Now here’s a car guaranteed to accelerate the heartbeats of hot hatch fans – Volkswagen’s Polo R WRC which will contest the World Rally Championship from 2013.
One can only imagine a road-going Polo R version like Ford’s potent Focus RS.
After three consecutive wins in the grueling Dakar off-road race, changes in the regulations for the WRC from this year (1.6-litre, turbocharged engines) spiked an interest from Volkswagen.
The Volkswagen Polo R WRC employs Volkswagen’s 1.6-litre TSI engine (rally-tuned to 300 hp) and drives all four wheels.
Volkswagen has previously competed in the WRC - and actually won the Group A manufacturers championship back in 1986 with a Golf GTI driven by Swede Kenneth Eriksson – but this will be the first all-out assault from the Wolfsburg, Germany manufacturer with a full-on factory team.
So hot hatchback and Volkswagen fans start those cards, letters and emails to Volkswagen to promote a road-going version of the ultimate high-performance Polo. You’d reckon it would be any easy call for Volkswagen’s product planners - after-all Ford Australia sold-out the Focus RS at $59,990 in next to no time.
