This is what i know (from Evo or some similar magazine ages ago). It only mentioned the 1.8T variant and not the non-turbo models.
2.0 launched on the continent, and was duly labelled so.
1.8T launched on the continent and labelled as GTI in silver letters.
Both Models made their merry way to Blighty and the labelling remained the same when they were rolled out of the factory regardless of their final destination.
2.0 owners over here wondered why they weren't motoring around with a GTI badge (after all, previous 2.0 model was labelled as a GTI). Consequently due to all the requests, a lot of dealers started rebadging 2.0 as GTI (in the same silver letters as the 1.8T), even to a point (correct me if I am wrong, I could be way off here) that the 2.0 was referred to as a GTI in some of the literature.
Of course this threw up the problem of how 1.8T drivers distinguish their quicker motors from the 2.0, hence the introduction of the red 'I'. So now dealers had to rebadge the 1.8Ts when they arrived.
And so it remained...apart from one thing, there was no official instruction saying the rebadging had to be done. So that's why these two models kept cropping up with the 'continental' badging; It was either down to the laziness of the UK dealer or maybe they didn't have the letters in stock.
As for diesels, I know the UK likes to have it so the 150 is GTI (red I), 130 is TDI (red DI), 115 is TDI (red I) but I'm not sure how they are originally badged at Wolfsburg. I'm sure there is every chance that the 150's are originally badged as an all-red TDI (I've seen a number of 150 Bora's with all-red TDI badges). as for the 130 & 115, who knows.
Wolfsburg definitely have a method for the badging, albeit a confusing one due to a number of different engine variants. It's the UK dealers who make it a load more confusing!
