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In the case of the Golf, this worked superbly with the sporty GTI, GTD and GTE models. Customers want to be able to gauge what they are getting, especially in a volatile world. The more expensive a product, the stronger this desire. Companies must meet this need – with their umbrella brands and with product lines like GTX. For 45 years, GTI has been synonymous with powerful petrol engines. Is it clever to rely on that, or should a brand for the electric age not have a completely different name? Manufacturers like Volkswagen are in fierce competition with new rivals. But the new players are lacking one thing: a past that builds trust in the performance of the cars. German cars are renowned around the world for their quality and reliability. This reputation has withstood transgressions and scandals. For this reason, referring to tradition is the right move. The term GTX should go down particularly well with the children of thoroughbred GTI fans. Very young drivers can probably associate less with it. What should GTX models offer, in order to establish the brand? A car like the ID.4 GTX must convey an attitude to life – this includes fun, a sense of belonging, and sportiness. The properties of the products cannot achieve this on their own.

From Trabant to Polo and Golf The Volkswagen Group continued Zwickau’s storied automotive manufacturing tradition with the establishment of Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH on December 12, 1990. The Volkswagen Group’s initial investment of 4 billion DM went into the construction of a new car manufacturing plant conceived for the production of the Golf. Sometime earlier the transition from mass production of the Trabant – which had been in operation since 1957 at the VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke – to modern new cars with catalytic converters had become apparent, so the Volkswagen Group established the Volkswagen IFA-PKW GmbH together with the IFA-Kombinat for passenger cars in the GDR on December 22, 1989. Thereafter the “East’s” Trabi and the “West’s” Polo both rolled off the assembly line at the same time from the Sachsenring plant of the IFA-Kombinats PKW over a period of three months, from May 21, 1990 to August 1990. While the last “Trabi” made at the plant was a skyblue Trabant with a Polo engine under the plastic hood. The first “Saxon” Polo was an alpine white car in a hatchback version, equipped with a 55-hp engine. A total of 17,978 cars were produced in Mosel until September 12, 1991. The start of Golf production in the assembly halls of the new automotive plant under construction on February 15, 1991, marked the launch of Volkswagen Group’s mass production at the Saxon site. By October 1991, the 20,000-car mark had already been reached and in September 1992 it had already grown to 100,000. Innovation and environmental protection Even then the Volkswagen Group was already attaching great importance to investments in the infrastructure and an improved environment at their site locations. For example, the Volkswagen Group built a natural-gas-based heating plant on the Mosel by Zwickau factory premises in November 1991, followed by a wastewater center in summer 1992.

“The main design elements of the Golf I – the silhouette with the upright, solid C-pillar, the striking wheel arches and the horizontal front with the slim grille and the headlights protruding downwards – are still to be found in every Golf today,” says Bischoff. In March 1974, the first Golf rolled off the assembly line in Wolfsburg. The advertising starts with the slogan: “The new popular sport: Golf” – a vision that was to come true. The first generation makes its mark: the Beetle's successor is sold 6.99 million times. Check here for more pictures of Golf I Golf II: 1983 - 1991 Yes, there is a successor! And here it is: The Golf II is bigger and more aerodynamic. The designers consistently follow the DNA of the Golf I and at the same time create progressive new details. Original script from Volkswagen in 1983: “The Golf must remain a Golf. So no new design that departs from the Golf concept – but nevertheless a new car from bumper-to-bumper according to the motto: continuity in the concept, progress in detail and quality. The rear is radically designed: the taillights of the Golf I are positioned at the very bottom just above the bumper – in the case of the Golf II they now move further up. No other car in 1983 has this. Meanwhile, the C-pillar, which is still typical today, builds a bridge between the generations. This makes the Golf II unmistakable and forgery-proof. The new vehicle is a manifestation of the “Golf phenomenon” – the Volkswagen par excellence. It becomes the mirror image of the brand: a compact car with a cross-class status that reaches all levels of society. Series production of the second Golf begins at the Wolfsburg plant in June 1983. Technical innovations: the anti-lock braking system (ABS), power steering and the “Syncro,” the first all-wheel drive Golf. And already in 1989 – 30 years ago! – Volkswagen presented a prototype of this Golf with an electric drive (Golf Citystromer) and a Golf Hybrid study.

With the Volkswagen Golf GTI, Volkswagen launched a sports car for everyone in 1976, hitting the pulse of the time. We look back and show how the sports car from Wolfsburg has developed from generation to generation. New, unique, powerful – when the Golf GTI was presented to the world’s public at the IAA International Motor Show in Frankfurt in 1975 and launched one year later, it was a sensation. Visually, it differs from the original Volkswagen Golf only in a few details, but behind its discreet exterior hides a real racing machine – powered by a new, lively 110 PS engine. Half a dozen like-minded people, including the then Volkswagen press officer Anton Konrad, had forged the secret plan at Volkswagen in 1974 to develop a “Golf sport”. They succeeded in transforming a compact car into a sports car that remained affordable and also proved its worth in everyday life. To this day, the Golf GTI is a sports car for everyone. After the initially planned production run of 5,000 units, more than two million units have been delivered worldwide after eight generations and various special models. This makes it one of the most successful compact sports cars in the world. Golf I GTI (1976 - 1983) – The classic one The concept is as simple as it is ingenious: a lightweight compact car, a powerful engine and a sporty chassis. At the market launch in 1976, nobody suspects that this 182 km/h fast Golf with the magic three letters GTI will develop into a true cult sports car. A free-revving 1.6-liter injection engine, and from 1982 a 1.8-liter injection engine, lets the speedometer needle of the Golf GTI with its flared black wheel arches, the black framed rear window and the red rimmed radiator grille fly to 100 km/h in just 9.2 seconds.