Jost Capito has accomplished an admirable list of successes in his 36-year career. The head of Volkswagen’s R performance brand spent his younger years racing motorcycles before attending the Technical University of Munich. With his competitive racing background and engineering degree, Capito’s talents afforded him opportunities to develop legendary road-going performance vehicles at companies such as BMW, Ford, and Porsche. He also took leading roles at factory-backed racing outfits, such as the Sauber Formula 1 team and Volkswagen Motorsport division. We spoke with Capito, who shared his thoughts on his past, present, and future work.
How has your motorsports background helped you develop road-going performance cars?
I had my first enduro race on my 16th birthday. I got the driving license at 3:00 a.m., and I started racing at 8:00 a.m. Then in ’85 and ’86, I did the Dakar Rally with my father in a Unimog. We won the truck category in ’85. I’m a motorbike guy, which is always good for car development. If you can translate the motorbike feeling into a car, then I think you get a great performance car.
Through your career, which vehicle or racing project do you feel you managed to execute from concept to reality with the least compromise?
That’s difficult to say. I think the rally program at Volkswagen was unbeatable. Starting from scratch for a manufacturer with a brand-new team in WRC and winning the championship four times in a row—I think that is just amazing. That’s from the motorsport side. From the car side, I think it’s like when you have children: You love them all the same. Still, I really love the second-gen Focus RS. The Mustang GT 500 and also the Raptor were fantastic programs. And now there’s the new Golf R that’s coming out this year, which I think is my masterpiece.
How does the new model Golf R improve upon the prior model?
I have to tell you that, for me, it’s a really huge honor to do a Golf performance car because I had an original Golf when I went to university. And after that, I had a second-generation Golf GTI. And now being able to deliver a Golf R model. I think it’s like the crown of my career. I can’t tell you too much about what we put into the car, but there are a lot of small improvements, and the overall car is a real driving machine.
Are we going to see an expansion of the R brand in the United States?
We would like to have more [R] models in the U.S., but they have to be … in the right price range. I personally would like to see the Golf R [wagon in the U.S.], because that is really a favorite of mine.
When might we see a road-going battery-electric R model?
It’s some time away because we don’t know yet what really is the excitement of electric performance cars [from a customer standpoint]. The only thing that really counts for EVs is zero to 60, because that’s quite easy to achieve with electric cars. But I think electric cars must have more character than that. That’s why we introduced the Golf eR1. It was the first test mule for the ID.R [electric race car prototype]. On the other hand, we have the ID.3 that comes out this year. So, we feel we are in the perfect situation to do an electric R model. But first, we have to understand what is the excitement for a performance electric vehicle.
What’s the strangest moment you’ve had in your career?
I don’t know if I should tell you this story. The strangest one we did was at Ford during the development of the first-generation Focus RS. There was the last test car that had to be scrapped, and we said we need to have some fun with it before we scrap it. So we put nitrous injection on it, went to an old, empty airfield, and boosted it up and up until the spark plugs just blew off the engine. That was good fun.
Do you happen to own any of the vehicles you helped develop?
I have none, actually. I have more motorbikes than cars. I would really love to have one of each, though. I would love to have the first-generation M3; I would love to have the second-generation Focus RS; the Raptor; the Mustang Shelby GT500; the Touareg R, which I think is a fantastic car. And, of course, the new Golf R.
You began your career in the 1980s at BMW’s M Division working on the likes of the original M3, can you share a little about your experiences at M and how you were able to apply those lessons throughout your career?
I wanted to work for [famed BMW engineer] Paul Rosche. That’s why I went to Munich for university. During diploma work, I got employed [by BMW]…in engine development department. So I was then in charge of the performance development of the M engines. Then, when the [E30 M3] got into production…I also became the relations engineer to the customers. So I was really lucky that I could go through the whole process [of development]. I think that helped me in all the jobs thereafter. I knew with customer relations [that] I could follow this back to [vehicle] development. That was the main experience that helped me in all the jobs thereafter.
What project would you most like to tackle next?
That’s a difficult question. I think it’s what we’re looking at now: to do a really fantastic affordable electric performance car that people love. It’s a big challenge.
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