Volkswagen debuts new Golf concepts at Wörthersee

Volkswagen has debuted two conceptual versions of its Golf model in the form of the Golf GTI Clubsport concept and the Golf GTE Sport hybrid concept at Wörthersee, Austria. The Golf GTI Clubsport concept becomes the precursor to the 40-year anniversary edition of the Golf.

The Golf GTI Clubsport concept, as with other anniversary models of the Golf, gets a more powerful engine at 261bhp along with a retuned suspension and a range of exterior and interior styling changes.
On the outside, the GTI Clubsport concept gets a new front bumper with a large central air dam with honeycomb inserts along with additional ducts to help cool the brakes. The bumper also features a subtle splitter and high-gloss black blades on the extremities of the bumper. At the back, the concept gets a roof-mounted spoiler along with a heavily modified bumper and twin exhausts. The car gets additional high-gloss trim on the wing mirror housings and black graphics along the lower edge of the door panels. VW says that the body kit will remain almost identical in the production car though the concept’s 19-inch alloy wheels are likely to be replaced by 18-inch ones.

Under the hood, the GTI Clubsport concept gets the 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine from the standard GTI but now develops 261bhp with the option of temporarily boosting power to 287bhp. The Clubsport will become the most powerful Golf when it goes into production, with the standard GTI producing 227bhp with the optional performance pack. Power is sent to the front wheels through a six-speed DSG gearbox with a manual option, expected to be on
the production version.

The other concept debuting at Worthersee was the Golf GTE Sport hybrid concept. The GTE features a plug-in hybrid powertrain developing about 396bhp using a combination of a petrol and two electric motors. The petrol engine is a 1.6-litre turbocharged unit featured in the Polo R WRC championship-winning car generating 295bhp.

The GTE Sport concept features extensive use of carbonfibre inside and out to keep the weight low, and gets features such as LED headlamps, gull-wing doors and heavily flared wheel arches. The styling of the GTE bears resemblance to the Golf line but looks sleeker and more aggressive with sharply raked front windscreen, prominent diffusers front and rear and prominent air vents on the front bumper and on the rear wheel arches.

On the inside, the cabin is divided in two by the centre console and gets a steering column made from carbon, along with a bespoke steering and three high-tech transparent displays positioned one behind the other, in place of the traditional instrument cluster.

The GTE Sport concept is four-wheel drive and allows the driver to coast on the all-electric mode for up to 50km.