Report: September 2009 U.S. launch for VW Rabbit and GTI

Posted Thu Nov 20 2008 3:13 AM by Ralph Hanson

More than a third of Golf sales in the U.S. last year were the high-performance GTI model

Volkswagen will reportedly bring its sixth-generation Golf (Rabbit) and the more performance oriented GTI to the United States by September of next year, with production scheduled to begin for the American-spec cars during the tail end of June.

The new Golf is expected to be slightly more expensive than the outgoing model, with a $250 price hike set to apply to the base level Golf and GTI models. The improvements include a new engine lineup and increased availability of DSG dual-clutch transmission technologies, which can lower fuel consumption by up to 28% in some models.

Despite the current economic crisis and concerns over fuel prices, VW is eager to bring the GTI hot-hatch Stateside and is estimating that it will account for more than a third of Golf sales. Of the 42,000 fifth generation Golfs sold in the U.S. last year, 15,000 were the high-performance GTI model, reports Edmunds.

The petrol engines are now more efficient than ever, with four variants available on debut. In Europe, they include outputs of 80hp (60kW), 100hp (75kW), 122hp (90kW) and 160hp (118kW). The latter two engines utilize VW’s TSI design with both a turbo and supercharger present. Fuel economy for the base engine is rated at 36.75mpg (6.4L/100km), while the more powerful 1.4L TSI unit with 160hp is rated at a more economical 37.33mpg (6.3L/100km).

Full U.S. specifications will likely be revealed closer to the car’s launch in the second half of next year.