Volkswagen Golf GTE Sport concept hits Worthersee

Ah, the GTI meet in Wörthersee, Austria – the annual festival for the German hot hatch faithful is also where the usually uptight Volkswagen Group lets its hair down by showing its most outrageous concept cars. So it’s no surprise that this year’s event sees the debut of the astonishing new Volkswagen Golf GTE Sport concept.

Looking very much like it came off the set of the upcoming Star Wars movie in this pearlescent White Club hue, the carbon-bodied plug-in hybrid GTE Sport takes traditional Golf cues – two-box profile, characteristic C-pillar shape – to the absolute extreme.

At the front, there’s an aggressive carbon fibre mask with large air inlets, slit-like quad LED headlights and black chrome bars that emphasise the car’s width. Trademark GTE C-shaped LED daytime running lights and blue grille line feature prominently here; the DRLs now frame the entire front mask, while the blue line spans the entire width of the car. A carbon fibre double front splitter sits underneath.

Moving to the sides of the car, the aforementioned C-pillars have been extended outwards – a callback to 2013’s Design Vision GTI concept and the virtual-only GTI Roadster and Supersport in Gran Turismo 6 – to allow airflow to pass through, increasing downforce and cooling the brakes. Rounding off the design are a large roof spoiler, slim tail lights, an enormous rear diffuser, twin centre-exit tailpipes and 20-inch wheels.

Slip under the XL1-style gullwing doors (yes, really) into the mostly carbon fibre cabin and you’ll find a cockpit-like design that cocoons and separates driver and passenger. The occupants sit on microfibre-upholstered racing buckets with five-point harnesses, which are positioned as far back as possible like on touring cars, so the racing-style steering wheel extends a long way to meet the driver.

Behind the steering wheel sits a three-piece instrument display – the smallest screen closest to the driver displays the current gear and energy recuperation status, the second screen shows secondary information such as a power meter and amount of electric boost, and the upper screen (the largest of them all) feeds important information such as current speed and range at eye level.

Under the bonnet resides a 1.6 litre turbocharged TSI four-cylinder engine derived from the Polo R WRC, delivering an already-impressive 299 PS and 400 Nm. Added to this are two 115 PS electric motor – one 330 Nm unit is located in the housing of the six-speed DSG dual-clutch transmission, while the other 270 Nm unit is located at the rear to provide all-wheel drive.

In maximum attack GTE Mode, this results in a combined output of 400 hp and 670 Nm, enabling the GTE Sport to sprint from 0-100 km/h in 4.3 seconds on its way to a top speed of 280 km/h. Despite the performance potential, the car is also capable of returning a fuel consumption figure of just 2.0 litres per 100 km, and has a 50 km range in electric-only E-Mode.

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