Volkswagen unveils 12-cylinder GTI show car

VW GTI W12 show car. Click image to enlarge

Photo Gallery: VW GTI W12 show car

Wolfsburg, Germany – Volkswagen unveiled a GTI concept car with a 640-hp W12-cylinder engine at an annual GTI club event in Austria on the weekend. The GTI W12-650 has a 6.0-litre bi-turbo W12 engine and six-speed automatic transmission mounted longitudinally behind the driver and front passenger. 0 to 100 km/h is reputed to take just 3.7 seconds and top speed is 325 km/h.

Klaus Bischoff, Director of Volkswagen Design, said, “Our greatest challenge was to provide the six-litre mid-engine with sufficient air, without watering down the GTI’s side profile. In addition, provisions had to be made for sufficient downforce at the rear axle on such a fast type of car. But for aesthetic reasons we did not want to put an enormous rear spoiler on the car.”

At the same event, VW showed the new VW GTI Pirelli which is due to go into production in September for European sales only. The original GTI Pirelli was produced in 1983 as a limited production model. The new model offers Pirelli 18-inch wheels and size 225 P-Zero tires, a 225-hp engine from the GTI Edition 30, and unique sports seats with a tire tread design.