Many automakers rely on nostalgia to give their first EVs a competitive edge. Ford obviously did that when it named the Mustang Mach-E. But what would happen if Volkswagen introduced an all-electric Golf GTI? After all, it's easily their most famous model.
That seems like an unlikely thing to happen. While VW has plans to offer performance versions of its ID electric cars, they will have their own "GTX" branding, much like the diesel Golfs are called GTD. But that might just be a provisional measure.
America can continue to have GTI hot hatchbacks for a little while longer, but we predict the hot Golf will be in trouble, as sister brand Cupra plans to stop developing new sports models in about five years. A world without the GTI seems impossible, but many rival brands have already taken such action as Peugeot scrapped its GTi.
In its place, the French automaker will probably have some spicy plug-in, but Volkswagen already has that for sale, the GTE. We think that in a world where most family cars are fully electric, the Germans will have no choice but to offer an all-electric GTI because the branding is just too powerful.
Retro-designed EVs are already happening. In his latest video, TheSketchMonkey mentions the Hyundai Pony electric study, but we'd like to add Honda's badly-named "e", which looks just like the tiny Civic from the early 1970s.
Thanks to cars like those, you already know what it takes to turn a 1975 Golf GTI design into something both modern and retro, powered only by electricity. But it's still entertaining to watch all the plastic trim chiseled away and an aerodynamic front forced out of the blocky design from 46 years ago.
The outcome is a thing of real beauty, so iconic that we think a few tens of thousands of Germans would place an order if Volkswagen released a photo like this. Ironically, this video is published only a day after another modernization rendering of the original GTI.
It just shows how many fans this car has, despite Volkswagen not paying any attention to its iconic boxy styling. But what do you think? Is the all-new 2021 Golf GTI a downgrade compared to this?
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News