VW boss: electric ID.2 GTI is "a monster", e-Golf GTI here by 2030

The hotly anticipated electric GTI is the car VW boss has dubbed “a monster". Speaking to TopGear.com, Schaeffer confirmed the ID.2 GTI will kick off the next GTI generation with proper fizz. “I think we're going to surprise you with this car. [It’ll be a] journey. We'll start the whole group of GTI that we bring through with ID.2 GTI.”

The GTI isn’t planned until next year and details are sparse, though we know a Golf will follow at the end of the decade.

We also already knew the boss and a few other execs had driven prototypes, and the thing pretty much exists - at least, virtually. “Oh yeah, we have the designs already ready [virtually]. We know what the vehicle looks like, the dimensions of the platform and the vehicle are clear.”

Along with a shiny new platform, Schaefer confirmed LFP batteries will replace the lithium-ion NMC batteries currently in use. While LFP chemistry isn’t as energy-dense, it is considered safer.

The fact they’re locally produced batteries - manufactured at VW’s gigafactories in Salzgitter, Austria and St Thomas, Canada – helps the brand avoid additional taxes imposed by rules-of-origin regulations.

Elsewhere, Schaefer is also positive about the new ‘software-derived’ setups of the future. ”The next-generation [software], and the speed you can update the cars is totally different to the old architectures," he said.

“The traditional way of how we used to set up a car with hundreds of individual control units developed by [many] individual companies, that connected a little bit like European Union – everybody speaks different languages, so to change anything, or connect every aspect was literally impossible. The effort to keep it error-free in the classic setup was unbelievably greater than the new way, which is so much simpler, and so much easier to programme.”

Dodgy digital interfaces and electronic architecture aside, Schaefer didn’t sugar-coat the business challenges VW’s faced over the last couple of years. Before Christmas last year, thousands of German workers went on strike against planned factory closures and massive layoffs – a first in its 87-year-history, but the boss proudly cited a figure of 13 per cent cost reduction made since the start of the year he attributes to hard work and working together.

GTI or no GTI, the fight isn’t done yet, mind. “Super tough targets for this year and next year in the factory…are we where we want to be yet? Not yet, but I'm quite hopeful that with what we set up, we'll get there.”