2018 e-Golf to be sold Nationwide in USA

f1geek said:

I just saw a 2017 e-Golf on highway 101 near San Mateo this weekend. The car is at least available in CA. It's possible that the driver is a VW employee, but if so, it indicates that general release is imminent.

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That is not a logical conclusion. San Mateo is very close to the VW facility in Belmont. There is no reason to believe that a 2017 e-Golf operating out of that facility has any bearing on when they will release the inventory currently held at the port.

I did say "it's possible". By available, I'm not saying available to the general public, but available to select people. I know for a fact VW lets employees buy (and test) new cars (like Tesla is doing with the Model 3) prior to the vehicle being released to the general public.

My objection is to the conclusion that "it indicates that general release is imminent".

You also didn't say whether this car had special plates or not. By special, I mean Dealer or Manufacturer plates. You also didn't say what clued you in to the fact that it was a 2017.

I already posted about why I know it's a 2017 - the rear tail light design and the rear lower valence design. It did not have dealer plates. If this car is one that VW lets employees buy prior to release to the general public, then the general release will happen within a few months (it could be next month). This is VW's MO. I have a friend who works for LyondellBasell (a Tier 1 plastics supplier to many manufacturers) and has personal experience with this practice.

Just saw a commercial on TV saying VW are clearing out all the 2017 models to way for the 2018's. Left me with kind of a sour taste because I've been waiting for the "imminent" release of the 2017 eGolf since last November :-/. They may as will just call it a 2018 model at this point and write off any notion of a 2017 eGolf as yet another public relations blunder.

I recently emailed a US executive at VW to try to get some kind of a clearer release picture and he said he heard it will be at dealerships at the end of September. He also added he wasn't very happy with the way VW have managed all this...

I agree it's taken VW way to long to release the longer range e-Golf. I believe it will be called a "2017" model because the model designation has ramifications for the CARB (and other states equivalent agencies) EV credits. In my opinion, VW will never sell a new diesel car again in the US, so to meet CAFE requirement and zero emissions credits, they need to have a 2017 zero emission vehicle. If they already have the car in the US (per a forum member who says the cars are sitting in a port in CA), then the delay to sell the vehicle probably has to do with selling the remaining 2016s, which is taking longer than expected because they didn't provide good enough incentives until very recently.

f1geek said:

I agree it's taken VW way to long to release the longer range e-Golf. I believe it will be called a "2017" model because the model designation has ramifications for the CARB (and other states equivalent agencies) EV credits. In my opinion, VW will never sell a new diesel car again in the US, so to meet CAFE requirement and zero emissions credits, they need to have a 2017 zero emission vehicle. If they already have the car in the US (per a forum member who says the cars are sitting in a port in CA), then the delay to sell the vehicle probably has to do with selling the remaining 2016s, which is taking longer than expected because they didn't provide good enough incentives until very recently.

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Guess I better hold on to my TDi's, they'll be worth some good money if your opinion ever becomes fact.

26th of August is going by fast and still no new VW e-golf in the states. We are now switching to watch and look at the new Leaf, sadly. And have a M3 Tesla reservation as insurance.

miimura said:

f1geek said:

I just saw a 2017 e-Golf on highway 101 near San Mateo this weekend. The car is at least available in CA. It's possible that the driver is a VW employee, but if so, it indicates that general release is imminent.

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That is not a logical conclusion. San Mateo is very close to the VW facility in Belmont. There is no reason to believe that a 2017 e-Golf operating out of that facility has any bearing on when they will release the inventory currently held at the port.

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F1Geek tends to reach these conclusions on a regular basis.... Trust, but verify.

According to Cars.com there isn't a New e-Golf to be had anywhere in SoCal...wow

I guess all the dealers have cleared the lots for the 2017.

forbin404 said:

According to Cars.com there isn't a New e-Golf to be had anywhere in SoCal...wow

I guess all the dealers have cleared the lots for the 2017.

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I think you made a mistake. I see 11 at Santa Monica, 9 at Pacific and 2 at Downtown.

They added a price filter that defaults to under $25k, so maybe you had that on and didn't know it.

The NorCal supply is still not depleted either. The 3 high volume e-Golf dealers in Silicon Valley have 95 cars between them with another 37 cars spread across 8 more dealers.

The discounts on the SEL trim seem to have worked too. The vast majority (87%) of remaining NorCal cars are SE trim. 100% are SE in SoCal.

Hmm..I guess Cars.com isn't working properly for new eGolfs.

BTW Miimura, how do you like the Jesla charger? I've got a neighbor who wants one badly.

forbin404 said:

Hmm..I guess Cars.com isn't working properly for new eGolfs.

BTW Miimura, how do you like the Jesla charger? I've got a neighbor who wants one badly.

