The Golf GTI has been an icon for a long time now. To date, more than 1.7 million GTIs have been sold worldwide.

Since 1982, thousands fans have been celebrating it every year at the Wörthersee in the Austrian state of Kärnten.

For this occasion, Volkswagen has presented the GTI W12-650 showcar, as "a tribute to our GTI friends at the Wörthersee, car fans who made the GTI a legend. It is a concept that was designed just for them."

The GTI W12-650 is the more powerful, wider and faster Golf ever built.

Its 6.0-liter bi-turbo W12 engine is longitudinally mounted directly behind the driver and front passenger, and delivers an output of 650 hp (477 kW) at 6,000 rpm and a max torque of 750 Nm at 4,500 rpm.

The unit is coupled with a six-speed automatic transmission and rear wheel drive system.

Performances figures are a top speed of 325 km/h and a 0-100 km/h acceleration in just 3.7 seconds.

The extreme sportiness of the car is underlined by its dimensions: 1.88 meters wide (+16 cm compared with the prosuction model) and 1.42 meters high (-8 cm).

Each component was developed in-house by Volkswagen AG.

The chassis components were adapted directly from a super sports car. The 235 front tires and the 295 rear tires are mounted on 19 inches wheels.

The axles were “pushed” 70 millimeters further into the body; the wheel well cutouts and the wheel arches are part of the shoulder section, as in a coupe.

Body design and aerodynamics

Klaus Bischoff, Director of Volkswagen Design: “In the rear, the showcar is 80 millimeters wider on each side. However, the body of the GTI easily takes this in. We already have a strong shoulder section here on the production model. We were able to draw it outward even more distinctly, like on a sports car.”

The chief designer continues: “Our goal was clearly defined - despite the somewhat dramatic engineering changes, it was very clear that the GTI was to remain a classic GTI. The design of the Golf is like a fingerprint. If it is erased, the entire character of the car is ruined. That could not be allowed to happen under any circumstances.”

That is also why as many components as possible, such as the headlamps, the doors – newly hung due to the wide side skirt – front hood and taillights were taken from the Golf.

“Our greatest challenge”, says Klaus Bischoff, “was to provide the six-liter mid-engine with sufficient air, without watering down the GTI’s side profile.

"In addition, provisions had to be made for sufficient downforce at the rear axle on such a fast type of car. But for aesthetic reasons we did not want to put an enormous rear spoiler on the car.”

In both cases a trick helped, as Klaus Bischoff explains: “The strongest Golf design elements are the C-pillars. But it is precisely here that we needed air ducts for engine cooling air. Therefore, the C-pillars were redesigned on short order to assume this function of routing air to the engine.

"In doing so, we simply made the rear windows turn inward. This created two ducts between the windows and the C pillars, on the left and right, through which air flows for engine cooling.

"We got the rest of the cooling air in front via the huge radiators and the ducts connected to them, as well as on the sides via air inlets on the side skirts.”

Innovative body construction has also prevented the lines of the GTI W12-650 from being ruined by a roof-mounted wing.

Klaus Bischoff: “This GTI carries its wing internally. The roof is part of an enormous diffuser that supplies sufficient downforce to the rear axle. It consists of a carbon-fiber material and directs the air over and under the rear spoiler to achieve road grip, like in car racing.”

The bumpers of the showcar are powerful and at the same time coherently designed.

In the rear, as in the front, the GTI W12-650 is characterized by enormous air inlets and outlets.

Two dual chromeplated tailpipes frame the air outlet in the rear.

At the front of the car, the eye-catching straight-line grille between the headlamps, with its red frame, is reminiscent of the first GTI.

Interior

The bucket seats feature newly designed leather Alcantara covers. Three round gauges in the middle of the instrument cluster are reminiscent of the original GTI.

Racing-inspired details include the the integrated fire extinguisher in place of a glove box and the transparent “flip-up switch covers” that prevent accidental switch activations for functions such as ESP deactivation.

For weight reasons, the door trim was completely “stripped”; only screens are used, which intentionally offer a view of the internal workings of the door mechanisms.

(Source: Volkswagen)