Volkswagen will retire its GTX branding for sporting EVs to make means for its first electrical GTI and R fashions.
The GTX badge was first used for warmed-up, range-topping variations of the Volkswagen ID 4 and ID 5 SUVs in 2021, and has since been prolonged throughout the broader ID household, with stronger GTX variations of the ID 3, ID 7 and ID Buzz revealed in latest weeks.
Initially, the GTX badge was set to be reserved solely for twin-motor, performance-oriented EVs, however the hot new ID 3 GTX stays powered by solely a single motor on the rear.
But regardless of the GTX line-up having been considerably expanded of late, Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer has confirmed the branding might be phased out as Volkswagen ramps as much as electrify the GTI and R efficiency manufacturers.
“GTX is the performance brand of the MEB [platform], but we’ll work our way back to GTI and R in the next products going forward,” he instructed Autocar.
Volkswagen revealed the ID GTI concept (under) final 12 months as preview of an electrical successor to the Golf GTI sizzling hatch, which is due on sale in early 2027. It will not be but recognized whether or not the badge might be rolled out to different electrical Volkswagens; it’s at present used just for the new Polo and Golf.
Schäfer mentioned Volkswagen remains to be shaping the way forward for the GTI model internally, however emphasised the significance of staying true to its roots. “The question is: how do we position GTI? GTI is traditionally performance and front-wheel drive.”
Volkswagen has but to offer any clues to what an electrical R automobile might appear to be, however has confirmed that R will become an electric-only performance brand by 2030.
Schäfer mentioned it would nonetheless be used “for four-wheel-drive performance” vehicles, because it has been for the previous twenty years. The model has beforehand urged an R model of the Mk9 electrical Golf is prone to arrive round 2029.
GTI and R, he emphasised, could have “clear genes going forward”.