The head of Volkswagen in the United Kingdom has reiterated that the Wolfsburg-based brand has no plans to slap its hallowed GTI badge onto an SUV.

Speaking to Autocar, Alison Jones, managing director of Volkswagen UK, hinted that upcoming high-performance SUVs from the brand would instead wear the “R” badge.

Jones told the publication that VW’s R-badged offerings “have always been four-wheel drive” (except, of course, for the front-wheel-drive Scirocco R).

“In essence, that’s what SUVs are all about, so it makes more sense to lead with that one,” she added.

This echoes earlier comments from VW brand boss Herbert Diess that “we shouldn’t expand” the GTI range beyond the Up, Polo and Golf.

Various reports (plus obligatory spy photographs and videos) have suggested that Volkswagen is hard at work developing a raft of R-badged (rather than R-Line-badged) crossovers, including a T-Roc R, a Tiguan R and even a Touareg R.

Original article from Car