Volkswagen has been seen testing lightly camouflaged test mules of the eighth-generation Golf, meaning the new car should be arriving soon. Although VW hasn't officially revealed the car, there have now been two instances where the car has been spotted completely undisguised and looking completely production-ready. After seeing what appears to be the finished product, we would have assumed that the reveal of the Mk8 Golf was just around the corner.

Sadly, this is not the reality as VW tells Automotive News Europe that the new Golf will be significantly delayed. VW has chosen to push back the car's launch until next year while it finishes development of the car's digital features.

This means we won't see a production version of the Mk8 Golf until 2020 and since VW tends to release its cars in Europe around one year earlier than in the US, we may not see an Mk8 Golf on US roads until 2021. The apparent cause of the issue is the car's new digital cockpit display, which now features permanent connectivity. German newspaper Bild reported that this new technology was causing software bugs, citing boardroom sources from VW.

VW denies that these bugs are the cause for the delays, instead claiming it simply wasn't the right time to reveal the car this year. "We think it's better to come early next year with a full-throttle offensive. It doesn't have anything to do with production. It's a sales decision since you don't try to put cars under the Christmas tree when no one is paying attention," VW sales and marketing chief, Juergen Stackmann said.

The Golf was originally set to debut in September at the 2019 Frankfurt Auto Show along with the electric ID hatchback. VW will now push the reveal into 2020 "to give the eighth generation Golf the exclusivity it deserves," Stackmann said.