Celebrating 50 Years of Success: Volkswagen’s Golf Marks Milestone in Automotive History

Volkswagen is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its iconic Golf model on Friday. Since the first models were produced in 1974, over 37 million units have been sold worldwide. The car company says that an average of 2,000 people choose a new Golf every day.

The production of the Golf began on March 29, 1974, as a replacement for the Beetle. The Golf is still manufactured in Wolfsburg, Volkswagen’s historic headquarters, as well as in other production sites in Germany and seven other countries. To commemorate the anniversary, a special exhibition is opening in Wolfsburg to showcase the fifty years of the Golf’s existence.

Throughout its history, eight generations of the Golf have been introduced, with the latest being the Golf 8 presented in 2019. The new model is available as a plug-in hybrid with a fully electric range of 100 kilometers. It also features voice control and an automated conversation partner based on artificial intelligence.

In fact, in 2023, the Golf was once again named as the best-selling Volkswagen model in Germany with 81,000 cars sold according to Statista. Additionally, nearly a fifth of all cars registered in Germany last year were Golfs reported by Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA).