VW are pushing their newly-restyled Beetle hard in the US and a successful showing of the Beetle R Concept will almost certainly result in a production model.

The Beetle R made its European debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show, and today it has been unveiled to the US market at LA as VW attempts to gauge public interest in helping them calculate how many models to pencil in for production.VW America boss Jonathan Browning confirmed to Autocar that the Beetle R will make production saying the displayed model is “a glimpse of what a production version will look like. Today it’s still a concept, but I talk about it in those terms with a twinkle in my eye.” Design flourishes on the ‘R’ concept include wider bumpers and wheel arches, racing seats, four exhaust pipes and engine-cooling air intakes. It’s a fair assumption that given the Beetle shares a platform with a Golf, the Beetle R will be powered by the Golf R’s turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine, which produces in the region of 270hp.