VW Golf R 333 officially unveiled - and sold out
Same power as a 20 Years, a funky new colour - and all gone in eight minutes...
Having been previewed earlier in the month, here’s the VW Golf R 333 Limited Edition in all its Lime Yellow Metallic glory. There will be 333 cars, all with 333hp, and VW is already touting it ‘as a potential collector’s item’. Ambitious perhaps, but you only need to look at how coveted early Golf R32s are - and the uncertain future of the entire fast Golf family - to see where VW is coming from.
Based on the R Performance (or, for the UK, the 20 Years special, hence the power output), this 333 Limited Edition benefits from all the good stuff available for the fastest Golf. This includes the R Performance Torque Vectoring, the Akrapovic exhaust with titanium silencers, ‘semi-slick’ (imagine Michelin Cup 2 or similar) tyres for the 19-inch Estoril wheels, and the 168mph speed limit raise. The latter always sounds a bit daft, but given this 333 will be for the German market, it’s arguably a tad more valid: overtaking anything on the autobahn limited to 155mph in a Golf would be quite amusing.
It's the colour scheme though that will really sell the special edition to customers, the yellow contrasted with black accents including the roof for - dare we say it - quite a smart Golf R. Gotta be more interesting than another Lapiz Blue one. Inside there will be a sequentially numbered plaque to distract from the notoriously fiddly interior, plus a 480W Harmon Kardon stereo that we’ll assume also comes in from the options list.
The 333 is one for the die-hard Golf lovers, then, as it doesn’t really look to offer a huge amount extra over a standard car. But VW is hardly alone in throwing all the extras and some jazzy paint at a special edition, or indeed the first ones to get in on the act. Expensive limited runs aren't exactly new, either - and however pricey €76,410 might look to the average enthusiast (more than £65k at the current exchange rate), VW won't care. Not when (update!) every single 333 was spoken for in just eight minutes. Eight! All of those customers will pick up their cars at a special event in October. Good job they're numbered, really, wouldn't know whose was whose otherwise...
The core brand currently operates with a 3pc profit margin and there is likely little room for cost savings (reduce slack) with trade unions as powerful as in 1970s Britain.
VW is probably in the same shape as about 78 years ago, ie utterly and totally fooked. As such, one may call it a statement car
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