Volkswagen to enter WRC from 2013 with Polo R WRC

[Gambit]

Awesome looks horn bag!

[bcm]

It's a shame they moved away from the Group A rules which forced manufacturers to produce road going versions of the cars they wanted to rally.

The claim at the time was that it would bring more manufacturers into the sport as it would reduce costs. Didn't happen. In fact for the last few years it's only been Citroen and Ford with Mitsubishi, Subaru, Skoda, Hyundai, Seat, Peugeot and Toyota all having dropped out at various points.

[phaeton]

Sad news of all this no Dakar assault from VW in 2012

[sabloke]

Looks pretty rice to me... The Fiesta WRC looks way better. Let's see how it goes racing against the others but so far looks wise not a winner in my view.

[Corey_R]

Sad news of all this no Dakar assault from VW in 2012

It's a shame in some ways, but they've dominated the podium in the last 3 runnings. No point flogging a dead horse. Let the others catch up first

[way]

"Volkswagen Australia’s Nadine Nethery confirmed the Polo R would be a one-off for the WRC series and would not inspire a production model."


DAMN!!!!

And it has all the nice things:
4WD, 1.6ltr Turbo, 220KW!!

I don't buy it. I mean, there will definitely be a S1/RS1, and I don't believe VAG would spend all that money just to develop one niche model when they can spread the development cost across two or threes models. Maybe what she means is that there won't be a production model of this rally car, but I still think there will be a Polo R with a 1.6T.

[Smacca]

They would destroy their golf GTI / R sales with a cheaper Polo R. Even if it wasn't as fast, I don't think it would create any extra sales for them.

I agree. Manufactures don't want to create a model that directly competes with existing models in its line-up. Sure they'd sell heaps of Polo R's, but at a cost Golf GTI / R sales. If the Polo R would be priced around 40k, then overall VW wouldn't be much better off for total unit sales.

On the other hand, VW could drop the 3dr Golf GTI similar to what VW Aus did with the Golf R for the Scirocco, then perhaps there would be a place for the Polo R. Or if the Polo R was offered only with a manual transmission, then it would reclaim potential sales lost by those put off by the Polo GTI's DSG only option.

Personally, I believe that if the WRC Polo was successful then VW wouldn't be able to help themselves from capitalising on it. As the old saying goes, "race wins on Sunday means sales on Monday." Even if the WRC car would be nothing like a production Polo R, the perception and reputation would link them both.

I think there is a place for a Polo R, but it would have to be something full-on, hard core and with a limited build. An AWD turbo monster almost ready for the track could sit nicely around the 65k mark above the Golf R. Think Ford Focus RS...

[CSR]

Now that just won't happen..They can't have a Polo R to be more expensive than the Golf R...Would ruin their whole model hierarchy.

Nope, as much as I would love a Polo R (and I would, because the even smaller car would be even more of a rocket) I don't see it happening

[sabloke]

Never going to happen. Heck, Renault builds brilliant F1 engines for several teams, but does anyone think the next Clio will use some detuned version on one of those?! It has to be a Polo with a turbocharged 1.6 four to comply with WRC rules. The fact that VW is calling it R and not Q or M is quite irrelevant.Having said that, I won't be surprised to see Audi launching some RS1 in 2015

[phaeton]

Production Polo R will be built but my bet for Continental Europe much like the Polo GTI Cup Edition.

[Miles Away]

They would destroy their golf GTI / R sales with a cheaper Polo R. Even if it wasn't as fast, I don't think it would create any extra sales for them.)

I don't believe that it would, yes some people who would have bought a golf R may look at the lower price point of the polo R and go for it (much like a lot of us on here have done with the current polo GTI vs golf GTI). but if anything I think that this would take sales from competitors.

Either way, I hope this happens because the Polo R in blue would look great in my garage!

[Smacca]

Either way, I hope this happens because the Polo R in blue would look great in my garage!

Hells yeah!!!