focus on larger vehicles and electrification.
Euro 7 negotiations are still ongoing. Until the regulations are finalized or until VW makes a formal decision, we will not know when the manual Golf will be put out to pasture.
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