Somehow, Volkswagen allowed a group of mad scientists to temporarily take over the Golf program. That's the only explanation I can come up with that accounts for the Design Vision GTI, the 503-horsepower concept that debuted VW's Wörthersee festival.


More photos of the car surfaced online this morning, and inside and out, it turns out to be a mixture of GTI and Audi R8. Ain't nothin' wrong with that, baby. The huge wheels, aggressive front vents and vaguely R8-ish rear "blade" make it look like some kind of futuristic Golf from hell.


That's right. It's from future hell. You wanna mess with this hatchback now?

Inside, the Design Vision GTI definitely looks like it was done by some folks on loan from Porsche or Lamborghini. The racing-inspired steering wheel, alcantara, carbon fiber and digital displays all say this Golf is designed to haul more than just groceries.

The all-wheel-drive concept is powered by a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 that's also good for a whopping 413 lb-ft of torque. As we wrote the other day, it is supposedly capable of a zero to 60 mph dash that takes a mere 3.9 seconds.


As always, no word on whether VW actually plans to make this beast. They never made the last über-GTI that debuted at Wörthersee, which had a W12 engine. This is slightly more down to earth — just slightly — so maybe.


I, for one, wouldn't be opposed to these design cues showing up on a future Golf or the return of a VR6 engine under the hood. Let's hope so. I'd love to see these mad scientists put stuff out on the regular.



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