SEMA 2008: Volkswagen Super CC Performance Concept
by Jonathon Ramsey on Nov 5th 2008 at 2:23PM 
Click above for high-res gallery of the Super CC Performance Concept
The year's SEMA is as much about economical performance as it is about out-and-out performance. VW threw its hat Passat CC in the latter ring with the Super CC Performance Concept, created by the VW Design Center with the aid of APR, Recaro, H&R, and Brembo. The Super CC gets a grey pearl coat and blacked-out chrome, and pinstripe graphics from the hood to the rear spoiler that actually looks tasty in person.
Under the hood is the 2.0-liter TSI with a 3-stage APR turbo delivering Eco Mode (222 hp, 236 lb-ft.), GT Mode (252 hp, 268 lb-ft.) and Full Power Mode (311 hp, 313 lb-ft.). In Eco Mode, the car still get 33 mpg on the autoroute and 27 in the city. Inside, you sit on black Recaros with white piping. The car sits on wheels we're going to call Walter Paytons, because they are pure sweetness. Hiding behind those wheels are white Brembo calipers that will be torturous to keep clean, but they'll look the business after a wash. And those door handles, mounted low on the door of a dropped car, come up to our knees. Check it all out in the press release after the jump and the gallery of high-res images below.
UPDATE: Gallery of official high-res pics added.
PRESS RELEASE
2008 SEMA: VOLKSWAGEN CC ECO PERFORMANCE CONCEPT
311 HP Super CC ups the performance ante in luxury for the people
LAS VEGAS – Powerful performance meets luxury in the Super CC performance concept Volkswagen unveiled at the 2008 SEMA show in Las Vegas.
The Performance CC brings a sleek exterior treatment highlighted by black chrome exterior accents, grey pearl paint with custom front and rear bumper, side panels and machined aluminum spoiler. The black treatment continues inside with high-gloss piano black accents offset by matte black graphics. Customer black leather Recaro seats and matching floor mats are highlighted with white piping.
While the Performance CC looks striking, the upgrades will get hearts racing, the 2.0L TSI engine has been upgraded with an APR stage 3 turbocharger system with three performance levels. In Full Power mode the Performance CC brings 311 hp and 313 lbs. ft. torque; GT mode offers 252 hp and 268 lbs. ft. of torque; and in the Eco mode 222 hp and 236 lbs. ft. of torque. Also included is the APR stainless steel performance exhaust system. Key fact to take note of is that in the Eco performance mode, horsepower went up, as well as fuel economy. A production 2.0T CC automatic gets 28 hwy/19 city and our CC in Eco mode gets 33 hwy, 27 city. Even the full power mode showed a fuel economy increase!
The Performance CC sits on custom designed 10-spoke, 20-inch wheels and high performance 245/30 R20 Yokahama tires with an H&R street coil over sport suspension kit. With all this power to handle, Volkswagen has upgraded the brakes to provide extra power to stop. The Performance CC features 14-inch Brembo brakes with 4-piston Aluminum Alloy Brake Calipers and 355x32mm 2-Piece Floating Cross Drilled Discs with Billet Aluminum Hats.
The Performance CC was designed by the Volkswagen Design Center in California with assistance from APR, LLC (www.goapr.com), Recaro, H&R Suspension and Brembo North America.
Volkswagen of America, Inc.
Volkswagen of America, Inc. recently announced Electronic Stability Program (ESP) as standard equipment on all its 2009 vehicles. As a result, Volkswagen is one of the only original equipment manufacturers to offer an electronic stability control system on their entire product line – ahead of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) deadline requiring vehicles in the 2012 model year to include stability control systems. Volkswagen's ESP technology works in conjunction with anti-lock brakes and helps reduce loss of control.
Founded in 1955, Volkswagen Group of America is headquartered in Herndon, Va. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world's largest producers of passenger cars and Europe's largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Rabbit, New Beetle, New Beetle convertible, GTI, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, GLI, Passat, Passat Wagon, CC, Eos, Routan, Tiguan and Touareg through approximately 600 independent U.S. dealers. Visit Volkswagen of America online at vw.com.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Red 2:41PM (11/05/2008)
Color me impressed. Is the 27/33 on premium? I would presume so. Those wheels are pretty funky. Overall, I don't love the color, but I like the car itself.
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Justin C 2:38PM (11/05/2008)
When I first saw the CC, I wasn't convinced that it had great design, but seeing this has made me think differently. The rims, ground effects, etc., really make this car look great. Here's to hoping it's going to be produced in the very near future!
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Foose1397 2:38PM (11/05/2008)
Now that is classy...this is how mods should be done in my opinion.
Don't need to have "26" inch rims to personalize a car
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ugg.tryptophan 4:18PM (11/05/2008)
19"s will do just fine
Torrent 2:46PM (11/05/2008)
Nice, but that color gray is just so boring.. like slate gray.
