VW GTI assembly leaves Wörthersee due to local environmental concerns

The village of Reifnitz, located on the shores of Austria's Lake Wörthersee and comprising the municipality of Maria Wörth, has hosted an annual event for Volkswagen GTI fans since 1982; VW itself has attended the event and has presented new models and concepts in the past.

The event has not been held since 2019 due to a pandemic, and now the Maria Welt municipality has decided to cancel it due to concerns about the sustainability of the local population; in a statement released in February, the municipality said that the event has grown so much in recent years that the local population in the small village's acceptance level The municipality also stated that the event had grown so much in recent years that the readiness of local residents in smaller villages had declined. The municipality also cited the effects of climate change as a reason for canceling the event.

The GTI meeting will return, but will be held in Wolfsburg, the German city where the Volkswagen Group is headquartered and where the current Golf GTI is manufactured; VW announced last week that the first new GTI meeting in Wolfsburg will be in 2024.

"GTI fans are very important to Volkswagen, which is why interacting with them is so important to us," Imelda Labe, head of sales, marketing, and after-sales for the VW brand, said in a statement. 'For this reason, after the unfortunate cancellation of the GTI meeting at Lake Wörthersee, we quickly decided to offer the GTI fan community a new venue.'

According to VW, the new meeting will continue to feature vehicle presentations, stage shows, and GTI Club events, in addition to new events and a few surprises. In addition, Wolfsburg has the space and infrastructure to support larger meetings such as those previously held in Leifnitz, the company said.