Amazing “Design Vision GTI” shows future of VW Golf GTI

Automakers like Volkswagen are all about bringing concepts to auto shows and letting the world see what their design teams can come up with. Sometimes, the designs are just futuristic models that never make it to production. But Volkswagen has developed the new “Design Vision GTI” for the Worthersee Festival in Austria to show off the future of the Volkswagen GTI. The concept is a race-ready car and features more horsepower and performance than has ever been seen before in a GTI. What has motivated Volkswagen to engineer such a wild racing GTI?

The Worthersee Festival is a gathering in the Austrian city of Reifnitz every year that draws thousands of spectators and has been a mecca for the Volkswagen GTI. VW engineers and designers this year bring the “Design Vision GTI” that features an extreme 503-horsepower V6 engine with a top speed of 186 mph. But this extreme race-ready model is more than just a concept car with tons of power. Could Volkswagen be giving us a glimpse into what Volkswagen has planned for future GTIs?

Is Volkswagen planning an all-wheel-drive GTI?

The concept is based on the same Volkswagen MQB platform architecture that is used in the GTI and also the new 2014 Audi S3. The new front-drive universal architecture design will allow Volkswagen to incline the engines rearward 12 degrees reducing front overhang by two inches while creating more front passenger legroom as the front axle can move forward now by 1.6 inches. But even more interesting on the “Design Vision GTI” is the drive layout is much different.

Unlike the standard Golf GTI, which has traditionally featured a front-wheel drive layout, the Design Vision GTI uses a multi-plate clutch four-wheel-drive system to apportion drive to all four wheels. This is a radical departure from the current drive configuration and could reveal what Volkswagen will be doing in future GTI performance cars. The concept is based on the latest 2015 Volkswagen GTI, the seventh generation of the iconic hot hatch, and even gets more radical.

Wild racing GTI concept features a 503 hp engine

The radical Design Vision GTI concept showcases a twin-turbocharged direct-injection 3.0-liter V6 engine that pumps out an extreme 503 horsepower and 413 lb ft of torque. This is a huge bump that is available on the current performance model GTI with a 2.0-liter 230 horsepower powerplant. This new engine and drive system could be what powers and drives upcoming high-performance GTI models in the future from Volkswagen.

Volkswagen has revealed that the whole goal of producing this wild concept is to provide a glimpse into the future of the GTI and it's going to be fast. With this powertrain and a specially tuned chassis, the “Design Vision GTI” will sprint from 0-62 mph in just 3.9 seconds. The three drive modes also give as idea that the concept we are seeing is not just a race car. The car has three drive modes: “Street,” “Sport” and “Track”. That tells us that these extreme performance upgrades will likely make it to a production model.

That’s a very impressive future that we are seeing in this new concept and it could make its way into future performance Volkswagen models like the next-generation Golf GTI and more extreme 2015 Golf R hot hatch that is due out next year. Look for the future of the performance GTI to be revealed in the “Design Vision GTI” at Worthersee Festival in Austria from May 8 through May 11.