On sale in Europe since 1976, the first-generation Golf GTI wasn’t supposed to become a worldwide phenomenon, the hot hatchback that would bring performance to the masses at an affordable price. But it did, and Volkswagen went on to sell more than two million units of the hot hatchback to the present moment.
Boiled down to its core, the GTI came to be as the skunkworks project of a man that went against Volkswagen’s view on the compact hatchback. Anton Konrad is his name, and believe it or not, he was with the automaker’s press department at the time. Volkswagen didn’t see a business case in turning the Golf into the GTI, thus Konrad decided to assemble a small team of engineers.
Those six people, headed by Konrad, went on to develop the first-generation Golf GTI as a means to attract younger buyers to Volkswagen. From the lowly 50 horsepower of the 1.1-liter model, the GTI upped the ante to levels that beggared belief for its vehicle segment and that era. After all, the Golf’s main purpose was to be a replacement for the fan-favorite and best-selling Beetle.
As highlighted by Donut Media in this Up To Speed episode about the GTI, Volkswagen somehow gave Konrad the green light. The higher-ups didn’t expect the performance-oriented Golf to sell more than 5,000 during its production life, but they were proven wrong. By the end of production, the Golf GTI Mk1 went on to sell approximately 420,000 units all over the world.
More than four decades since Konrad went against his bosses, the Golf GTI is in its seventh generation and continues to enjoy worldwide acclaim. As a side note, even Jeremy Clarkson owns one as a jack of all trades. VeeDub’s go-faster champion isn’t alone, with the automaker introducing the Golf R to the stable of adequately fast cars for everyday people like you and me.
Purists, however, would rather steer away from the R32s and Rs, preferring the likes of the Clubsport and Clubsport S. And even if the Honda Civic Type R took the Nurburgring crown from the Clubsport S, the GTI remains one of the most fun - if not the most complete - hot hatches ever.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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