Volkswagen has spilled the beans on its highly anticipated Design Vision GTI concept car, which was set to make its debut at the Wörthersee festival in Austria on Thursday.
They haven't released any pictures yet so the official sketches you see here are our closest viewing for now, but VW has elaborated on what's beneath the skin of this race car concept.
It's powered along by a 3-litre V6 turbopetrol engine, rated at 370kW at 6500rpm and 560Nm from 4000 - although 500 of those newtons are available from just 2000 revs.
VW boasts that it'll blast from standstill to 100km/h in just 3.9 seconds and there's no torque steer to worry about because the DSG gearbox channels power to all four wheels.
TRACK TOOL
Throw in a bespoke sports chassis and the GTI concept is ready to tackle the most demanding of race tracks, its maker says. It was, after all, designed to translate the seventh-generation Golf GTI into a race car mould.
It's 15mm shorter and 57mm lower than the GTI road car (the overhangs were shortened and a long wheelbase retains) while the car has also been widened and sits on a set of 20-inch wheels.
Numerous striking design features set the GTI concept apart, including headlights set back into the bonnet and its extended C-pillar and side sills.
The interior revolves around the theme of “pure GTI” which in this context means “concentration on the truly essential, but with style.” Thus the number of switches have been minimized and are angled towards the driver.
As for the style aspect, the familiar black, red and white colour scheme features throughout, along with touches of alcantara and carbon. To increase the car's overall stiffness, the back seats were replaced by an X-shaped cross member.
It's not all bare basics though, as VW has fitted an onboard camera and a large display screen to allow the driver to engage in social networking from the car and share his or her track achievements. Presuming the driver is actually concentrating on the task at hand.