Like many a carmaker these days, Volkswagen is placing an emphasis on SUVs in its lineup in the United States at the expense of more traditional cars. The Golf hatchback has been largely axed here, with both hatchback and station wagon disappearing to make room for the new Taos; while the rest of the world saw VW’s electric onslaught start with the ID.3 hatch, we had to wait for the ID.4 crossover; even the venerable Passat has been sunsetted here due to low sales.
There’s one small piece of the American marketplace where VW hasn’t given up on traditional cars, though: speed machines. Unlike the base Mk8 Golf, the new GTI and Golf R did make it over to our shores; a revised Jetta GLI is coming forthwith, as well. And now, it seems Volkswagen may be planning to burnish its performance lineup with another fun car: the VW Arteon R.
The regular Volkswagen Arteon, which has been on sale since early 2019, is designed to be positioned above the Passat in price and prestige — but in spite of its good looks, it never quite caught on here, in part likely because brand-conscious American buyers had trouble seeing the appeal of a four-cylinder Vee-Dub that costs about as much as a similarly-sized Audi A4.
But, rather than give up on the Arteon here, it seems VW product planners may be planning another tactic:
xkcd.com
As CarBuzz recently discovered, Volkswagen has filed a patent application with the U.S. government for the bumper design of the Arteon R — the 316-horsepower, torque-vectoring version of the sleek sedan that shares its powerplant with the Golf R that’s currently only sold overseas. The patent only covers the sedan, not the even sexier station wagon version also found overseas — but considering the non-R Arteon doesn’t come in wagon form here, that’s no surprise.
Of course, there’s also a second possibility: that VW is only planning on bringing the Arteon R’s design here, in the form of a sport design package or facelift to make the sedan look cooler. Still, if there’s even a thread of hope to cling to here, we’re going to hang on tight. After all, bringing us a sultry sport sedan like the Arteon R would go a long way towards making amends for canning the SportWagen.
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