VW GT up!: It’s an Up GTI

Volkswagen seem keen to raise awareness of the VW up! GT – a warmed over Volkswagen Up – so we must assume the Up GT is coming soon.

We got the reveal of Volkswagen’s new small city car – the VW up! – at Frankfurt in September, and we also got all the details for the UK VW Up last month. And now we get an odd bit of information coming in from Volkswagen on the VW GT up!

It’s unusual because the GT up! was one of the umpteen ‘Concept’ Ups VW took along to Frankfurt – along with stuff like the e-Up, eco-Up and Up-Cross – but sending us a handful of photos and more detail just a few weeks later does seem to indicate that the GT Up is going to arrive sooner rather than later.

VW are saying that the GT Up can deliver up to 98bhp, and it gets plenty of little nips and tucks to make the Up look like a little pocket rocket. Rather in the mould of the Fiat Panda 100hp.

So to pile on the butchness, VW has made the grill on the Up much bigger – and made it a honeycomb grill – and they’ve bolted on a pair of chrome tailpipes – one each side.

Sitting next to the honeycomb grill VW has carved out bigger air vents and stuck a set of LED running lights in the middle. Down the side there’s a set of bigger sills and gloss black mirror backs, and a set of 18″ alloys to top off the look.

Out back the Up follows a similar butch theme, with a new roof spoiler and a black diffuser sitting between the new chrome tailpipes.

Inside the GT Up gets a bit of a makeover too, with black roof lining and black seats, with the seats getting central panels with a blue chequered pattern (VW really do want us to think of the GT Up as a city GTI). The dash is gloss black with blue rings round the air vents and a chunky leather steering wheel to hang on to when you blat round the cityscape.

VW are still calling the GT Up a Concept, but a nudge towards it weeks after the GT Concept was shown at Frankfurt would suggest otherwise.

It seems highly likely the VW GT Up will be in Volkswagen showrooms by this time next year