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Jared 2:46PM (11/05/2008)
I think the CC is generally an attractive car, but I don't like a single thing they did to it for the SEMA car. The decal on the hood is just plain weird. The wheels are overly large and ugly. The interior is ugly. Even the paint color is ugly.
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Steve_S 2:51PM (11/05/2008)
Well done. It's nice to be able to select performance or economy. Sometimes you have cruise control set on the highway and just don't need extra power. Sometimes you want alot and now you can have both.
Love the Recaro's, nicely done.
Seeing alot less stupid at this year's SEMA which is nice. Not saying there isn't plenty there it's just less.
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zamafir 3:34PM (11/05/2008)
I'm not sure i've ever seen a SEMA show car with stock interior, stock nav, stock seats, and just some painting on trim pieces before... if that's not a testament to vw's understanding of interior design I'm not sure what is.
I'm really liking this car, esp the front lower valance and mildly tweaked 2.0T. Though it would have been more fun if APR had done one of their 600HP kits.
All in All, still an awesome car, with over 300 hp and torque it should hit sixty easily under 6.
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montoym 12:09AM (11/06/2008)
I think you may be confusing the APR kits with another company.
APR has no 600hp VW kits to my knowledge and certainly not for the 2.0T and 1.8T where they made their name. They really don't make anything for other engines.
However, if you are looking at VR6 tuners, then you would see power levels in the 600hp range. HPA is one such tuner and they are probably who you are thinking of. However, HPA doesn't yet have a kit for sale yet for the 3.6L VR6. There are some around though. For instance, this HGP one(btw, HGP is basically the German version of HPA) http://www.hgp-turbo.de/vw/Passat_R36.html and this twin-turbo R36 Golf they built, http://www.motorauthority.com/hgp-builds-640hp-bi-turbo-golf-r36.html
I think the APR kit for the 2.0T was chosen due to the more practical nature of it with the choice of tuning levels and all. Especially with consumers' attention being focused on economy moreso lately. To the best of my knowledge, that's a new feature for APR. They've had seperate octane programs previously, but not a programs for a specific power output.
Not to mention the price difference. A typical Stage III APR kit similar to the one above, would run about $5-6K. On the other hand, a twin-turbo VR6 kit from HPA can run upwards of $20K and often much more.
Here are some links for both companies.
http://goapr.com/VW/products/index.html
http://www.hpamotorsports.com/hpa_vehicles.htm
zamafir 12:27AM (11/06/2008)
Nope, USP and APR worked together to bring their stage 3 kit up to 600hp, dynos hit the net back in october, it's not available on their site as they're current working out the kinks (the setup's using custom beta files).
The following graph depicts a production APR Stage 3 vs. a beta 3071R dyno graph (the upgraded the turbo, they being APR and USP, everything else is Stage 3, for ur reference the Stage 3 kit unmolested was making 350 at the wheels)
http://media.makeyourfastfaster.com/images/A_1/4/9/9/9941/ga_mega_0cdc2.jpg
Having had the pleasure of meeting quite a few folks at APR and had them flash my 2.0Ts, and having met the guys who run HPA at several R32 events, I'm pretty sure I'm up on what they're advertising online - and what they have in the works :).
Eddie 2:58PM (11/05/2008)
I saw a CC yesterday. Damn good looking cars. Adding rims really makes the car.
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Gardiner Westbound 2:58PM (11/05/2008)
Really nice looking car. Too bad VW's have such a horrible reputation for reliability and durability.
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happy_penguin 4:09PM (11/05/2008)
You got that right. Worse than Jeep, worse than Saturn. It's worse than all the favorite whipping boys including Chevrolet, Dodge and Chrysler. By the way, Scion is worse than the second list as well. :)
http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2008115
Axis 4:39PM (11/05/2008)
They wouldn't be so bad if their electronics wouldn't go kaput, at least this has been my case with a cabrio and an old 80s rabbit.
lswspambait 3:04PM (11/05/2008)
I realize cars are designed to a budget, but what does it say about your powertrain engineering when an aftermarket company gets better power AND fuel economy? Aren't you basically admitting that in an era of higher fuel prices, you didn't give it your best effort?
(and I'm a VW fan . . . )
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zamafir 3:43PM (11/05/2008)
really? Apr adds thousands of dollars worth of parts including a bigger turbo and ur curious why VW is being lazy? I'm sure if the didn't want to worry about warrantying their turbos and didn't mind the base price being well above 35k they'd do it. News flash tuners always get better results because they're not insuring the turbo ( and I'm a apr tuned vw owning fan )
dea911 3:29PM (11/05/2008)
By the way you worded your article you make it sound like the door handles were modified to sit lower on the door. That's the normal position for the door handle on all CC's.
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Carlos 3:09PM (11/05/2008)
That car is hot
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Willus 6:31PM (11/05/2008)
Put this in the dealership already!
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GMan 3:24PM (11/05/2008)
I don's see the pictures...
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