New 2024 Volkswagen Golf GTI styling leaked

The incoming 2024 Volkswagen Golf GTI that will be officially unwrapped later this month has been the victim of an embarrassing leak that hands us our first look at how the German brand will update its hot hatch icon.

Just a day after releasing pictures of a lightly camouflaged Mk8.5 Volkswagen Golf GTI ahead of its debut at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, fresh images of an undisguised Golf GTI have been posted online by The Car Crash Review YouTube channel, which discovered pictures of the hot hatch on the show car’s own infotainment system.

Revealing the overhauled VW Golf GTI will once again feature a huge front air intake, the new drawings suggest new blades will be introduced that are designed to direct air to the side-mounted radiators.

Unusually, the blades on the computer rendering are very different to the ones sported by the show car. This suggests that the Golf GTI and its more extreme variants, like the Clubsport model, might come with differing front-end treatments.

Other changes you might spot include a pair of revised headlights, which should feature the brand’s latest Matrix LED tech.

It’s not clear if the lower five-element LED fog lamps have been relocated to the new cluster or still remain embedded within the prominent grille.

Other changes include the new teledial-style wheels and side sill extensions.

Not pictured, but revealed by the official prototype, the Mk8.5 Golf GTI will get new graphics for its tail-lights, plus a revised rear bumper and, potentially, new exhaust outlets.

What has been shown off ahead of the updated Golf’s introduction is the interior that addresses some of the useability complaints of the current car.

New for the cabin include some proper physical steering wheel controls that replace the fiddly touch-sensitive controls of the Mk8 Golf that can be easily triggered when steering into a corner.

The large central 12.9-inch infotainment screen, meanwhile, finally gets backlit slider controls that will also be rolled out in the all-electric Volkswagen ID.3 hatch.

While the facelifted Golf is expected to arrive in European dealers in the third quarter of 2024, Australian buyers might have to until the end of this year – or early next year – before our cars arrive.

Volkswagen is also using this year’s CES to demonstrate how it’s integrating ChatGPT artificial intelligence into its vehicles, starting from the second quarter of this year.