VW Golf GTI (2024): Facelift officially revealed for the first time

Although the car is still camouflaged, we can already see the cockpit

By: Roland Hildebrandt

Jan 8, 2024 at 2:55pm ET

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Volkswagen is very proud: at the CES 2024 electronics trade fair in Las Vegas from 9 to 12 January, the manufacturer will be presenting the first vehicles in which the artificial intelligence-based chatbot "ChatGPT" is integrated into the IDA voice assistant.

The new chatbot will be offered in conjunction with the latest infotainment generation in the following models: ID.7, ID.5, ID.4, ID.3, new Tiguan and new Passat as well as in the new Golf. And so VW is already showing the revised Golf GTI. Albeit still camouflaged, as the "real" world premiere of the facelifted Golf 8 will not take place for a few days yet.

Gallery: VW Golf GTI (2024) Teaser

What can be recognised? Minor changes to the lights and, in the case of the GTI, a redesigned front bumper. The interior of the GTI can already be seen without camouflage. It remains digital, including the controversial touch surface for the lights to the left of the steering wheel. However, one can hope for higher quality materials.

As with the Tiguan and Passat, VW is returning to real buttons on the steering wheel and as a result the Golf will in future have the 15-inch touchscreen as an option, with 12.9 inches as standard. 15 inches. That's how big computer monitors used to be ...

VW Golf GTI (2024) teaser

And what about AI, the actual message? According to the manufacturer, the integration of ChatGPT into the backend of the Volkswagen voice assistant offers "a multitude of new possibilities that go far beyond the previous voice control".

In future, customers in all Volkswagen models equipped with IDA will be able to seamlessly access the constantly growing artificial intelligence database and have researched content read out to them while driving and interact with the car in natural language. The "Cerence Chat Pro" programme from technology partner Cerence Inc. forms the basis of the new function.

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Volkswagen will be the first volume manufacturer to offer ChatGPT in the first markets and in series production in many models from the second quarter of 2024, says Wolfsburg.

Really? If we may quote from October 2023: "DS Automobiles is the first car manufacturer to integrate the ChatGPT AI software into in-vehicle speech recognition for European customers. ChatGPT is available in combination with the DS Iris system for all models in the DS 3, DS 4, DS 7 and DS 9 series."