Report: Next-gen Volkswagen Jetta could get R variant

According to an unnamed source from Volkswagen, Inside Line is reporting that the German automaker is currently considering whether it should offer a high-performance R version of its next-gen Jetta in America. Says the source,"We don't want to leave the affordable performance sedan market in the U.S. to our rivals, but importing sporting models from Europe is proving prohibitively expensive at the moment."

Fortunately for VW, the next Jetta will be built solely in Mexico, meaning that it won't be nearly as costly to build and sell in the States as models assembled overseas. Further, it seems that the R version could either be offered in both coupe (as previewed by the New Compact Coupe concept from Detroit) and sedan forms with simple front-wheel or with all-wheel drive as VW plans to offer AWD on the Jetta Wagon at a later date.

Power for the Jetta R would likely come from the same 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged and direct injected powerplant that's used in the Scirocco R and Golf R, where it delivers 265 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. The final noteworthy fact reported by IL is that the next Jetta will be offered with two separate rear suspension designs, one with a simple (and cheap) torsion beam and a second, much more sophisticated multilink setup on sportier models. Intriguing, no?

[Source: Inside Line]