The upcoming Volkswagen Golf 8 will take a “a huge leap forward”, according to a senior executive at the Wolfsburg-based firm.

Speaking to Autocar, Jürgen Stackmann, who heads up sales and marketing for the German brand, promised the new, eighth-generation model was “still a Golf, but now digital”.

"The new Golf will be everything people loved for years, but now made digital," Stackmann told the British publication.

"People want a Golf – it's iconic – but now there's a huge leap forward in the digitisation inside it. It's still a Golf, but now digital. It's kept what people have loved, and moved it to the next phase," he explained.

Stackmann went on to confirm to Autocar that while a new Golf GTI and Golf R were coming, an announcement on the GTD would be made at a later date, leading to speculation a new-generation version of the GTD-badged diesel hatchback might not be offered.

In February 2019, the same publication reported VW had scrapped plans to switch the eighth-generation Golf GTI to hybrid power, opting instead to subtly revise the hardware of the outgoing version of the popular front-wheel-drive hot hatch.

VW also earlier indicated production of the eighth-generation Golf was scheduled to start in around June 2019, boosting volumes at its main plant in Wolfsburg to around one million units a year.

Original article from Car