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The Jesla is nice. It charges our e-Golf daily. The car's inlet is a little tight so you have to push in the handle firmly to overcome the plastic-to-plastic friction. I really bought it so that we would have something portable and full speed for the RAV4 EV if I ever had to charge at a RV park or vacation home somewhere. The adapters that indicate the wall plug capacity are critical for the RAV4 EV because there's no other way to change the amp draw in the car. I suppose an OpenEVSE or other EVSE with a button and display could do the job of changing the pilot signal, but the Jesla is such an elegant solution that I had to jump on it when I saw a used one for sale at a discount. Prior to the Jesla we were charging the e-Golf with the provided 120V cord and topping off with the Leviton if it wasn't full when we woke up.

There was a RAV4 EV owner who returned his leased car and was selling off his Jesla and some other accessories. Let me know if your friend is interested and I will check to see if it's still available. The price was pretty low, so it's probably been sold already.

P.S. If people don't know what we're talking about, the Jesla is a converted Tesla Mobile Connector that has had the Tesla proprietary plug replaced with a J1772 plug. Product Page is here. When I went to get this link I just saw that they have used ones for sale for $300 off the new price. $900 new, $600 used.

There are now 26 vehicles left at Sunnyvale, VW and they extended their "challenge" until Sept 4. My prediction is that next week or in the 2nd week of September, VW will officially announce pricing on the 2017 e-Golf. Maybe cars will be available by the end of September. Just a guess.

f1geek said:

There are now 26 vehicles left at Sunnyvale, VW and they extended their "challenge" until Sept 4. My prediction is that next week or in the 2nd week of September, VW will officially announce pricing on the 2017 e-Golf. Maybe cars will be available by the end of September. Just a guess.

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The bigger batterys of the 2017 or 2018, or whatever they call it here in the USA, will become available only when enough of the remaining inventory of 2016's gets blown off of enough dealerships show floors and lots. VW really needs an electric car with a 48 to 50kwh battery to compete now with the Bolt. And the infrastructure needs to be added to DC fast charge these larger capacity batteries at a reasonable cost. $10 for 30 minutes and 16 to 18 or 19kw to go 80 miles will keep me in my diesel for a long, long time, not when I can charge at home for 17 cents a Kw. That limits my e-Golf driving to only local stuff inside the city of Los Angeles. I have relegated it to being nothing more suitable than for local driving and overnight recharging in my garage. Beyond that, it's not cost effective or time effective.

In the mean time, I foresee a lot of deeply discounted 2016 e-Golfs going up for sale to move inventory quickly. Bid aggressively, have cash, buy, don't lease, and you should get a very, very good price on an e-Golf now. I am coming up now on 2 years ownership in October, about 13.2k miles on my 2015 SEL currently. Sometimes I tire of recharging it so frequently, but overall, it's been a great little grocery getter and around town city car in the metropolis of Los Angeles, here in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys. I've decided, in the interest of extended battery life, mine doesn't see freeways, or highways, at all. 45 mph Blvds is top speed for it... 6.0 to 6.6 miles per kwh is what it's been seeing, for the past 18 months, with all accessories off. The AC has been running a lot in the month of August, and that brings it down to 4.9 to 5.0 miles per Kwh, driven conservatively. AC definitely cuts into the range of the battery charge.

Sunnyvale VW is now down to 19 e-Golfs. Tick.... Tock... Tick.... Tock...

f1geek said:

Sunnyvale VW is now down to 19 e-Golfs. Tick.... Tock... Tick.... Tock...

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...and Stevens Creek still has 36. The good news is that Capitol is down to 9 e-Golfs.

Unless these 2016's get blown out shortly, it's going to be a long time before the newer bigger battery model e-Golf shows up on dealerships floors. So plan for a long wait, they aren't moving that fast. I'm going to have a very, very long wait before the new 2017's or 2018's finally start to sell at any sort of discount.

Capital is down to 5. Sunnyvale is down to 2. Stevens Creek has 29. We should be seeing 2017 pricing this week or next week. The new Leaf was announced and it has a 40 kWh battery with 150 miles of range. If it costs the same (or less) than the e-Golf, VW will have pressure to drop prices as it has a quota to meet in California and other CARB - following states.

f1geek said:

Capital is down to 5. Sunnyvale is down to 2. Stevens Creek has 29. We should be seeing 2017 pricing this week or next week. The new Leaf was announced and it has a 40 kWh battery with 150 miles of range. If it costs the same (or less) than the e-Golf, VW will have pressure to drop prices as it has a quota to meet in California and other CARB - following states.

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True about the pricing. However, since they still need the credits, they will have to keep the MSRP a little higher and use incentives to move the cars in states that earn credits. Of course, that's assuming that they will widen the availability at all. They may not.