Rivian Will Power Volkswagen’s Electric Golf, ‘Project Trinity’

Volkswagen's flagship EV, Project Trinity, is still alive. The automaker will use its Rivian-sourced electrical architecture to build it into a Software-Defined Vehicle. VW plans to first implement the SDV architecture in the Audi and Porsche brands, followed by a future electric variant of the iconic Golf

Volkswagen's flagship EV, coined "Project Trinity," has been hyped up as the German brand's saving grace in a time when VW has gone from just a cool guy brand to one that is struggling to convince people to buy their vehicles. But, VW has also been kicking Trinity's can down the road, delaying it in favor of other vehicles like the new Golf EV and members of the current ID-family lineup. Now we know why.

It turns out that Volkswagen is really taking to its new partnership with Rivian—after all, it's spending $5 billion on the joint venture for a reason. And Trinity? Well, its flagship EV should be using its new flagship architecture. And that's exactly what the automaker plans on doing, according to Automotive News.

It turns out that Project Trinity is alive, although delayed, and is still planned to have all those nifty features like Level 4 self-driving. Part of the reason for that delay isn't just to first move forward with a more "iconic product," as VW justifyingly calls the electrified version of the Golf, but to also give the automaker some time to figure out how to best implement the new Software-Defined Vehicle architecture borrowed from its joint partnership with Rivian.

“We decided on how to do the software-defined vehicle,” VW's CEO, Thomas Schafer, during a media roundtable. “It will happen with Rivian, the joint venture, where we put the new electric electronics architecture together. But we have also decided that we want to start this journey with a more iconic product. So we’ll start with the Golf.”

The Golf will be shown in 2029, followed by Trinity at a later date. While this doesn't explicitly give a timeline to Trinity's launch, it does confirm earlier reports from the German newspaper Handelsblatt that Trinity would be pushed back in favor of the Golf EV and that its launch would not be in 2026 as originally intended. Current rumors point to a reveal in 2032 at the earliest.

That being said, don't expect to see a million VW Trinities (or whatever Volkswagen ends up calling it) on the road. The car is planned to be a bespoke product—think the venerable Phaeton, but electric instead of the niche W12 under the hood. I'm not sure that's the best move for Volkswagen right now, but maybe things will turn around in the next eight years.

“We just switched a little bit, moved it out a little bit, not because we don’t see it as a huge priority, but Trinity was never designed as a volume vehicle,” said Schafer.

The Golf won't be the first EV in Volkswagen's family of brands to get Rivian treatment. Schafer confirmed that Porsche and Audi will be the first brands to receive the new electrical architecture as early as 2027. This tracks with the idea of more expensive and experimental tech being stuffed in high-end brands before trickling down to the mass market. But fear not—the architecture will eventually underpin vehicles across the VW family of brands, from cheap compacts to luxury SUVs (and maybe even sport-focused cars as well).

As for Project Trinity, well, that still appears to be Volkswagen's Polaris more than anything else, just a bit delayed now. If impressive enough, maybe Trinity can spark some interest back in the VW brand for the mass market, even if the car isn't intended to be built in large numbers. The important thing is that Volkswagen is using the tech to build a thicker backbone, and Trinity could be one of the most important building blocks along the way.