VW Is Missing Its Moment by Not Selling a Hybrid GTI in the US Right Now

Volkswagen rolled out a mid-cycle refresh for its Mk8 Golf and GTI earlier this week. Some CliffsNotes: Buttons are back, the six-speed manual transmission is dead, and VW is once again denying the U.S. market the plug-in hybrid GTE, now with 62 miles of WLTP electric range and 268 horsepower. Why is VW so determined to shoot itself in the foot when it comes to small, enthusiast-friendly electrified cars in this country?

We asked Volkswagen's PR department why the GTE isn't coming here in an e-mail, and it told us that the cost of U.S. homologation was too high to justify for the volumes it would expect to sell. That was also the case when the model first appeared in 2014, VW said, when compact car sales were higher.

That's all valid. The GTI and Golf R are already niche products, and there's a chance that offering a GTE would cannibalize sales from those existing models rather than attracting new buyers. On the other hand: Volkswagen practically invented the hot hatchback and is uniquely positioned to reinvent the concept for hybrids and EVs. It'd virtually have the market all to itself. Instead, the company seems determined to throw up its hands and let its current enthusiast products die on the vine, at least in the U.S.

There was the e-Golf, a sprightly electric Mk7 hampered by its limited range and status as a “compliance car,” meaning VW barely marketed it and sold it at a loss to offset the emissions footprints of larger vehicles. The company dramatically improved the e-Golf's range from a paltry 83 miles to a more usable 125 in 2017 before killing it off without a replacement two years later. Then, there are the attractive ID.3 production car and ID.2all concept, which Volkswagen neither sells here nor plans to.

We’re left with the ID.4, a crossover that looks like it was styled by the Idaho Potato Commission; and the ID.7, a long, sloped-roof sedan seemingly destined to follow the CC and Arteon’s footsteps into sales oblivion. Oh, and the handsome ID.Buzz van—when is that coming out, again?