Next GTI To Shed Weight And Have More Power - Promises 6 Second 0-60 MPH

The seventh-generation VW Golf GTI will head back to its roots by shedding 100kg and prioritising agile handling. At the same time, it will be more powerful, better equipped and safer than ever before.

 

The Golf GTI invented the hot hatch class, and has a bloodline stretching back to 1976 – and when the latest model arrives at the end of 2013 it will again push the front-drive hatch boundaries.

 

We’ve produced these images to show how the new GTI could look. Like the new MkVII Golf it will be based on, it’s likely to take an evolutionary approach, albeit with sharper lines down the sides. But it gets a classic honeycomb grille, red pinstripes and an offset GTI badge, plus a subtle bodykit.

 

VW is once again planning to show pretenders to its crown – like the new 247bhp Ford Focus ST and 276bhp Vauxhall Astra VXR – that power isn’t everything. A new direct-injection four-cylinder 2.0-litre turbo will offer around 240bhp – an 8bhp increase over the current Golf GTI Edition 35.