Volkswagen certainly made heads turn many years ago when they unveiled the latest Beetle, and time seems to have mellowed down the once acrimonous feelings against the vehicle’s lines and shape. Nice to know that Volkswagen has decided to further up the ante with the high-performance Beetle R Concept that debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show. This is still in a design study phase, where it will be based on the existing turbocharged Beetle 2.0 TSI while carrying with it a fair number of special design features.
Most purists would notice the redesigned front and rear bumpers right away on the Beetle R Concept – where it has received a boost with the addition of 3cm in width, while the front bumper sports three air intakes, where the middle one will supply oxygen to the engine. As for the remaining two, those will be used to cool the brakes just in case you tend to brake hard around corners at high speeds.
For the rear bumper, that will come with a couple of air exhaust vents alongside a diffuser. Two ventilation slots are located on either side of the hood to help keep the temperature of the engine at manageable levels, while the rear spoiler will be larger compared to what you find on production models.
Underneath the hood lies a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine and a six-speed DSG transmission. According to VW, this model is capable of a performance potential similar to that of the Golf R (199 kW / 270 PS). No idea on whether this will be realized, but I would say yes – how about you?
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