Does anyone recall the April Fool’s Day joke that Volkswagen played on its target audience a couple of years back, whereby it suggested that henceforth the company was going to be known as ‘Voltswagen’.
Ho hum, indeed.
But it appears that the original joke is actually on us, with the sudden emergence of this brand-new GTi logotype.
Craftily replacing the legendary lowercase ‘i’ with a 'thunderstrike' graphic, it doesn’t take the proverbial rocket scientist to deduce that all this points in the general direction of electrification.
And to be precise; the electrification of Veedub’s future GTi-esque range.
The GTi is Dead. Long Live The GTi
It was only recently that we announced that the current eighth generation Golf GTi would mark the physical end of production of the ultimate - and original - ICE hot hatch. While we sadly parted company with the equally bombastic Up! GTi latterly too.
Both revelations serving to underline that our continued love affair with the internal combustion engine-powered fast VW is being usurped by a collection of volts.
Many, MANY volts.
So, what other clues do we have to prove that this isn’t just another clever marketing ploy to throw the unsuspecting off an alternative scent?
Well, for a (very quiet) start there’s the official filing of this intriguing new - and blatantly - electrified trademark made by Volkswagen of late.
As of July the 25th Volkswagen secured the rights to this new design by taking the necessary legal measures. Registering its new GTi logotype with the relevant DPMA (Deutsche Patent-und Markenamt) peeps.
And as you can clearly see for yourself, the ‘G’ and ‘T’ remain virtually unchanged, with the ‘i’ giving up its boot-lid stranglehold to make way for a lightning bolt.
When Will The New ‘i’, New ‘i’ Be Famous?
We can’t answer that. Tragically.
All of which surmising and pontification leads us to the obvious next question.
That being, just WHAT vehicle will be the first to debut the new moniker?....
Which as we go to press, remains unanswered.
Volkswagen’s normal man-with-the-answers, is unsurprisingly its man-at-the-top; Thomas Shafer. Who recently confirmed that the Golf name will live on in the electric age.
That much isn’t up for debate.
Yet in terms of then which, when and where, we’re still very much in limbo.
Volkswagen Speaks
Speaking to Auto Express about the evolution of the GTi name, he said; “The discussion we’re having now is to get the electric vehicles into performance and then carry the GTi name forward.” Going on to add; “GTX was an idea on the way to electrification; we came up with a different name. In future, whether we’ll need this or not, we’ll see. But GTi is so strong.”
The most likely candidate of existing cars which could bear the new GTligtningstrike branding is for all intents and purposes the impending ID.2all Concept; slated for 2025 launch.
That being said, VW has remained tight-lipped as to this EV receiving the full-fat GTi treatment. The fact is, this concept car would wear any future GTi branding well.
On account that it’s hardly backwards in coming forwards, courtesy of its mooted 223bhp power output.
Excuse The Pun, But WCC Always Provide A Lightning Response
It’s all a bit exciting, isn’t it?
However, we’re still none the wiser as to which future-proof Veedub hot hatch will carry the new logotype torch as we enter a new vehicle dawn.
What we can confirm though is this.
If you own a Volkswagen of any denomination - ICE, hybrid, EV - then our team of experienced experts are on hand to mollycoddle it and essentially keep it on the road.
Providing of course that the road is not located a few miles up from terra firma, a la Blade Runner.
Talk to us to book YOUR VW in for all of THIS and much more.