Volkswagen Jetta World's Fastest Hybrid

Published: Wednesday, August 22, 2012, 9:56 [IST]

When you think of Hybrid cars, the first think that comes to our mind is the number of kilometres it can clock. This time around, the Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid headlines for being the World's fastest hybrid car.

Motor Trend Associate Road Test Editor Carlos Lago, has recorded a mind blowing hybrid speed record. He managed a speed of (298.363 kph) at the Bonneville Salt Flats, near Wendover, Nevada, during the Southern California Timing Association's (SCTA) annual Speed Week.

The hybrid Jetta was specially modified for this speed run. Volkswagen gave it a 1.4-liter turbocharged, direct-injection four-cylinder TSI petrol engine that generates 150 horsepower with a seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission and an electric motor that provides an additional 27 hp.

In-order to achieve such speeds, Volkswagen gave close attention to the powertrain, which was modified by Volkswagen R&D in Wolfsburg, Germany.

"We are really proud that our new Jetta Hybrid is the world's fastest hybrid," said Marc Trahan, Executive Vice President, Group Quality. "It was a real challenge to integrate the complex hybrid elements and generate the power needed to run at these speeds. The Jetta Hybrid Land Speed Record project shows both the sporty nature of our Hybrid offering and the technical excellence of our engineers in Wolfsburg and in the Test Center California."

Motor Trend Editor-in-Chief Ed Loh commented: "It is a real honor to partner with Volkswagen in this project and we look forward to sharing this adventure with our 1.1 million magazine subscribers, our more than three million website unique users, and our increasingly popular YouTube channel. And we hope that we will be back at the Salt very soon to go even faster with the Jetta Hybrid."

So can the Jetta Hybrid get faster? Stay Tuned as we keep a close eye-out on the VW Jetta Hybrid developments.