VW isn’t convinced the electric Golf GTI needs fake shifts and noise

The next Golf GTI is going to be electric. That we’ve known for a while. What we’re not yet clear on is… literally any of the cold, hard detail. Other than it’ll be built on VW’s new SSP platform, due circa 2028.

Now though Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen passenger cars, has given us our first clues having had engineers mock up a couple of test cars for VW’s top brass to play around with.

Right off the bat he insists that a big, heavy battery won’t turn the Golf GTI into yet another vaguely fast, anodyne EV. “With a couple of things like torque splitters and so on, you can really work at the driving feeling of a GTI in an electric car,” he says. “Sometimes [it’s] even better because of the acceleration and the handling.”

Ah yes, dynamics. Volkswagen has already dipped its toe in the e-performance water with its GTX line, but we’d put good money on never finding a GTI owner who thinks the ID.3 GTX is more of a hoot.

“Yeah, agreed,” Schäfer admits. “But the point is... you can [make electric fun] if you put your mind to it. Is the GTX a GTI in electric? No, it is not.

“If we put the GTI together, we make sure it is a proper GTI. It has got all the DNA, and then we put our stamp on it. Otherwise, don't call it that. Be very careful. If it's a GTI, it better be a GTI.

“It's an iconic brand by itself, and the idea to lose that in the future is just ludicrous. So that's why we're working on ‘how do we bring GTI into the future?’ GTI is not necessarily the engine roar. It's a lifestyle and it’s a feeling.”

Ah yes, noise. The Ioniq 5 N is surely the first electric hot, er, crossover to make a proper fist of the whole generated sound thing. Schäfer has driven it and taken note: “It will definitely play a role. The question is the adaptation and how is it executed?

“Most cars that are out on the road today I find too artificial. You have it on for the first couple of weeks and then you switch it off because people don't really… need it.

“There's always this hardcore following of people, ‘It has to be like that – the gearing, the noise.’ I drive cars in our group that don't have it, and we still have incredible fun without the noise, without the shifting.”

Ah yes, shifting (of the fake variety). Another gimmick the 5 N has fully embraced, and successfully so. “From a technical point of view, it's definitely doable,” Schäfer says. “It's a debate whether people actually want it... it's split half [and] half.

“Speak to some people, [they] say 'Brilliant! It's like the old one – it brings back the feeling of combustion.’ The other half says 'Pfft, [word redacted, FIA fine pending].’

“We’re not 100 per cent decided to be honest.”

Which path should VW take? Let thine voices be heard below.