Volkswagen fans from around the world were left distraught earlier this month when the legendary Wörthersee GTI festival was cancelled with little prospect of it make a comeback.
The celebration of all things GTI had been held at Austria’s Lake Wörthersee since 1982, but the borough of Maria Wörth recently announced that it wouldn’t be staging the show in future because it wanted to safeguard the local ecosystem and recognize the damaging effects of climate change.
But now Volkswagen, the company responsible for creating the GTI, and the show’s sponsor since 2006, has stepped in to save the day, and it’s come up with the perfect venue: its own Wolfsburg HQ.
“Our GTI fans are of great importance to Volkswagen,” said VW board member, Imelda Labbé. “For this reason, after the GTI Meeting at Lake Wörthersee was unfortunately cancelled, we decided pretty quickly to offer the GTI fan community in Wolfsburg a new home for the event.”
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“When planning the event, we also want to take into account the ideas of the fans, because it should above all be a meeting for them. Accordingly, we will certainly be able to offer some highlights and surprises in the coming year.”
Unfortunately for GTI fans VW’s decision hasn’t arrived soon enough to pull together a show for this year. The first of the new ‘Coming Home’ events will take place in 2024 and the company promises “many other interesting events and surprises for GTI enthusiasts” besides the expected vehicle presentations, stage shows and club meets.
Volkswagen has often used the Wörthersee show to reveal new road and concept cars over the years including the T-Roc R, Golf GTi convertible and the bonkers Bentley-powered GTI W12-650, and was rumored to be planning the launch of the ID.2 GTI concept at this year’s event.
Just 100 participants turned up to the inaugural event in 1982, but Wörthersee attracted around 200,000 visitors in its peak.
