Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak revealed

VW has finally revealed its weapon of choice to tackle the Race to the Clouds, the Volkwagen I.D. R Pikes Peak.

The all-wheel drive electric racer will be the contender for Volkswagen’s first attempt in over 30 years to set a record at the infamous Pikes Peak ‘hill’ climb.

Volkswagen hasn’t revealed any specs for the I.D R, just these images and a statement that it plans to offer “more than 20 fully-electric cars by 2025.”

We can count on the road cars in the I.D range being a little more pedestrian than this one.

VW board member in charge of development Dr. Frank Welsch says using a challenge like this adds a competitive element which encourages innovation.

"We want to be at the forefront of electromobility with Volkswagen and the I.D. family,"

"Competing in the most famous hill climb in the world with the I.D. R Pikes Peak not only has symbolic meaning, but is also a valuable test for the general development of electric cars."

But Volkswagen Motorsport director Sven Smeets says this is also about showing the world that Volkswagen hasn’t given up on Pikes Peak.

It’s been just over 30 years since Volkswagen used a twin-engined 478kW Golf to tackle the Peak, though driver Klaus-Joachim Kleint had to retire only three bends from finishing with a record time.

"It is about time we settled the score,” Smeets says.

"The I.D. R Pikes Peak represents an extremely exciting challenge for us, to show what is possible with an electric engine in motorsport.

“The entire team behind our driver Romain Dumas is highly motivated to set a new record for electric cars."

Volkwagen hopes to beats the category time of 8:57.118 currently held by New Zealander Rhys Millen driving an experimental electric car called the ‘e0 PP100’.