At next week’s 2013 GTI meet at Wörthersee, Austria, Volkswagen will bring a new Golf GTI concept car that previews an upcoming high-performance variant of the hot hatch.
VW research and development boss Ulrich Hackenberg confirmed to Car Magazine that a concept car previewing a future version of the GTI will be revealed at the tuning show.“It won’t have as much power as the Golf GTI W12. It will be more realistic,” Hackenberg told the British publication.
Unveiled in 2007 at the Wörthersee show, the extreme Golf GTI W12 concept was fitted with a Bentley-sourced 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 engine that was mounted behind the front seats and developed 650 PS (641 hp) and 750 Nm (553 lb-ft) of torque. It catapulted the car from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.7 seconds and on to a top speed of 327 km/h (203 mph).
This time, though, VW will bring a more down-to-earth GTI, possibly a preview of the GTI Edition 40 (due in 2015). As the GTI Edition 30 and Edition 35 before it, the Edition 40 may come with subtle aesthetic and performance updates. Hackenberg declined to give further details, but he did say that the new Golf GTI’s electronically controlled differential could handle around 250 horsepower.
Taking into account that the current Golf GTI Performance comes with 230 PS (227hp) and that the Mk6 Golf GTI Edition 35 had 235 PS (232hp), the Edition 40 could boast at least 240 PS (236hp). The faster GTI variant could also be fitted with a carbon fiber roof, originally intended for the standard GTI Mk7, that would save up to 9 kg (19.8 lbs) of the car’s overall weight.
By Dan Mihalascu
Note: Sketches Depict 2013 VW Golf GTI
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