Paris Motor Show: Volkswagen GTI Concept

If you're looking for thinly veiled production models from the 2012 Paris Motor Show, Volkswagen has you covered. The German automaker showed off its GTI Concept alongside a smattering of other Golf variants.

A prototype in name only, the concept gives us a glimpse of what the MkVII GTI will bring to the table in terms of aesthetics. Volkswagen says the next-gen GTI will boast an 18-percent bump in fuel efficiency, which could see the sports hatch top 36 miles per gallon highway on the U.S. scale. Not too shabby, especially given the machine should retain its turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine.

Volkswagen has also rummaged up a few extra ponies, as the company claims the MkVII will dish out around 217 horsepower, a 17-horse nudge over the current generation. Expect more solid numbers to surface closer to the production model's actual debut. In the interim, peruse our gallery of live images above and the official press release below.

Source: Autoblog.com

New Golf celebrates public premiere at the Mondial de l'Automobile in Paris

Additional world premieres for near final prototypes of the new Golf BlueMotion and Golf GTI
Wolfsburg / Paris, 27 September 2012 - At the Mondial de l'Automobile starting today in Paris everything at the Volkswagen show area revolves around the new Golf. In showing prototypes of the exceptionally fuel-efficient Golf BlueMotion and especially sporty Golf GTI, both almost ready to go into full production, Volkswagen is also providing a first look at some models of the future.

Available across Europe from the autumn, the Golf is being presented to a broad audience for the first time in Paris. With its larger interior (extra legroom in the back and 30 litres more luggage space), new pioneering safety systems such as multi-collision braking fitted as standard and a proactive passenger protection system (PreCrash), plus completely redesigned information and entertainment systems, Volkswagen is aiming to continue the bestseller's success story. New, fuel-efficient engines like the 140 PS petrol motor with cylinder deactivation and consumption of 4.8 litres per 100 kilometres (121 g/km CO2) use up to 23 per cent less fuel than their predecessors. Optimisation at this level on the new Golf is, however, not the exception, but the rule: the base models consume as petrol versions (TSI) 4.9 l/100 km (equating to 115 g CO2 /km) and as diesels (TDI) just 3.8 l/100 km (99 g CO2 /km).

By showing the near-production concept of the next Golf BlueMotion, Volkswagen is also giving visitors an insight into some sophisticated and yet affordable fuel-saving technologies. The future Golf BlueMotion excels with impressive average fuel consumption of just 3.2 l/100 km, equating to a CO2 value of 85 g CO2/km. It launches as a full production model in the summer of 2013.

Proof that even sporty vehicles can be fuel-efficient is provided by the new Golf GTI concept car. At just 6.0 l/100 km the seventh generation of the sporty classic again sets a new record. The average fuel consumption of the 162 kW / 220 PS Golf GTI has been reduced in comparison to its predecessor by 1.3 litres or 18 per cent.