From model designation to independent brand. One VAG brand has already taken that path. And now the Volkswagen 'R' will follow the same path.
Cupra sting from Seat. And now the R models will break out of Volkswagen's model range to form a new 'independent' car brand.
Volkswagen created the first R model in 2002, when the Golf R32 was the first street car ever with a dual-clutch gearbox.
But it is no longer enough for Volkswagen to 'just' have R models as part of the regular model range.
This is what Volkswagen writes in a press release .
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The first step in the direction of independence is an actual R department in the VAG Group's Autostadt Museum in Wolfsburg. The new part of the museum opens already this summer.
Since the first R model, it has become more than 300,000 in now 22 years. And so the bosses in Wolfsburg think it's time for another car brand. Although that idea is not actually new.
Volkswagen already said last year that it had and has plans to separate the R models as an independent brand.
R boss Reinhold Ivenz told Autocar in August 2023 that they are already working on the development of 'several models'.
However, the boss would not put a date on exactly when we will see the first R cars. Thus, the Volkswagen group will probably have the same number of car brands in the stable in 2035 as is the case now.
At one point, however, 'R' stands out. The first model from the 'brand' will only be able to run on electricity. And so it will be with all the following cars.
On the other hand, Volkswagen has realized that it is certainly not all ideas that motorists bite on. Not even when it comes to electric cars.
If you ask Volkswagen's marketing manager Lars Krause, there is, for example, no market for an otherwise hyped version of ID.Buzz. Read more about it here .
