Volkswagen Ending Motorsports Operations
Volkswagen is ending all motorsport activities as part of the company’s realignment and will be redistributing its resources as it focuses on its line of electric vehicles, the German automaker announced.
“The Volkswagen brand is on the way to becoming the leading provider for sustainable e-mobility. To this end, we are pooling our strengths and have decided to terminate the Volkswagen brand’s own motorsport activities. The motorsport workforce will be integrated into Volkswagen AG. The deep technical expertise of the motorsport employees and the know-how gained from the ID.R project will remain with the company and will help us put further efficient models from the ID. family on the road”, said Dr. Frank Welsch, Member of the Board of Management with responsibility for the Development Division.
“For decades, the Volkswagen Motorsport GmbH team brought the brand a string of major sporting successes. My warmest thanks go to all employees for so many victories, titles and records throughout the world and for their personal dedication and commitment”, Wilfried von Rath, Member of the Board of Management with responsibility for Human Resources, commented, acknowledging the achievements of the team. He added: “We are delighted that we are able to preserve jobs, especially in these challenging times, and will be offering all employees a transfer contract.”
The 169-person Volkswagen Motorsport GmbH workforce will be integrated into Volkswagen AG.
The brand’s ID.R prototype currently holds the outright Goodwood and Pikes Peak hillclimb records in addition to the electric lap record for the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
The brand has also achieved three Dakar Rally wins with the Race Touareg (2009-2011), four Rally World Championship titles with the Polo R WRC (2013-2016), two TCR International titles with the Golf GTI (2016, 2017) and three Rallycross World Championship titles with the Polo (2017, 2018, 2020).
