Volkswagen has shown the flexibility of its MEB electric-car platform with various concept vehicles, from a tall station wagon to an electric dune buggy. But a new report indicates VW could stretch the capabilities of MEB even further with an electric sports car.
The sports car could arrive in the middle of the decade and share a name with VW's ID R electric race car, reports Autocar.
The ID R was designed for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, where it toppled the overall record in 2018. It also set a lap record for electric cars at the Nürburgring in 2019.
While it would be based on the MEB architecture, the sports car would use new battery technology designed specifically for performance vehicles, according to Autocar.
The high-performance battery pack will feed power to a twin-motor powertrain adapted from the upcoming ID 4 electric crossover, the magazine reports.
That means one motor for each axle, giving the car all-wheel drive. The sports car will likely have more power than the ID 4, which is the first MEB-based electric car slated for sale in the United States.
Volkswagen ID R on Tianmen Mountain
Without estimating any specifications, Autocar indicated the VW electric sports car could be a rival for the next-generation Tesla Roadster.
Unveiled in 2017 but still not in production, the successor to Tesla's first production model has a claimed 0 to 60 mph time of 1.9 seconds, top speed of over 250 mph, and 620-mile range.
We won't know if these claims hold up in the real world until Roadster production starts, but VW will likely have its work cut out for it if it decides to go after Tesla.
VW started production of MEB-platform cars in late 2019 with the ID 3 hatchback. So far the automaker has also confirmed the ID 4 crossover, a production version of the retro ID Buzz concept, and MEB-based electric cars for its Audi and Seat brands.
The reported VW sports car could also serve as the basis for a second electric Audi model, replacing the current TT sports car. Audi announced that it was discontinuing the current TT in 2019, but also indicated that an electric successor was planned.
VW hopes to have 70 electric models in production by 2028, across multiple brands, with a cumulative 28 million electric cars built by that year.
