We've known for some time that the next-generation Golf GTI would be all-electric. Fans of the traditional GTI have been mourning its pending loss for some time. The company has already taken the manual gearbox out of the equation, as if to mentally prepare them for it.
Some might embrace the EV, some not. According to Volkswagen executives, they won't stay skeptical for long once they test-drive the model.
Volkswagen's top executives are going bold with their declarations about the driving dynamics the future battery-powered GTI will offer. Brand CEO Thomas Schäfer claims that the electric GTI will be even better than its predecessor.
In an interview with Motor 1 Italy, he said that the electric GTI will benefit from an even greater degree of chassis refinement and suspension tuning than the current gasoline-powered model. The result? A GTI that's “even more exciting to experience and drive”, he declared.
So far, we’ve seen only the ID.GTI concept, first shown at the 2023 IAA Mobility Show in Munich, Germany. The concept is not based on the chassis of the electric Golf sold in Europe, but on the future ID.2 platform.
The ID.GTI’s power output is unknown, but it’s believed VW will offer two battery capacities - 38 kWh and 56 kWh. We can guess that for North America, only the larger of the two will be made available. There’s also speculation the ID.GTI will offer more than 220 hp, not far off the 241 hp of the current gasoline-powered version.
Add to that instant torque, and you've got even greater performance.
It's important to point out that the company hasn't confirmed whether the electric GTI will be offered in North America, but it's hard to imagine a Volkswagen range without this model.
