The Volkswagen Scirocco R is set to make a few waves in the hot hatch segment with its top speed of 250km/h and sleek coupe-like design — not to mention a starting price of $47,490 for the six-speed manual.
While Volkswagen Australia boss, Anke Koeckler, says the new model won't match the five-door Golf R for sales - the latter presently accounting for 10 per cent of all Golf sales in Oz - she says the vast majority of Scirocco buyers will pick the more expensive variant ($49,990) with six-speed DSG.
"We are selling 10% of the total Golf mix as Golf R. But we are not seeking to have those figures for the Scirocco R.
"The Scirocco R is a bit of a limited edition; that's how we look at it. It is a really sporty car for two people, less so for four people, so this already limits the people you are talking to."
Rivalling the Renault Megane RS 250 in terms of straight line performance, the coupe-like hatch is powered by a 2.0-litre turbo/intercooled four-cylinder engine that generates 188kW/330Nm - enough power to propel the car from 0-100km/h in 6.0 seconds flat.
Weighing in at 1351kg, the Scirocco is lighter than the 1476kg five-door Golf R by 125kg and cheaper by $2500. However it misses out on the AWD powertrain of the Golf R.
Fitted as standard with lots of mod cons, Volkswagen is offering only three options, satnav ($2500), Dynaudio Excite premium audio ($1100) and a panoramic glass roof ($1800).
The stuff that comes standard includes 19-inch alloy wheels, LED daytime running lights, six airbags, ESP with countersteering assist, xenon headlights with curve lighting and dynamic levelling control, plus dual-zone climate control and a CD-stereo touch screen system with MP3 playback and eight speakers.
Volkswagen's Scirocco R is clearly aimed at enthusiastic drivers, benefitting from a couple of driving aids that come as standard fitment, designed to improve its cornering attributes. Adaptive Chassis Control changes the shock absorber settings at the touch of a button (sport or comfort) while the Extended Electronic Differential Lock has been engineered to reduce loss of traction at the driving wheels.
The four-seat sports coupe is in dealerships now, but has been offered in Europe since 2009. So why the long wait? Volkswagen boss Koeckler explains:
"We had to convince HQ that there was still room for another performance car [in Australia], because we are very strong in Golf GTI and Golf R. We didn’t want to demonstrate just substitution.
"In 2009 we started the initiation to get the Scirocco R into the country. We wanted to have it last year, but then there was a little bit of limitation in the production and that didn’t make sense. We have to make sure we have enough production ... so we didn’t have the same challenge we faced with the Polo GTI. And that was the reason why we postponed it and did it right in 2012.
There are around 400 Volkswagen Scirocco R's in dealerships at the time of writing, but asked if a customer wanted a custom colour with options, Koeckler said it would take "Six months, which is a normal wait [for a Volkswagen]."
Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...