Look! The 641bhp, mid-engined twelve-cylinder Golf GTI is back, and now it’s RED

Back in May 2007, Volkswagen delivered a small missive notably devoid of bombast and theatrics that carried news of a car filled with both of those things. “A unique design study.”

It was a three-door Golf GTI married to a “bespoke mid-mounted bi-turbo W12 650PS engine channelling drive to the rear wheels”. And now, that unhinged twelve-cylinder hatch is back. And this time, it's red.

It really has been nearly 20 years since the wildest – and fastest – Golf GTI ever created was unleashed by a company renowned for sensible, family-friendly cars, released from captivity in the year the Golf GTI celebrates 50 years.

VW hasn’t divulged any new details about the W12 650’s reappearance, other than to join the GTI’s 50th birthday party – alongside the other notably mad GTI concepts in the galleries below – but the salient points you’ll likely remember.

Like its 6.0-litre W12 engine lifted out of Volkswagen’s brilliantly over-engineered failure – the Phaeton – and closely related to the one you’d find in an old Bentley Continental GT. That W12 got two turbos, four valves per cylinder, 641bhp, and 553lb ft.

Goodbye, 6.0-litre W12: one last ride in Bentley’s 12-cylinder titan

All that power was delivered post-haste to the rear wheels and rear wheels alone via an extremely hardworking six-speed Tiptronic auto, to record a 0-62mph time of 3.7s and theoretical top speed of 201.8mph.

It was lower. Much fatter to deal with that massive engine stuffed in the middle. Packed with underfloor aero to ensure it didn’t take off and avoid the fitment of a rear wing. Filled with cooling scoops and vents and built from carbon fibre. It ran on 19s, too, which in 2026 feels somehow… quaint.

“The GTI W12-650 is a bespoke design study built by Volkswagen to mark the annual GTI festival in Worthersee, Austria,” said VW, presumably with a straight face, about a car incapable of keeping your face straight.

As JC found out when he drove it a long, long time ago…

Volkswagen GTI Roadster

Volkswagen Design Vision GTI