‘Most powerful and clean’ new Volkswagen Golf GTD teased

Power will go up from the 130 kW in the Mk 7.5 to 147 kW, the same as what the Mk V GTI produced.

Until now the most secretive model within the performance Golf 8 range, Volkswagen has released the first official teaser image of the all-new GTD.

Set to premiere at the Geneva Motor Show next month, the single images mainly shows the front facia and also provides the clearest indication yet of what could also be expected from the GTI bound to debut at the Swiss showpiece as well.

In an accompanying statement, Wolfsburg states that the GTD, a designation that first bowed in 1982, will come with the “cleanest turbo diesel injection engine ever to be installed in a Golf” and that it will also be the “most powerful” oil-burner to ever feature underneath its iconic hatch’s bonnet.

“Thanks to a new twin dosing SCR with double AdBlue injection, NOx emissions will be greatly reduced as compared to its predecessor. This makes the TDI in the new Golf GTD one of the cleanest combustion engines in the world,” the statement reads.

Despite confirming that the GTD will have the new Active Info Display instrument cluster and a starter button, technical details were not confirmed, although a specification slide leaked last month as part of an alleged powerpoint, claims that power will go up from the 130 kW in the Mk 7.5 to 147 kW, the same as what the Mk V GTI produced.

What is unknown though is whether the GTD will return to South Africa in joining the GTI, R and the regular Golf 1.4 TSI later this year.