R badged Volkswagen Touareg set for return as PHEV

The R moniker is reportedly set to return as the performance denominator of the Volkswagen Touareg in around two years’ time.

A designation last used in 2008 on the Touareg R50, Volkswagen Sales and Marketing Head, Jürgen Stackmann, in an interview with Autocar after the unveiling of the all-new Golf on Thursday evening (24 October), confirmed that the Touareg R will sport a plug-in hybrid powertrain as opposed to the long since discontinued 258 kW 5.0 TDI V10 of the R50.

“We start with that journey, and the task is out there for [Head of Volkswagen R] Joss Capito and his team to deliver us an electric future for R. Then that’s the journey for R. For the next five years as we are launching some Rs next year we will couple these cars with a very strong message for low emissions”, Stackmann said.

While it remains unknown as to which engine the R will use, the publication alleges that it could be a variation of the Chinese market Touareg’s 185kW/370Nm 2.0 TSI motor paired with a 94 kW electric motor that delivers a total of 270kW/700Nm.

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