Bottom line: Electric vehicles are the future of the automotive industry and VW just proved it again with a record-setting run up the famed hill climb. Will the company and driver Romain Dumas be able to best themselves again next year?

Volkswagen at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed took home top honors, besting all others by completing the hill climb in a blistering 43.86 seconds. It was the quickest vehicle of the event but not the fastest ever - that honor belonged to Nick Heidfeld who reached the summit in 41.6 seconds in a McLaren-Mercedes Formula 1 car way back in 1999.

The record held firm for two decades but at this year's event, VW finally clinched the all-time top spot and did so in convincing fashion.

Driver Romain Dumas managed to complete the renowned 1.16-mile hill climb in just 39.9 seconds behind the wheel of Volkswagen's I.D. R electric prototype.

Dumas said he was proud to have set the all-time record. "Because the track is so short, I could not afford to make even the slightest mistake, and every aspect of the fine-tuning of the ID. R had to be perfect. That was particularly challenging, as we were not able to test on the route beforehand," he said.

Electric vehicles are notorious for being quiet but as you'll see and hear in the clip above, the I.D. R was absolutely screaming down the narrow roadway.

The Volkswagen I.D. R also holds the record at Pikes Peak and the electric car record at the Nurburgring.