Skip to main content

The e-Golf Could Go to the Races

The e-Golf is currently VW’s only electric offering in North America, but until recently it was limited to the CARB states. So how shall VW get people across America excited about it? By going to the races, of course.

Volkswagen has, in the past, expressed an interest in an electric rallycross series, and if such a series gets off the ground, they’re likely to race with an e-Golf.

With its newfound love of all things electric, the perfect way to dispell the EV’s reputation for wheezy performance is a race car, and according to VW, rallycross is the perfect place to show off everything they can do.

“We are very, very committed to electric vehicles going forward globally as a brand,” said Greg Lucia, Head of Experiential Marketing, at a recent roundtable interview following a rallycross race in Indianapolis. He added that VW is committed to going racing in an electric series run by Red Bull Global Rallycross.

grc_ottawa_2017_7253

Volkswagen already dominates the Red Bull Global Rallycross Series with its Beetles GRC, driven by series leaders Tanner Foust and Scott Speed, but a future e-GRC race car would not look the same.

“That would not be a Beetle. The Beetle won’t be an electric platform for us going forward, so it would be a different platform,” said Lucia. “The Beetle won’t be available in any country for Volkswagen as an E offering, so we wouldn’t go racing with it.”

What it will be isn’t known yet, but seeing as how the e-Golf is the brand’s current electric leader, that’s what makes the most sense.

2017_e-golf_6659

“We would want it to match what we’re selling,” said Lucia. “The e-Golf is a very successful brand for us, both globally and in the US, so that would make the most sense for it.”

What may remain from the team’s current GRC program is the team running it. Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross has been running VW’s US rallycross team since 2014, and the pairing has been very successful.

On top of its drivers currently holding first and second place in the series, the Beetle has won the last two championships.

“With our relationship with Andretti we would not consider anything outside of that,” said Lucia. “So we are very committed to Andretti and a future with them.”

For his part, Michael Andretti, Andretti Autosport’s owner and CEO, said that he too was interested in the series.

“I’m all about this,” he said. “I’m hoping it’ll go E. It’s the perfect place to showcase [electric cars], so I’m all in.”

And that’s good news for VW since Andretti already has electric motorsport experience. The team has been racing in Formula E since 2014 and today announced a partnership with BMW for a full factory-backed team next year, experience that would come in handy in an e-GRC series.

scott_speed_and_tanner_foust_4991

Even the drivers are on board. GRC points leader, Tanner Foust said that rallycross is the perfect exhibition for EVs.

“All the benefits of electric are what you’re looking for in your performance advantage in rallycross: lots of torque, lots of traction,” said Foust. “Because the races are short, it means that you’re not limited by that factor.”

Foust’s Beetle is among the fastest accelerating cars in motorsport, but he argued that you could go even faster with an electric powertrain.

“A 5,000 lb Tesla goes 0-60 in 2.3 seconds, so I think our cars would be a hell of a lot faster if you take 2,000 lbs out of that and put in a racing drivetrain going to the ground and a proper suspension,” said Foust. “I just got my pilot’s license for this reason.”

That all depends on an e-GRC series coming to fruition. Until then, Foust will have to continue putting his pilot’s license to use catching air in his 2.0-liter turbo Beetle GRC.

The post The e-Golf Could Go to the Races appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2uO8rDk
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Review

“Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words, spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (so-called) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out. Drowned out by the wail of a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine mounted in the middle of the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster. My friend’s point is that back in the good old days, there was a crop of supercars that captured the imagination with amazing style, sounds, performance, and more. Today, it seems like everything is capable of supercar performance, with large luxury sedans outdoing some of the best and most dedicated teams of car nuts, while former pillars of automotive excellence are suddenly pumping out family-friendly SUVs. Beyond that, another league of supercars, dubbed hypercars have cropped up with hybrid gas-electric powertrains that make magical things happen quickly, but at the cost of the acoustic drama, visual flair, and engag...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

    When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier.  The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow.   While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something .  To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it.  Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait.  So with this in mind, we lined our G...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project Golf SportWagen- Intro

I’ve never really been one for SUVs and crossovers.  The current offerings aren’t the body-on-frame, go-anywhere specialty tools I remember from my youth, and what they lack in capability, they also lack in on-road performance. The current crop isn’t terribly good at handling or being efficient, which in my opinion are major components of our ideal driving experience.  So when it comes to space or utility, I usually look for something of the wagon variety- and it seems that I’m not alone. We hit quite a few shows around the east coast each summer, and we see modified Jetta SportWagens at nearly every event. Even amongst common consumers, these cars are highly sought-after. They don’t depreciate much, making even early Mk 5 2.5 versions expensive in comparison to other Jettas or Golfs of the same vintage. This year, Volkswagen launched their latest SportWagen, which is now billed as a Golf.  In many ways, this latest SportWagen is the best yet and it has certai...
Post a Comment
Read more