The new VW Golf GTI

The iconic design of the updated Golf has even more charisma with a number of new detailed solutions. The team led by Klaus Bischoff, Volkswagen Head of Design, redesigned the bumpers and, together with engineers, conceptualised new headlights (halogen and LED), new LED tail lights and new wheels. The exterior design of the Golf, which has been systematically developed over a period of more than 40 years, has been consciously advanced to a new evolutionary level. That is because the success of the Golf - along with its technical concept and all-round qualities - has always been based on a design that is considered unmistakable and extends beyond class boundaries. This has made the Golf one of the world's few compact vehicles that does not necessarily reflect the financial resources of its owner. This makes the Golf - the updated version included - the essence of Volkswagen.

At the front, it is the alliance of the radiator grille and headlights in particular that has taken the style of the original to a new level of perfection. The lower chrome strip of the radiator grille is continued to the left and right as a chrome element (GTI: Chrome/red) which extends through the LED daytime running lights and into the full-LED headlights. The LED headlights in the new Golf, included as standard or optional depending on the trim line, replace the xenon headlights. The cooling air openings in the lower section of the bumper, which have also been redesigned, emphasise the width of the Volkswagen more than ever. The radiator grilles of the Trendline, Comfortline and Highline trim versions exhibit a louvre-type design; on the GTI and GTD models, and on the Alltrack, it is a honeycomb design. A visual plus in versions with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and/or Front Assist including City Emergency Braking with pedestrian monitoring: in all TDI, TSI, natural gas, GTD and GTI versions, the radar sensor in these systems will no longer be visible in the cooling air intake on the bumper; rather it will be located, hidden, behind the VW badge in the radiator grille.