Volkswagen buyers snap up manual Golf GTI
Limited-edition hatchback sold out before it arrives in Australia.
Volkswagen enthusiasts have snapped up all 100 manual examples of the new Golf GTI 40 Years edition.
The fastest GTI sold in Australia is limited to 500 units, with just one in five available with a six-speed manual transmission.
The other 400 cars feature the brand's DSG dual-clutch automatic gearbox, a unit that has proved more popular with customers.
VW says around 80 per cent of new GTI orders are for manual models, a significant increase on the 50 per cent who preferred self-shifting transmissions when DSG first arrived for the GTI in 2005.
Volkswagen Australia spokesman Paul Pottinger says manual transmissions remain part of Volkswagen's product plan.
"There's still a very keen desire for it," he says.
"If they make it we'll take it.
"[But] DSG is in the ascendancy... The numbers do speak pretty loudly."
Volkswagen says it sold almost 1000 examples of the regular Golf GTI in the first six months of the year - more than Subaru's WRX - as well as 487 copies of the Polo GTI.
VW is tipped to offer a six-speed manual transmission as standard in the next-generation GTI, which could receive a new 10-speed dual-clutch auto.
The brand says its new Golf GTI 40 Years could become a modern classic.
Todd Ford, project manager for the Golf in Australia, says the new model is "instantly collectable".
"It is the fastest production GTI ever," he says. "It's not just a sticker pack."
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