Chinese-Made VW Golf GTI Coming in 2010

Volkswagen is really keen on expanding its presence in China and the recent reports on models to be launched in this continuously side of the market do nothing more than to confirm this statement. It appears that beside the A3, the new Yeti and Passat CC, Volkswagen will also debut the Golf GTI in China as soon as early 2010.

China Car Times writes that the car is projected to be launched in the country in March 2010 but the company has not yet commented on the reports. The GTI will most likely be produced by FAW-VW, the Chinese joint venture of Volkswagen, who is currently preparing the release of the sixth-generation Golf.

The aforementioned source claims the Chinese GTI will be very similar to the one sold in Europe, a model that was released in March in several countries across Europe.

The new GTI is powered by a 2.0l TSI engine, which develops some 210 horsepower and 280 Nm of torque. According to Volkswagen, this engine is a new powerplant, from the "EA888" generation of engines.

The engine is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox (a DSG unit is also available as an option). Thanks to this configuration, the car hits sixty in 6.9 seconds and achieves a maximum speed of 240 km/h (149 mph). To get there, the car accelerates from 80 to 120 km/hour in 7.5 seconds (using the fifth gear) or 9.5 seconds (using the sixth gear).

The GTI will be offered to Americans as well, but the car will suffer a number of modifications to comply with the local requirements. The power output is a bit lower in this case, as the 2.0-liter unit "only" releases 200 horsepower.