Thirty-three years after the first Golf, Volkswagen has just passed the 25 million milestone.
As one of the pioneers of the modern hatchback genre, the Golf was a hit right from launch in 1974, and sold one million cars within three years. The 25 millionth Golf to leave the Wolfsburg gates was a Tornado Red 1.4 TSI. Although Golfs have been manufactured in various sites around the world, more than 15 million of them were built at the German HQ. Wolfsburg is the world’s largest car factory under one roof, covering 6sq km – making it bigger than Monaco. Meanwhile, another modern icon is about to set its own, rather lower, record; the new BMW-built Mini is about to celebrate its one millionth model. And production at the Oxford plant in England is gearing up for the arrival of the new Clubman estate due at the end of this year.