2021 VW Golf Variant Throws Away Its Camouflage As It Hides In Plain Sight

The all-new 2021 VW Golf Variant – or Estate, as it’s called on certain markets – hardly wears disguise anymore, though a keen eye for detail will notice something is not right with the taillights.

Volkswagen has applied stickers on the rear lights to hide their LED signature and trick people into thinking they look like the Golf Mk7 units. Their horizontal shape cannot be hidden, however, as it’s outlined by the cutouts in the tailgate, rear bumper and rear fender.

We’ve already seen the all-new Golf wagon wearing no camouflage but this is the first sighting of a prototype that’s not wearing white paint.

The example our photographers snapped on public roads in Germany features a milky light grey paint which is found in VW’s color palette under the name Moonstone Grey. This color appears to suit the Golf Variant better than white, which looks too utilitarian for some tastes.

The front end looks just like the Golf Mk8 hatchback and judging by the ‘Norfolk’ 16-inch alloy wheels we can assume this is a Life trim level. The interior will obviously look identical with the hatch, including the fully-digital dash but with the notable exception of the cargo compartment which will be much bigger.

The engine lineup will also be shared with the Golf hatch, which means we can expect at least four turbocharged three- and four-cylinder TSI units and two four-cylinder TDIs. Some of the petrol engines will offer optional mild-hybrid assistance; 4Motion all-wheel drive will be optional with the more powerful engines.

Expect a similar trim level structure too, including Golf, Life, Style and R-Line. A Golf GTD Variant will sit at the top of the lineup but it remains to be seen whether VW will offer a successor to the Golf R Variant high-performance wagon.