Would an electric Volkswagen GTI appeal to a new generation of hot hatch buyers?
Volkswagen must think so. The German carmaker just took the wraps off an electric GTI concept at the IAA Mobility show in Munich, Germany.
Called the “ID. GTI Concept” and based on the VW ID. 2all (a compact Euro-market electric hatchback concept designed to sell for less than 25,000 euros), this front-drive electric GTI certainly looks the part. And although the “I” in GTI now means “intelligence” instead of “injection,” the ID. GTI Concept appeals to us because it’s bringing sporty performance to the world of affordable electric mobility.
Handling Focus, Adjustable Everything
What goes into an electric GTI? Some cool stuff. For one thing, it will have a front differential lock, just like the current GTI. This will help this electric box on wheels power out of corners with minimal wheelspin. It also has a Vehicle Dynamics Manager that cooperates more extensively with an electric powertrain than it does a gasoline engine.
Because the electric motor can be varied almost infinitely, several different GTI driving profiles are allowed via a GTI Experience Control on the center console. VW ID. GTI drivers can adjust the power delivery, the steering, and even the vehicle’s sound. And get this: Drivers may also choose simulated shift points that help to replicate the feel of classic GTI models from years past — be it an original car or, say, a 16-valve GTI Mark 2.
Digital displays and an available head-up display spanning the windscreen may not seem very early GTI-like. But the instrument panel of the ID. GTI Concept is a highly configurable affair. In Vintage mode, one of the multiple available looks, the 10.9-inch digital instrument panel does its best to replicate the classic analog gauges of the Mark 2 Golf GTI.
Another fun nod to the original Volkswagen GTI is a golf ball shifter. Now, though, that golf ball design appears on the GTI Experience Control on the center console where the shifter would have been.
At 161.6 inches, the VW ID. GTI Concept is quite compact; it’s some seven inches shorter in length than the current VW GTI but has a comparable 102.4-inch wheelbase and much shorter overhangs. That, together with meaty 245/30R20 tires that fill out the wheel wells nicely, helps to give this new electric GTI an appealingly planted stance.
If So, When?
While we’re pleased to learn that VW has committed to building a production version of the ID. GTI Concept for Europe, a business case must be made for this new electric GTI to be sold in the United States.
Even if it does get approved for the U.S. market, don’t expect to see the electric GTI here anytime soon. Because it’s based on the VW ID. 2all — the compact Euro-market hatchback that doesn’t go on sale until 2025 — we think the all-new electric GTI won’t arrive in the U.S. until late 2026 as a 2027 model.
