- Volkswagen rolled out its ID.GTI idea in Germany this previous weekend.
- The electrical automotive has not but been confirmed as coming to the U.S., however VW Group of America CEO Pablo Di Si was decidedly bullish on the concept.
- One downside to iron out first: it is unlikely the ID.GTI will get all-wheel drive, and clients within the States could discover {that a} sticking level.
After we informed you in regards to the Volkswagen ID.GTI idea on Sunday, September 3, contemporary from its unveiling on the Munich IAA auto present in Germany, the official line was that there have been no confirmed plans to carry it to the U.S.
However now Automobile and Driver has spoken with Pablo Di Si, Volkswagen Group of America CEO, and may report that he’s pushing exhausting to carry the electrical sizzling hatch stateside.
“Everyone needs the automotive within the U.S.,” Di Si informed journalists on the IAA. “It is a idea automotive, however we’re working very intently with the staff in Germany by way of the design and the specs . . . I believe it could possibly be an ideal automotive for the U.S. We simply have to ensure that the contact and really feel goes to be what the American shopper needs, and also you obtain that by working with engineering from the start of the challenge.”
There appear few causes that such a plan could not come to fruition. The manufacturing ID.GTI, which is confirmed for Europe, will sit on the MEB Entry platform, a front-wheel-drive model of Volkswagen’s present MEB EV platform. The ID.4, which sits on the common rear-/all-wheel-drive MEB structure, is already being produced on the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
U.S. Wants an Entry-Degree EV
Di Si confirms that Volkswagen is dedicated to launching a inexpensive EV within the U.S. beneath the ID.4, a task the manufacturing GTI would appear completely fitted to. “We’re the folks’s model, so we want an entry-level electrical automobile, no ifs, no buts,” Di Si stated. “Whether or not it’ll be the ID.2 or the GTI—no matter you need to name it—we have to have one. I just like the GTI significantly as a result of it brings the heritage of the model in a smaller bundle, and a hopefully smaller value.”
Which may be taken as a ringing endorsement from the boss, particularly as Di Si added that his private opinion is that the essential ID.2, which is able to sit beneath the ID.3 in Europe, can be too small and primary for U.S. patrons.
One potential sticking level, in keeping with Volkswagen insiders, is the ID.GTI’s front-drive format, with the important thing query being whether or not U.S. patrons would count on their junior efficiency EV to return with all-wheel drive. That is one thing that will be very exhausting to ship given the idea’s dinky dimensions and tight packaging.
However we’re undoubtedly hoping the problems get ironed out on this one. The U.S. has lengthy been one of many greatest markets for Volkswagen’s GTI variants, and we actually do not need to be denied this one.
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Senior European Correspondent
Our man on the opposite facet of the pond, Mike Duff lives in Britain however experiences from throughout Europe, generally past. He has beforehand held employees roles on UK titles together with CAR, Autocar and evo, however his personal automotive tastes have a tendency in direction of the Germanic, proudly owning each a hard 987-generation Porsche Cayman S and a Mercedes 190E 2.5-16.
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