Volkswagen is building an electric PPIHC car

Next year's Pikes Peak International Hill Climb – which will take place on the 24th of June – is going to have a special Volkswagen on its entry list.

While the prototype's name and full technical details have yet to be revealed, a pure-electric powertrain and all-wheel drive are already confirmed.

Volkswagen PPIHC Electric Prototype 2018 Front

This project has two primary objectives for Volkswagen.

Firstly, PPIHC participation should help the brand to become known as a leading electric vehicle manufacturer (don't mention dieselgate...). Secondly, the new car has to cover the 12.42 miles (19.99 kilometres) course in less than 8 minutes 57.118 seconds in order to beat the current class record.

According to Dr Frank Welsch, who's the Volkswagen board member with responsibility for Development, “The Pikes Peak hill climb is one of the world's most renowned car races. It poses an enormous challenge and is therefore excellently suited to proving the capabilities of upcoming technologies.

“Our electric race car will be equipped with innovative battery and drive technology. The extreme stress test on Pikes Peak will give us important findings that will benefit future development, and it will showcase our products and their technologies.”

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