For Volkswagen’s head of sales, Jürgen Stackmann, the group’s sports car division’s future is tied to electrification. Something that anticipates in the coming years, in addition to new proposals within the range, we will also see high-performance variants.
According to Mr. Stackmann, “The future of the R division must be and will be electric. We are still working on what we started two and a half years ago, which was obviously not electric, although exciting, but the work in the future is and will be electrified.”
Of course, when manufacturers talk about electrification, they are not just talking about pure electric cars but also plug-in hybrids.
As an example, in the upcoming VW Touareg R, the first model in the R division equipped with a hybrid powertrain. A version of the famous SUV that will mean the launch of a model equipped with a plug-in hybrid propulsion system that combines a 336-liter 3.0-liter V6 with a 130-horsepower electric motor and a 14.1 kWh battery. The result is an SUV with 456 HP, capable of moving in electric mode for 50 kilometers.
This will allow Volkswagen to reduce the emissions of the models that have the highest figures in the range, and that customers begin to associate electricity and high performance. Something that they have been working with the ID.R project for some time. A 100% electric car that has been made with the best time for an electric at the Nürburgring, the best historical brand on Pikes Peak, and in its short life accumulates a good number of milestones in different scenarios in an initiative whose developments and evolutions will be applied to streetcars.
Now we wait for the next steps of the Volkswagen R version, which will show the general public that electric cars and high performance are words with much more familiarity than they thought.
We will see, for example, how the ID family receives its corresponding sports versions. These will allow launching silent, efficient, emission-free models, but capable of achieving acceleration figures worthy of a purebred sports car.
A few models that will serve mainly to change many opinions still think that an electric car is slow and tedious, where without a doubt, a name like the “R” of Volkswagen will be able to help in a meaningful way.
We can imagine, for example, a 100% electric Touareg with 500 or 600 HP of power and equipped with a 100 kWh battery. A version that would far exceed the plug-in hybrid in dynamic performance and that would undoubtedly have a fan base that expects a product like this.