On June 1, racing manager and former Ford motorsports boss Jost Capito took over the Volkswagen R division from Ulrich Riestenpatt Gt. Richter, who had led the offshoot since its inception in 2009. The division has been responsible for several Volkswagen R models, most notably the VR6?powered Golf R32, the Passat R36 with an even more powerful VR6, and the V-10 TDI?powered Touareg R50. But those models were launched in the increasingly distant past.
More recently, Richter put Volkswagen R on a profitable track with the highly successful R-Line trim packages that are factory options added on the production line, but the release of true R models has slowed to a trickle. In fact, there is only one left now, the Golf R, while a 400-hp variant of that model we were promised was axed following the Dieselgate-related departure of former VW Group R&D chief Heinz-Jakob Neusser. But now we are told that Volkswagen R is ready to make a major move. “Crush AMG” seems to be the battle cry, and we expect it to inspire a number of full-fledged R models, some of which likely will feature bodies modified beyond the usual bumpers and spoilers. There will be a new, more extreme Golf R and a T-ROC R, and we expect to see Tiguan R and Touareg R models as well. An Arteon R is also possible. With the exception of the Touareg, the models should be powered by ultra-high-output four-cylinder engines, although an Arteon R with a turbocharged, slightly downsized VR6 is a possi...