The Volkswagen Golf R32 (also known as the Volkswagen R32) is a hot hatch produced from 2003 to 2008. The R refers to Volkswagen's motorsport department, Volkswagen Racing. 32 stands for the engine's displacement. The first R32 was based on the Golf GTi (Mk4) and was initially designed as a limited production variant of the Golf. Thanks to high demand, Volkswagen opted for full-scale production of the R32. The Mk5 R32 was the world's first production car to provide an option for a direct shift gearbox (DSG) automatic transmission.