From Autoweek:

AutoWeek has learned the Euro-market Volkswagen R32 is in the final stages of testing to see if the car can be modified to meet U.S. crash standards. Those tests should be completed in the next few weeks and if the engineers are successful, we will see the R32 Golf coming to the United States as a 2004 model.

The idea to consider the R32 for the U.S. market may have come from a conversation Volkswagen Chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder had with automotive journalists during a lunch in June at the company’s test facility near Wolfsburg. In response to a journalist asking why the hot new R32 Golf wouldn’t be coming to the States, the chairman hastily arranged for an unplanned test drive of the car at the track. The journalists came away impressed with the car’s acceleration, braking and handling, not to mention the Golf-on-steroids look. Apparently, the chairman was impressed by their response.

But wait, there’s more: VW also is looking at developing an entire R line of performance models, from R Jettas to Passats to Phaetons and even Touaregs. VW’s sister company Audi has similar plans for its quattro performance models.




The R32 Golf could be coming to the United States as a 2004 model.