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Volkswagen Is Abandoning The GTX Label For Its Sporty EVs
Volkswagen still sticks the GTX label on the back of the sportier versions of its electric models. It will move away from that in the long term. Sporty electric Volkswagens are also simply given the GTI or R label.
Volkswagen has many sporty labels. There are sporty GTI models, more powerful and four-wheel-drive R versions, and for sporty diesel and plug-ins, Volkswagen has successively presented the GTD and GTE badges. And the sporty electric models? They are currently called GTX. The Volkswagen ID4 was the first ‘GTX’, but now the ID5 and even the ID Buzz also have a sporty GTX version. GTX versions of the ID3 and the Volkswagen ID7 have also been presented, and such a sporty version has already been announced for the yet-to-be-revealed ‘ID2’. However, the GTX designation will not last long.
Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer tells Autocar that the GTX label will eventually be phased out. Future sporty electric models will simply have GTI or R badges printed on their rear ends. The news does not come as a complete surprise. Although Volkswagen previously announced a ‘GTX version’ of the ID2, it looked ahead to this in September last year with a study model with GTI in the name: the Volkswagen ID.GTI Concept. Schäfer tells Autocar that Volkswagen is currently still figuring out how exactly it will position the electric GTIs. The CEO is referring, among other things, to the fact that GTIs traditionally have front-wheel drive, while the electric ID models are basically rear-wheel drive and are also available with four-wheel drive.
We expect that Volkswagen will no longer introduce new GTX models. There are no plans to rename the current GTX models as GTI. In January, Volkswagen made it clear that the future of at least the R label lies with electric models.
