VW debuts 503-hp Design Vision GTI at Wörthersee

As is the case every year, Volkswagen engineers have built and brought a new toy to their fans at the annual Wörthersee festival in Reifnitz, Austria. Called the Design Vision GTI, this track toy is a Golf that's been widened, lowered and given an injection of twin-turbo V6 steroids.

The powerplant providing motivation is a 3.0-liter V6 paired with two turbochargers to produce 503 horsepower and up to 413 pound-feet of torque. With all-wheel drive and Volkswagen's famous DSG gearbox (the gear count is unknown), the Design Vision GTI can erase what's between you and 62 miles per hour in 3.9 seconds, as well as a reach a terminal velocity of 186 mph. Carbon ceramic brakes, 20-inch wheels and a specially tuned chassis round out the hardware upgrades, while engineers compressed the car's dimensions to be shorter, wider and lower than a stock GTI.

The exterior of the Design Vision GTI is meant to evoke the future of GTI styling, which is fine by us as we especially like how the car's iconic C-pillar is pulled away from the body and flows into the significantly flared rear fenders. It looks like the reflection of a GTI in a circus mirror with menace-making bends. The interior, meanwhile, is an exercise in editing, with switches, knobs and all manner of unnecessary controls removed, and the center console more severely oriented towards the driver. The rear seats have been replaced by an X-shaped crossbar, and red straps appear where door handles used to be (à la Porsche). There's even a camera embedded in the A-pillar that can shoot either the track ahead or the driver at work.

While not as stout in the power or performance departments as the 2007 GTI W12 Concept, the Design Vision GTI looks even more the business than that King of Golfs. For now we only have renderings, but we'll update this post with live images of the Design Vision GTI as soon as they're available.

Source : 

VolksWagen readying hotter GTI for Wörthersee

Following the announcement that Audi will be using the Wörthersee Tour to unveil a lightweight version of the TT called the TT Ultra Quattro Concept, we're now hearing that Volkswagen also has plans to show off a special concept vehicle at the annual brand-centric performance festival. According to Car magazine, VW will bring a hotter version of the GTI to the show, although not quite as hot as the 2007 VW GTI W12 concept.

After speaking with VW R&D boss Ulrich Hackenberg, the article says that the concept could be a preview of a future version of the new GTI, and with the 2015 model year signifying the 40th anniversary of the hot hatch that started it all, we expect to see this new model sooner rather than later. The 2013 Wörthersee Tour runs from May 17 to 19, so we don't have much longer to wait before we see this new concept.

Source :