Which environment? Thousands of modified VW GTI fans converge on a lesser-known city in Austria every year, but climate concerns are now bringing the event to an end. Gert Eggenberger/APA/dpaVolkswagen has stepped in to save a cult GTI tuning event that was recently canceled by Austrian authorities due to climate concerns.
The “GTI Coming Home” show will take place on the doorstep of Volkswagen’s main Wolfsburg plant in Germany from 2024 onwards, Volkswagen announced just weeks after the original production halt.
According to VW, the space and infrastructure available in Wolfsburg offer ideal conditions for accommodating large numbers of visitors with their vehicles.
The event celebrating the petrol hot hatch, now in its eighth year, regularly attracted tens of thousands of fans and hundreds of tuned cars to Austria’s Wörthersee, until the pandemic forced cancellations for three years. Around 5,000 vehicles participated in 2019.
“Our GTI fans are of great importance to Volkswagen and that is why interacting with them is very close to our hearts,” said Imelda Labbé, member of the board of management responsible for VW marketing.
In mid-February 2023, the municipality of Maria Wörth announced that it would no longer host the GTI meeting.
A statement from the local council said the decision was motivated “by the effects of climate change and a move towards greater sustainability,” Der Standard newspaper reported at the time.
The Austrian lakeside event dedicated to GTI tuning is among the first car festivals destined to fall victim to climate change. Local officials are killing the event over environmental concerns. Gert Eggenberger/APA/dpa
Every year, tens of thousands of GTI enthusiasts make a pilgrimage to the small lakeside village of Reifnitz in southern Austria near the Slovenian border. Gert Eggenberger/APA/dpa
Which environment? Thousands of modified VW GTI fans converge on a lesser-known city in Austria every year, but climate concerns are now bringing the event to an end. Gert Eggenberger/APA/dpa
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