The Golf GTI has become an enigma of a car, it was the German hot hatch to take on the world and was sold across Europe to rival Renault 5 GT Turbo’s, Fords of varying sizes and also the Japanese that were trying their hand at hot hatches of the time. Now VW are keen to start the hot hatch craze in China, a relatively new ground for hot hatches. The hot hatch market has been kept artificially small here for quite some time due to the vast majority of small sporty cars being made overseas and then imported into China. Previously a Mitsubishi Lancer EX would set you back at least 250,000rmb, now the Chinese built one is 170,000rmb maximum, an imported Golf GTI was around 450,000rmb, now it is expected to be 230,000rmb.

The GTI, as it says on the pictures, is powered by the locally built 2.0TSI engine which is usually found in the larger Magotan sedan (Current Euro Passat) and is good for 190bhp. More news as we get it!