VW Scirocco GTS launches – but not in UK

There’s a new Scirocco available across Europe from this month – the VW Scirocco GTS – but it’s not coming to the UK.

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At the Leipzig Auto Show in June, VW arrived with a quartet of cars that were heading for production – the Beetle Fender, CC R-Line, a limited edition CrossPolo and the Scirocco GTS – and now Volkswagen has released the Scirocco GTS in to the wild. But not in the UK.

The GTS is more of a trim level than a stand-alone model and you can grab it with a variety of engines – 1.4 litre TSI, 2.0 litre TSI and 2.0 litre TDI – as the GTS trim just adds cosmetic tweaks to the Scirocco and nothing in the way of power or performance upgrades.

Those cosmetic tweaks amount to  thumping great black stripes up the bonnet bordered by thinner red stripes (which all continues over the top and down the back of the GTS), red covers for the door mirrors, 18″ alloys, a spoiler at the back (nicked from the Scirocco R) and a more butch back bumper with diffuser.

Inside, the Scirocco GTS gets a tweak or three too with black upholstery with red stitching, bits of piano black trim, a flat bottomed steering wheel, GTS logos and a ‘golf ball’ gear knob.

It’s nothing to get too excited about – and it’s hardly a subtle or particularly appealing option – but we did wonder why VW UK weren’t offering the Scirocco GTS in the UK. After all, a ‘new’ car is always a good way to get a few extra punters interested, and Scirocco sales aren’t exactly the biggest in the VW range.

So we asked VW if there was any particular rationale behind the decision not to offer a Scirocco in the UK that’s widely available across Europe. But either they don’t know or don’t want to tell us as we’ve heard nothing back.

But then, with the most expensive Scirocco GTS costing under €2k less than the Scirocco R, why would you want its great big stripes and red mirrors instead of the 261 horses of the R?

VW Scirocco GTS Photos | VW News