Volkswagen Pike's Peak weapon

Volkswagen is hoping to make a big noise quietly on the world’s highest major car race, with a one-off, all-electric racer set to tackle next year’s Pike’s Peak hillclimb.

Humbled by scandal, Volkswagen is pushing to bring five new electric cars into production before 2022 and it sees the as-yet-unnamed hypercar as a trailblazer for its zero-emission future.

While it isn’t releasing power, torque, range or acceleration data for the Pike’s Peak racer, Volkswagen has confirmed it has Rhys Millen’s electric prototype record of 8:57.118 in its sights.

To do that, the comically winged Volkswagen will need to climb 1440 metres to the top of the peak in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.

The last time a full works Volkswagen effort hit Pike’s Peak, its wild twin-engined Golf didn’t finish the 19.99km hillclimb, though sister company Audi has famously had success there in the early 1980s with rally legend Walter Rohrl.

"The Pikes Peak hill climb is one of the world’s most renowned car races. It poses an enormous challenge and is therefore excellently suited to proving the capabilities of upcoming technologies," said Volkswagen’s head of development, Dr Frank Welsch.

“Our electric race car will be equipped with innovative battery and drive technology.

“The extreme stress test on Pikes Peak will give us important findings that will benefit future development, and it will showcase our products and their technologies."

The rally wizards at Volkswagen Motorsport have developed the racer, which must have been nice given they largely sat out 2017 after withdrawing from the World Rally Championship at the end of last season.

Their track record is good, doubling up with the driver’s and manufacturer’s titles in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.

But the all-electric racer has taken Volkswagen Motorsport’s brainpower beyond its limits, so it had to tie in closely with Dr Welsch’s technical development team in Wolfsburg.

"The race on Pikes Peak is a new beginning for us. We are developing an all-electric race vehicle for the first time," Volkswagen Motorsport Director Sven Smeets said.

"The project is also an important milestone in our new motorsport orientation. Our team is literally electrified about taking on this incredible challenge."

Volkswagen has five new battery-electric production cars on the way before 2022.

Volkswagen’s development boss has pushed for the Pike’s Peak challenger to be the trailblazer that gives credibility to its ZEV fleet.