Volkswagen to give debut to Golf GTE at Geneva

Volkswagen is the first carmaker worldwide which can now offer all the current pertinent drive types in a single model series.

The German company will present the new Golf GTE with a plug-in hybrid drive at the Geneva International Motor Show (March 4 to 16, 2014) as a world premiere and at the same time round-off the model series with a fifth drive type (petrol, diesel, natural gas, electric and plug-in hybrid ¬drives). The Golf GTE operates with a combined consumption (NEDC for hybrid vehicles) of 1.5 l/100 km (equivalent to 35 g/km CO2) as well as an all-electric range of 50 kilometres; the total driving range of the 150 kW / 204 PS Golf GTE is 939 kilometres.

GTI, GTD, GTE. The name of the Golf GTE is in line with the abbreviations GTI and GTD – two sporty icons belonging to the Golf range. GT stands for Gran Tourismo, a synonym for sportiness. Back in 1976, the first GTI was the original in this class; today it is the most successful compact sports car in the world. The “I” in the name GTI stood and stands for the electronic fuel injection. In 1982, the GTD united the GT concept with diesel fuel injection for the first time; a second GT bestseller was born. The latest versions of the two Golf sports cars – the GTI and the GTD – were introduced in 2013. Now, in 2014, Volkswagen has transferred its GT philosophy of compact sportiness to a third model – the Golf GTE.