Volkswagen Design Vision GTI at Wörthersee: 503 PS!

You read the headline right – the track-oriented Volkswagen Design Vision GTI that’s making its way to Wörthersee 2013 packs a 3.0 litre twin-turbo V6 that develops 503 PS at 6,500 rpm and 560 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm.

With AWD and DSG (number of speeds has yet to be made known), the Mk7 Golf GTI-based concept sprints to 100 km/h from rest in just under four seconds, en route towards a 300 km/h top speed.

The widebody kit houses 20-inch wheels wrapped in 235 tyres up front and 275s out back. The wheels, derived from the GTI’s ‘Austin’ design, feature integrated blades that vent hot brake gas through the wheel openings. Peeking through the spokes are carbon-ceramic brake discs (381 mm front, 356 mm back) and red brake callipers.

Apart from looking very obviously more aggressive, the Volkswagen Design Vision GTI is 15 mm shorter, 71 mm wider and 56 mm lower than the regular GTI, making it stand at 4.25 metres long, 1.87 metres wide and 1.38 metres tall. The front track is wider by 56 mm to 1.6 metres; the rear by 64 mm to 1.58 metres.

Although it isn’t particularly evident in these sketches, the colour scheme is classic GTI black-white-red. The C-pillar, a distinctive Golf and GTI feature, has been expanded outward to create a prominent vertical intake that emphasises the waisted doors.

The headlamps, divided horizontally by a sporty red stripe, have been recessed and set back in their fairings, creating the ‘evil eye’ effect popular with customisers. Round the back a ribbed diffuser is visible, with twin tailpipes nestled within.

Inside, things don’t get any less radical – the shapes correspond to the GTI’s, while having tauter surfaces and harder edges. There’s lashings of carbon-fibre, dark Alcantara and Nappa leather, and an X-shaped cross member sits where you’d expect to find the back seats.

The centre stack incorporates large, rugged switches and knobs for climate control, hazard lights, and the activation for the on-board camera, while an electrical kill switch, a button for the fire extinguisher and the ESP deactivation are housed beneath. Street, Sport and Track are the selectable drive modes.

A display to the right of the instrument panel shows a track map of the circuit you are running, along with lap times. This can also communicate with other vehicles on the course and calculates what’s going on in a race in real time. The on-track action can be shared by directing the A-pillar mounted cameras either to the track or to the cabin.

Still, this pales in comparison to what VW unveiled at Wörthersee six years ago – the GTI W12 650, based on the Mk5 Golf, carried a mid-mounted 6.0 litre twin-turbo W12 that fed 650 PS and 750 Nm of torque… to the rear wheels. Also Mk5-based was the Golf R32, which was sold in Malaysia, and like this Design Vision GTI, it was V6-engined.

Other Wörthersee 2013-bound vehicles include the Skoda Rapid concept and SEAT Leon Cup Racer.

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