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01/16/18
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Red stripe, black stripe and 115 hp

Volkswagen Golf GTI
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An icon of automotive design: The original GTI by Volkswagen.

The new Volkswagen up! GTI

Only a few cars get their own statue: carved out of stone, there stands a sculpture of a Golf GTI at lake Wörthersee. The granite 1987 Golf 2 GTI provides a year-round reminder of the famous GTI meet, which takes place there over the Ascension Day weekend.

And now the family of powerful Volkswagen GTI-models is welcoming its latest member just in time for the 2018 meet. Following in the tracks of the iconic original GTI launched in 1976, the new up! GTI is hitting the road. Certainly it features the typical GTI-symbols and it is almost exactly the same size as the original model launched 41 years ago. The up! GTI is a worthy youngest sibling to his sporty brothers Golf and Polo.

Volkswagen Pressekonferenz IAA 2017
The up! GTI (right) fills the gap at the small end of the GTI family.
03_NEU_450_upGTI
Anton Konrad (second from left) and his counterparts with one of the first GTI.

It's the classic combination of low-weight, a powerful engine and an agile sports suspension which distinguishes the up! GTI. This packages makes for a dynamic ride, hunting down each and every corner with speed and agility. The 85 kW / 115 bhp TSI turbo engine with a 6-speed manual gearbox impresses with its incredible rev power. And with its short wheelbase, the up! GTI feels like a go-kart that doesn't like to beat around the bush, even away from the labyrinth of inner city driving.

A new addition to the family
This family of sporty vehicles with petrol injection engines is made up of the up! GTI (already available to order), the popular Golf GTI – either with 169 kW / 230 bhp or the high-performance version with 180 kW / 245 bhp – and the new Polo GTI with 147 kW / 200 bhp, which is also available to order now. The GTI brand has grown to become an integral part of Volkswagen. The three letters are a worldwide symbol for compact cars with very special dynamic potential.

Anton Konrad is the name of the inventor and father of the first GTI. In the early seventies, he came up with the idea to develop a Top-Golf. Selected colleagues from different departments were introduced to his thoughts in after-work meetings.

After winning over a substantial number of counterparts, the group started to convince the Board of Management.

Already in May 1975, the first development order for the concept was issued: job "EA 195". By September of that year, the Golf GTI was shown at the International Automobile Exhibition (IAA) in Frankfurt. Volkswagen's estimates were for just 5,000 units. However, excited dealerships put in their requests right away for ten-times more, 50,000 units. In fact, around 462,000 units of GTI MK1 were built, making it a genuine success story.

GTI-Treffen am Wörthersee 2017
Famous GTI hallmarks include the red trim around the radiator.
Golf GTI 1976
The golf ball-style-knob on the gear stick is now an iconic feature of the GTI.

A traditional family brand
Back then, the GTI's exterior hallmarks included a red trim around the radiator, black trim around the rear windows and bumper, tartan-inspired sports seats and a golf ball knob on the gear stick. And thistraditional design is still present in Volkswagen's latest GTI model.

The family's new distinctive features include a red strip across the radiator grille, a GTI logo, black double stripes that run along the side panels and black housing for the wing mirrors. Also technically, there are a few key-indicators, which underline the familiarity, even though they are built forty years apart.

While the original GTI could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 9.2 seconds, the up! GTI needs 8.8 seconds. It reaches an incredible top speed of 196 km/h while the original model GTI could reach 182 km/h – an impressive feat for the late 1970s, meaning the Golf caught many sports car drivers on the autobahn by surprise when it appeared in their rear-view mirrors.

Video: The Volkswagen up! GTI meets the Golf I GTI

WLTP-proof: The most frugal GTI of all times

However, the biggest difference between the two models is in the fuel consumption, the contrast of more than forty years makes it clear. The Golf 1 GTI needed eight litres of fuel for 100 kilometres. The latest GTI, on the other hand, has a combined WLTP consumption of just 5.7 to 5.6 litres per 100 kilometres.

With the new Volkswagen up! GTI, driving pleasure has been redefined for the compact car segment, thus extending the reach of the popular GTI family. Like the original GTI and all its more recent incarnations, the new entry-level model with its GTI DNA is designed to get pulses racing in the fan community.

Pre-sales have already started. Prices in Germany start at €16,975.

Like the original model, the up! GTI's seats also feature the famous "Clark" tartan check upholstery.
Brand chief Dr Herbert Diess with the Concept up! GTI in Wörthersee, 2017.
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The specified fuel consumption and emission data are determined in accordance with the measurement procedures prescribed by law. 1 January 2022, the WLTP test cycle completely replaced the NEDC test cycle and therefore no NEDC values are available for new type approved vehicles after that date.

This information does not refer to a single vehicle and is not part of the offer but is only intended for comparison between different types of vehicles. Additional equipment and accessories (additional components, tyre formats, etc.) can alter relevant vehicle parameters such as weight, rolling resistance and aerodynamics, affecting the vehicle's fuel consumption, power consumption, CO2 emissions and driving performance values in addition to weather and traffic conditions and individual driving behavior.

Due to more realistic testing conditions, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions measured according to WLTP will in many cases be higher than the values measured according to NEDC. As a result, the taxation of vehicles may change accordingly as of 1 September 2018. For further information on the differences between WLTP and NEDC, please visit www.volkswagen.de/wltp.

Further information on official fuel consumption data and official specific CO2 emissions for new passenger cars can be found in the "Guide to fuel economy, CO2 emissions and power consumption for new passenger car models", which is available free of charge from all sales dealerships and from DAT Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH, Hellmuth-Hirth-Str. 1, D-73760 Ostfildern, Germany and at www.dat.de/co2.