A plug-in hybrid Volkswagen Golf is not exactly a new idea. Many prototypes have already been built and tested, with the name of TwinDrive but there wasn’t anything sure about their availability. Well, until today. Martin Winterkorn, the head of Volkswagen, just gave an interview to German newspaper Wirtschaftswoche, where he says that a plug-in hybrid version of the new Golf, which has just been unveiled at the Paris motor show, should arrive in 2014. He adds that battery should be a 8 kWh lithium-ion unit, good for 31 miles of driving on electric power.

We may doubt that range, but Volkswagen’s fans will appreciate that it’s much better than the plug-in Prius which has a feeble 4.4 kWh battery. Let’s guess the plug-in hybrid Golf will be able to do a bit more than 20 miles on battery power. It should be enough for the daily need many drivers in Europe, bit it will be more of a concern in America. The best news should be about price though. Mr Winterkorn said the added cost of plug-in tech should be about 8,000 euros ($10,374) over a standard non-hybrid Golf. This would make the plug-in Golf cheaper than the plug-in Prius, but we may guess this upmarket drivetrain would not be available on the base Golf, which doesn’t carry much equipment. On the most luxurious Golf, the plug-in hybrid version may end up being more expensive than the plug-in Prius. But it will have more battery, and that is the best argument. We shall see in 2014.