Though they’re somewhat common in Europe, hot hatchbacks have become a rarity in the United States, and one of our most prominent examples could be changing in a big way. Volkswagen recently announced that it was discontinuing the manual transmission option in the GTI and Golf R, and the automaker has hinted many times about the GTI’s transition to electrification. A recent X/Twitter teaser post has added more fuel to the fire, as it depicts a hand drawing a red line — the GTI’s signature styling element — with the statement that, “There will be more red lines to see in Munich soon.”
While VW hasn’t given any indication that it’s about to reveal a new GTI variant, it’s hard to imagine what else such a tease could mean. The automaker’s R-badged vehicles wear blue accent colors, and the GTI models get red, so there’s only one performance line this tease could be talking about.
Having said that, the automaker could be talking about the Polo GTI or perhaps even the up! GTI, but the latter car was just discontinued, and there’s not a great chance of such a quick revival.
The more likely scenario is that VW’s teasing an electrified GTI of some sort, as we recently saw a trademark with the “I” in the GTI logo replaced by a lightning bolt. VW has also confirmed that it would build a performance version of the electric ID2.all, which fits the size and hot-hatch attitude the GTI needs. Officials have also confirmed that the car will feature front-wheel drive, a key Golf GTI attribute that the car would need to be a true successor.
Whatever VW’s got up its sleeve, we don’t have long to wait to see more. The automaker promised more details at the Munich Auto Show, aka the IAA Munich conference, which begins Monday with press conferences.
