VOLKSWAGEN is pushing ahead with the development of electric cars and has just unveiled a super sports car which it will be using in an attempt to set a new record at the famous Pikes Peak hill climb in America.

The Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak completed its first laps at the racetrack in Ales in France and will now undergo a strict test programme ahead of the event on June 24.

The car has a twin engine powertrain developing 680 horsepower and will be driven in the challenge by French racing driver Romain Dumas.

"It was absolutely fantastic to see the completed I.D. R for the first time, and to take it out for its first spin," said Dumas, who is a three-time winner of the hill climb on Pikes Peak.

"What Volkswagen has managed to put together from scratch over the past few months has my greatest respect."

He added: "We now have a packed schedule of testing ahead of us, and I am looking forward to every metre."

The I.D. R has a 0 to 60 time of less than 2.25 seconds - faster than an F1 car.

The Pikes Peak run in Colorado Springs has 156 corners in a 12.5 mile run ascending to a summit at more than 12,000 feet.

VW last competed in the so-called Race to the Clouds more than 30 years ago in a specially prepared twin engined Golf and dominated the event for three years up to 1987.

The record in the electric prototype class currently stands at 8:57.118 minutes and was set in 2016 by New Zealand's Rhys Millen.

The German car group announced in March that it intended to be building battery-electric and hybrid models at 16 sites across the globe within the next four years and plans to produce up to three million EVs a year by 2025.