Volkswagen: Golf no longer 'the' brand pillar

The arrival of the T-Cross and T-Roc, and popularity of the Tiguan, has meant the Volkswagen Golf no longer needs to carry such a heavy load for the brand.

The Volkswagen brand has been virtually synonymous with the Golf since the Mk1’s debut in 1974.

While the company says it’s still a critical model in terms of heritage and volume, it’s no longer as dependent on its sales.

“It’s a brand pillar, not the brand pillar,” Volkwagen’s General Manager of Corporate Communications Paul Pottinger told CarExpert.

“Up until this year the brand had three best-sellers: Golf, Tiguan and Amarok.

“Now, Amarok is a commercial vehicle but in passenger vehicles we had Tiguan and Golf, and if we had short supply of one of those cars, our whole overall figures suffered. Now we have a number of brand pillars and look how well it’s doing.

“The whole idea is to have several brand pillars and this is something we have long wanted. [Golf] is still a car with which we are synonymous, no one is pretending otherwise, but it’s not the only important car now, and that’s a lot healthier position to be [in].”

He cited Mercedes-Benz as an example of a brand that has several successful “pillar” models, and said Volkswagen has similarly diversified its model range with the belated introduction of the T-Cross and T-Roc crossovers.

“We are not emulating [Mercedes-Benz] consciously, but we were late to the SUV game and now we have finally got them and we are now in a much healthier position than we were a couple of years ago,” he said.

Volkswagen Australia has been in run out with the outgoing Mk7.5 Golf for some time.

In May 2021, it accounted for just 295 sales against 640 T-Cross sales and 800 T-Roc sales.

The Volkswagen Amarok remains the best selling model for the German brand in Australia so far in 2021 with 3366 sales until the end of May.

It’s followed closely by the T-Cross (2925) and Tiguan and Tiguan Allspace (2790).

Do you associate Volkswagen with the Golf?

MORE: Volkswagen Golf news and reviews