Hot Hatch - Development of The Hot Hatch

Development of The Hot Hatch

The car that popularised the concept of the hot hatch is the 1976 Volkswagen Golf GTI, announced at the 1975 Frankfurt Motor Show. However, the Golf GTI was not the first hot hatch with several cars from the early seventies starting the trend of sportier versions of mainstream hatchbacks such as the Simca 1100 Ti which was available on sale Europe-wide by 1974. Another early hot hatch was the Renault 5 Alpine which first went on sale in May 1976 and also pre-dated sales of the Volkswagen Golf GTi, by two months.

The Volkswagen Golf GTI, with the addition of a higher performance 1.6 litre fuel injected engine, sharper handling, and sports-focused marketing, helped create the birth of a huge market for small, practical cars that still had excellent performance. The Golf GTI enjoyed a short run of unparalleled sales success, but by the early 1980s, car manufacturers worldwide were racing to market with their own alternatives.

Until the early 1980s, the Volkswagen Golf Mk1 GTI and the Renault 5 Alpine/Gordini dominated the retrospectively named hot hatch market segment in many European markets. However, competition was not entirely limited to non-hatchbacks, the various sports versions of the Mini, Alfa Romeo Alfasud and race-inspired enthusiasts' vehicles such as the 135 bhp (101 kW) Vauxhall Chevette HS providing sporting performance in a non-coupe body. Other hatchbacks which conformed to the new hatchback format included the 1978 Chrysler/Talbot Sunbeam Ti with 99 bhp (74 kW; 100 PS) and brisker acceleration than the Golf and followed a year later by the 2.2 litre Talbot Lotus Sunbeam offered a then astonishing 150 bhp (112 kW) and a 0-60 mph time of around 6.8 seconds,, Peugeot 104 ZS and Simca 1100 TI (1974).