Volkswagen keen for latest Golf GTI Clubsport

There’s a lot of love in the room at Volkswagen for the return of the hardcore Golf Clubsport GTI hot hatch to Australia. And this time it might even get to be called Clubsport!

The last time the Clubsport was sold in Australia was as a special edition of the seventh generation Golf GTI dubbed ‘GTI 40 Years’ in 2016.

It couldn’t be called Clubsport because Holden Special Vehicles owned that name here.

Presumably that problem has gone away with the demise of Holden, HSV and the Clubsport last decade.

A Clubsport to mark the GTI’s 45th anniversary was released in 2020 but never made it Down Under.

The car that is now being sought after by Volkswagen’s Australian arm is the 50th anniversary model with a 221kW/400Nm version of the latest LK3 evo4-spec version of the legendary EA888 turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine.

This is 26kW and 30Nm up on the new Golf GTI 8.5 and 0.3 secs quicker to 100km/h at 5.6 seconds.

For all the detail on the latest Clubsport go here.

“We are looking at it [GTI Clubsport] very closely,” confirmed Arjun Nidigallu, Volkswagen passenger car’s head of product.

He revealed the latest GTI Clubsport had risen in local considerations after he and director of Volkswagen passenger cars, PierGiorgio Minto, drove it during a recent trip to Germany.

“We basically drove the Clubsport and did some ridiculous speeds on the autobahn,” confirmed Nidigallu, a self-confessed hot hatch fan.

“I have a personal stake in getting the Clubsport to Australia myself because I love the car.

“It will have to make business sense, but certainly that drive inspired us to investigate.”

The GTI Clubsport would likely have to fit in quite a narrow price range between the standard GTI currently at $58,990 plus on-road costs and the all-wheel drive Golf R currently at $70,990 plus ORCs.

Minto confirmed a GTI Clubsport would be considered as a limited edition offering, rather than full-time member of the freshly expanded line-up.

“Of course it doesn’t make sense as a mainstream or whatever,” he said. “It could be a niche model … It would be very interesting for the market.”

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