2019 VW Golf Sportwagen, Alltrack dead at the end of this year

Today is a bad day for wagon fans. The 2019 Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen and Golf Alltrack are both being discontinued for the U.S. market. Production of Golf wagons is ending at the Puebla, Mexico, factory where U.S. Sportwagens and Alltracks are built, and after the new Golf is launched, the factory will only produce normal Golfs. The Alltrack will survive the longest, with production lasting through December, and a VW representative says there will be enough production for a 2020 model year of the lifted Golf.

While the end of this generation of Golf is convenient for eliminating the wagon models for the U.S., the reason for their demise is continued consumer demand for crossovers. Volkswagen noted that over half its U.S. sales come from crossovers now. In response, the company is adding more crossovers including the Atlas Cross Sport, a shorter Atlas to be revealed this year; the ID. Crozz electric crossover, which launches next year; and the Tarek, a crossover that will slot below the Tiguan. The Tarek will take advantage of production space left at Puebla by another recently deceased VW car, the Beetle.

While VW wagons are on the way out, there's still room for a return. VW's CEO Scott Keogh alluded to this in a statement saying, "As the ID. Buzz concept demonstrates, the flexibility of our EV platform gives us the ability to revive body styles of the past, so anything is possible." But obviously in the short term, crossovers are the future.