The ground-breaking new Volkswagen Golf GTE will go on sale in Ireland in July and order books have now opened.
The plug-in hybrid model, which offers all the performance of Volkswagen’s GTI and GTD models, has environmental credentials which places it among the most fuel-efficient cars on the market today.
“This is a car that really offers everything you could ask for in one package,” says Paul Burke, operations director for Volkswagen Passenger Cars.
“The GTE is first and foremost a Golf, which is Ireland’s best-selling car for a reason – it’s comfortable, beautifully built and practical, but by combining a 1.4-litre TSI engine with an electric motor, you get a car that is both potent when it comes to performance, and incredibly fuel-efficient.”
The Golf GTE combines a 1.4-litre TSI engine putting out 150PS and twins this with a 102PS electric motor. The result is a combined power output of 204PS and theoretical range of 930km.
The GTE can run on electric power alone for up to 50km at speeds of up to 130km/h using no fuel at all, but also works in tandem with the petrol engine to produce fuel economy figures of up to 1.6 l/100km (166mpg ) and CO2 emissions of 39g/km. With 350Nm of torque, this is the same figure as the Golf GTI and the 0-100km/h figure of 7.5 seconds is the same as that of the GTD.
The car’s 8.7kwh lithium-ion battery can be charged in three hours 45 minutes from a domestic mains outlet, or in two hours 15 minutes from a domestic wall box. The battery weighs 120kg adding up to a kerbweight of 1,599kg for the GTE, which comes only as a five-door model.
There is one high-specification model available for the car, which comes with a host of features, such as a six-speed DSG gearbox, 18” Nogaro alloy wheels, 5.8” touch-screen interface with SD card reader, LED headlights front and rear, adaptive cruise control, and park distance control, all as standard.
The GTE takes many of the styling cues of the GTI, but where the GTI uses red accents throughout, the GTE uses blue accents. Items such as 18” wheels, a sports rear diffuser, and LED lights front and rear, mark it out as a performance model.
Order books for the GTE are open now, with deliveries set to start in July priced at circa €38,495.
