A long-standing tradition every year at the GTI-Meet at Wörthersee - the largest of its kind in the world - is that Volkswagen likes to surprise its fans: not only with exciting new production models, but with breathtaking concept cars as well. In 2007, it was the “Über-Golf” GTI W12-650, in 2008 the “Sound Machine” Golf Estate RaVe 270 and in 2009 the Golf GTI Wörthersee 09, a concept on which meet fans got a preview of the new LED rear lights. This year, Volkswagen is presenting fans in Reifnitz with the Golf GTI Excessive. This concept car illustrates the great design potential of the Golf GTI and how it might develop in the future.
The Golf GTI Excessive is painted in the same fire-red “Firespark Metallic” as the Golf GTI Wörthersee 09. However, this time fire-red is not the only colour. But more on that topic in a moment.
Of primary importance on the Golf GTI Excessive are add-on parts in high-gloss black piano paint. The focus here is on extremely precise cuts of forms, radii and straight lines, as though cut with a razor blade. The add-on parts themselves - a look at the front and rear spoilers or the side sills in the style of splitters used in motorsports illustrate this impressively - are on the one hand slender and light, but also noticeably stable and appearing as though carved from a single block.
To cut to the chase: Designers have not modified any of the body panels on the Golf GTI Excessive. And yet the concept car projects an image that is even fuller, more dynamic and wider too - due to its flared wheel wells in the style of the Golf GTI I (+ 30 millimetres per side). There is refinement in every detail.
Front end: A narrow spoiler slices the car’s the way through the air. This splitter runs as a black strip beneath the front apron, ending at the wheel well extensions, also black, on the right and left sides of the car. For aerodynamic and stylistic reasons, there is an opening between the lateral terminations of the spoiler and the wheel well extensions. It allows the driving wind to pass through without creating air turbulence. The similarly modified screens of the central air intakes also connect above the front spoiler. Noteworthy here: The daytime running lights avoided a complete re-routing of the airflow for ventilating the 18-inch high-performance braking system that is used in the Golf GTI Excessive.
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