For every new car there is a rumor that there will be a hotter version, always. There have been rumors for a while about an extra hot Volkswagen ID.3 R, which would be even hotter than a possible GTX. The rumor is in line with the news that there will be no more Volkswagen Rs with petrol engines. But unfortunately: there will be no Volkswagen ID.3 R, says Volkswagen R boss Reinhold Ivenz.
Ivenz even says that there will be no R models on the current MEB platform: ‘We looked at different concepts for MEB. We’ve looked at what the platform can offer us and decided it’s not enough for an R model.” For example, all really fast electric cars at Audi are not on the MEB platform.
Developing an R version with the current platform would be way too expensive: “If you want to make an R model in the MEB world, we have to build an extra platform and that is way too expensive.” Currently, Volkswagen does have the ID.4 and ID.5 GTX on the platform, these are slightly more powerful versions of the electric cars, but not yet full-blooded performance monsters.
Waiting for the new platform
‘That’s why we decided to start with the next generation’, says Ivenz. He’s talking about the SSP platform that runs on 800 volts. The SSP platform is currently still under development and the R division has submitted a wish list to Volkswagen. For example, an R-model is immediately taken into account during development.
Also read: Volkswagen develops hydrogen car that can travel 2,000 kilometers on one tank
“We need to define what we need for the new platform. There are a lot of conversations going on about what we should and shouldn’t do. It’s an open conversation with the technical teams, so I can’t say what we can make on that platform yet. This is the beginning,” says Ivenz.
No electrical ID.3 R?
So we will have to be patient for a while before we get a real performance EV from Volkswagen. But will we ever get an electric hot hatch again? There is still a lot of work to be done, according to Ivenz: ‘We need more horsepower and a more dynamic car with a torque distributor and features that make the car sportier.’
With fast electric cars you can already see impossible 0-100 numbers with SUVs and sedans. Volkswagen doesn’t want slow cars, but it shouldn’t be exaggerated either: ‘At the moment it’s all about acceleration. 0-100 in about four seconds; no less, that makes no sense to us. Now our cars are around 4 to 4.5 seconds and we want to keep it that way with the EVs.’
According to Volkswagen, an R-model would become too expensive and that would not fit within Volkswagen’s strategy. “It’s not necessary to have something with the speed of a Porsche Taycan. The cars should not be too expensive, otherwise we will lose the customers we want to reach.’ So for now it’s just a matter of waiting.
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