The first all-electric Volkswagen Golf GTI is in development and Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schafer promises it will be a “beast car,” writes Auto Express. VW will continue to update the Golf until the end of the decade, at which point it will arrive at the all-electric version, based on the all-new SSP architecture. “I’m very pleased with the progress,” Schafer said.
The GTI will be front-wheel drive, although its closest electric version – the ID.3 GTX – has a 322 horsepower engine driving the rear wheels. That’s about 60 horsepower more than the current GTI’s 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine.
The first electric Golf R – also planned – will have the capacity to come with another powertrain, with traction applied to all four wheels. The ID.2 GTI, already shown in concept form, will set the standard for the electric Golf GTI of the future, Schafer said. Digital work on the electric Golf GTI is taking shape, before the car moves into the physical prototype phase. “We know what the vehicle looks like and we can virtually stand in it,” Schafer said.