The Volkswagen Golf R400 Will Be Built

Last year, Volkswagen surprised the crowd at the Beijing Auto Show when they unveiled the Golf R400 Concept, a completely mad version of the powerful Golf R. With 400 horsepower out of a turbocharged 2-litre engine, a 4MOTION drivetrain and a new transmission capable of handling the power, the car immediately got the attention of car aficionados. However, it was only a concept, and the most skeptical among us (me included) were quick to point out that Volkswagen would never build a vehicle that would undermine the Golf R’s authority.

Well, turns out I was wrong (yet again): in a recent interview with English magazine CAR, VW Group powertrain chief engineer Heinz-Jakob Neusser announced that its team was already working on a production-ready R400. This future super-Golf will in fact be the first vehicle to make use of the brand’s entirely-redesigned 2-litre engine. It’s possible that the engineers might have managed to squeeze even more power out of the mill, which would reflect the car’s potential new name: R420.

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If we are to believe our sources, we could see the Golf R420 at the Frankfurt Auto Show, in early September.