Official: VW Sport Coupe Concept GTE

The sleek and determined face of the Volkswagen Sport Concept GTE unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show 2015 gives big-volume seller VW a leap forward with a classy four-door sports coupe powered by lusty turbo petrol/hybrid all-wheel drive powertrain.
Klaus Bischoff, head of design of the Volkswagen Brand, said: “The Sport Coupé Concept GTE is another milestone of expressive design. With this concept car, Volkswagen is not only showing a new model’s design, but also initial glimpses of a new design era.”

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With 295 hp 3.0 litre petrol V6 FSI linked to plug-in electric system with motors front and rear for 374 hp combined, the GTE fastback can sprint to 100 km/h in just five seconds yet boasts the long-distance properties of a grand tourer. And it is also good for zero-emission electric driving for up to 51 kilometres.
The setup is in contrast to the turbo diesel/electric powertrain of the new Audi Q7 E-tron.
The Volkswagen Sport Concept GTE, bigger than a Passat CC with the practicality of a hatchback but smaller than a Phaeton, has a top speed of 250 km/h and has an impressive EC average combined fuel consumption of 118 mpg for total range of 1,200 kilometres.
The front of the concept car is a completely new face for Volkswagen with LED dual headlights framed in a radiator grille crosspiece that flips up at the end like a jet’s wingtips – a feature repeated throughout the car’s design. With LEDs these winglets double as daytime running lights and indicators.

Inside the long cabin is a hi-tech tour de force. For the first time, Volkswagen is interfacing the car’s electronics directly with the driver, based on the driver’s biometric data to determine – via a smartwatch or armband for measuring the driver’s vital functions – whether to select a an exciting country drive or a gentle route.
Facing the driver the instruments are a prototype of a 12.3in newly conceptualised Active Info Display with 3D graphics and free-form surface with main digital display of two round instruments – a power meter on the left and a speedometer on the right – which seem to float in space. The display graphics change according to the driving mode (E-mode or GTE mode).

The central infotainment system has a 10.1in touchscreen while the rear has a 12.3in touchscreen as media control module to operate functions that include the media library, telephone and navigation, as well as a pair of 10.1in screens for the passengers.
The concept car starts in hybrid mode by default, then as a classical full hybrid with regenerative braking and automatically using the V6 engine to drive the front wheels and/or the rear electric motor for the rear ones.
Switching the GTE button brings the most dynamic side, making throttle, transmission and steering characteristics even sportier with the V6 engine and electric motors working together for full system output.