Exactly 48 years after the world debut of the Mk1 Golf GTI at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1975, Volkswagen chose this year’s IAA Mobility event in Munich (September 5-9) to preview the future new GTI - the ID GTI Concept.
But it’s a new GTI with a very big difference. After eight generations of models with high-performance internal combustion engines, we can confirm that the new VW ‘hot hatch’ will have a pure electric drivetrain.
Inevitably many traditional GTI enthusiasts, most of whom have grown up with the model through the years, will have their reservations. Indeed, some have been outraged that Volkswagen could even consider using a GTI badge along with an electric motor, while others have been more pragmatic, recognising that the latest technology has to be embraced if the high-performance hot hatch is to endure.
The fact that it is still called a ‘GTI’ is the main bone of contention. Not so much the GT bit, because that has been a mainstay of many high-performance ‘grand touring’ cars for great many years, but the ‘I’ came from the italian word ‘Inezione’, for injection. It was originally
