---
title: "Report: 2020 Volkswagen Golf R Could Have 400 Horsepower"
description: "Automakers keep turning up the thermostat on their hot hatchbacks and it seems the new Golf R will be the most extreme yet."
date: "2018-06-01"
modified: "2018-06-01"
authors:
  - name: "James Gilboy"
    job_title: "Contributing Writer"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/james-gilboy"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/21253/report-2020-volkswagen-golf-r-could-have-400-horsepower"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Volkswagen News"
tags:
  - "All Wheel Drive"
  - "compact"
  - "Golf R"
  - "Hatchback"
  - "Hot Hatchbacks"
  - "sports car"
  - "Volkswagen"
---

# Report: 2020 Volkswagen Golf R Could Have 400 Horsepower

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2018/06/2018_golf_r-large-7566-e1527878034430.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Statements by a Volkswagen board member suggest the 2020 Golf R could break the 400 horsepower barrier.

"The R brand is going extreme," stated Jürgen Stackmann, a board member tasked with sales and marketing, in an interview with [*Auto Express*](<https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/volkswagen/103321/new-2020-volkswagen-golf-r-to-be-the-fastest-ever-with-400bhp>). "The role of R is that it can go beyond the rational; nobody needs a compact car with 400 BHP, but is there a place? Certainly, and that’s the turf of R."

Stackmann continued, "With a little more expressive design, R can go beyond the rational side of things. It can find its place in a different league of pure performance and there's a space where customers are willing to pay a significant amount of money."

*The Drive* reached out to Volkswagen for confirmation of Stackmann's comments, but a company official declined to comment.

Stackmann's statements elevate horsepower expectations [above the 350 figure](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/12467/volkswagen-golf-r-mk8-to-have-350-hp-and-a-bunch-of-tech-report-says>) rumored last summer, far in excess of the seventh generation Golf R's 292 horsepower output. The [Golf R Performance Pack](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/9712/volkswagen-shows-off-new-golf-r-performance-package>) makes 310, though whether this package will be available stateside is [not certain](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/15943/us-bound-2018-volkswagen-golf-r-might-get-a-performance-variant>).

Those with the money for a roided-up Golf R but none of the patience to wait until 2020 can run to [ABT](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/15548/the-400-horsepower-abt-golf-r-is-an-a45-amg-killer>), which retunes the seventh generation Golf R to serve up 400 hp on the money.

Horsepower hikes will be necessary to keep the Golf GTi and R relevant in the evolving hot hatch and overlapping compact sports sedan landscape. The front-wheel drive must contend with respectable rivals such as the [Hyundai Veloster N](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/17689/this-is-the-275-horsepower-2019-hyundai-veloster-n>) and [Honda Civic Type R](<https://www.thedrive.com/video/16701/the-2017-honda-civic-type-r-review-the-hot-hatch-that-cannot-be-unseen>), while the all-wheel drive will face the [likely-400-hp Mercedes-AMG A 45](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/15524/next-mercedes-amg-a45-could-have-more-than-400-horsepower>) and a [rejuvenated Subaru WRX](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/17194/the-next-subaru-wrx-arrives-in-2020-may-use-alternative-power-plants>).

We only wish the [Ford Focus RS](<https://www.thedrive.com/video/18933/ford-focus-rs-production-is-about-to-end-but-what-made-this-hot-hatch-so-special>) were still around to further complicate choices...and that the [Ford Fiesta RS](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/21177/ford-denies-rumors-of-a-fiesta-rs>) was real.

## Author
James is a former staff writer for The Drive. He has changed the conversation around electrification, debunked misinformation online, and become a prominent hunter of what he calls "automotive cryptids."

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/jamesgilboy>)