The car that largely invented, defined and keeps redefining the hatchback body style looks like it’s finally in big trouble. European sales of Volkswagen’s Golf fell 28% in April, with Volkswagen insiders pointing to cannibalisation from its own new Tiguan SUV, which is on track to overtake it in global sales later this year.
The Golf, in hatch and wagon forms, suffered double digit sales drops in the five biggest European markets — Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain. The Golf is losing ground despite a recent changeover to the upgraded Mark 7.5 version.
VW sold 209 764 Golfs worldwide to the end of April, according to Jato Dynamics, which was 7.6% fewer than in the first quarter of 2016.
By contrast, the Tiguan could pass the Golf’s volumes by the third quarter of the year. It screamed up the sales charts, growing by 47.9% over the first quarter of 2016 to post 172 623 sales. – BD Motor News
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