Volkswagen has revealed that its all-electric prototype racing car is known as the ID R Pikes Peak
The new car will compete in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on June 24, 2018 in Colorado.
The four-wheel drive sports car combines its ambassadorial role for the future, electric ID family with the sportiest range of Volkswagen products, the R models. It also represents the first step in strengthening the cooperation between Volkswagen R and Volkswagen Motorsport. The Volkswagen brand plans to offer more than 20 fully-electric cars by 2025. Manufacturing of the first production model in the ID family is scheduled to start at the end of 2019 in Zwickau, Germany.
“We want to be at the forefront of electromobility with Volkswagen and the ID family,” explained Dr Frank Welsch, member of the Volkswagen board of management with responsibility for development. “Competing in the most famous hill climb in the world with the ID R Pikes Peak not only has symbolic meaning, but is also a valuable test for the general development of electric cars.”
Jürgen Stackmann, member of the board of management with responsibility for sales, marketing and aftersales, added: “Pikes Peak is without question the most iconic hill climb in the world. For Volkswagen, it represents a fantastic opportunity to charge the topic of E mobility, both emotionally and from a sporting perspective, thanks to the ID R project.”
Volkswagen last entered the Pikes Peak hill climb in 1987 with a dual-engine Golf, which generated an impressive 652hp. However, the Wolfsburg-based manufacturer narrowly missed out on success.
“It is about time we settled the score,” said Volkswagen Motorsport director Sven Smeets. “The ID R Pikes Peak represents an extremely exciting challenge for us, to show what is possible with an electric engine in motorsport. The entire team behind our driver Romain Dumas is highly motivated to set a new record for electric cars.”
The record in the electric prototype class currently stands at 8:57.118 minutes and was set in 2016 by New Zealand’s Rhys Millen (e0 PP100).
