VW is looking at electric performance GTX

VW’s GTI performance tag will probably become GTX as VW is planning a series of performance variants of its ID. electric models under the said tag. According to British media, the ID. Crozz series version could be the first MEB model to have a performance offshoot.

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Autocar claims to have heard this from “high-ranking sources” at the carmaker. According to the report, Volkswagen has already secured the naming rights for the corresponding vehicles. The new terminology, which at VW is to supplement the designations GTI, GTD and GTE for mainly performance-oriented petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid models in the electric era, is for example for the series version of the ID. Crozz, which will probably be called ID.5 GTX according to the magazine.

But it remains to be seen which name will be used for the production version of the ID. Crozz will carry at all. Autocar now calls the model ID.5 or ID.5 GTX. At the IAA in September it was rumoured that the SUV would go into series production as ID.4. At the beginning of 2020 – possibly at the Geneva Motor Show – the series version will be presented. At the latest, then there will be certainty about the model designation.

Back to the GTX: The performance offshoot is already being developed by Volkswagen in Braunschweig and could be presented at the beginning of 2021. The X in the name GTX stands for four-wheel drive. The performance versions are therefore likely to be driven by one electric motor each for the front and rear axle. However, the report does not mention potential performance data. So far, the ID.3 with a rear engine has achieved 150 kW output, while the MEB study of the Audi Q4 e-tron with an additional 75 kW engine on the front axle achieved a system output of 225 kW.

But the GTX models must not become too powerful either: As the report also adds (this time without any indication of sources, however), Volkswagen is also considering releasing a “larger selection of ID. models” under its “R Performance” label. The R versions are even more potent than the GTI models, at least for the combustion engines.

A significant differentiation of the GTX (and potentially R) models from the basic vehicles of the ID series is also likely to take place via the visual appearance. The logic of “deeper and wider” probably still applies in the electric age. A rendering of the ID.5 GTX created by Autocar shows the electric car on larger rims with wide tyres, enlarged and more aggressive radiator openings at the front and a green accentuated light graphic.

Update 27.03.2020: VW’s plan to offer a number of performance variants of its ID. electric models under the GTX add-on is becoming more concrete. Matthias Rabe, CTO of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, confirmed to Autocar magazine that the first performance model will be based on the ID.4. However, Rabe stated that it will be “a version of one of the two SUVs” that will be based on the ID. Crozz Concept – either the “classic” SUV or the SUV coupé.

Rabe did not comment on the GTX designation itself, but on the drive layout: Not surprisingly, the performance version uses a second electric motor. “At the moment, we need four-wheel drive for the performance version”, Rabe told Autocar. “I drove a component test car [for the ID 4 GTX] recently; you get fantastic response and can make fantastic drifts. It’s easy to control and will do exactly what you say.”

autocar.co.uk, autocar.co.uk (update)