Nevertheless, it remained a large, expensive car produced during a period characterised by increasing austerity as the economy underwent the aftershocks from the stock market crashes and bank failures of 1929.

[2] The car had an eight-cylinder in-line sidevalve engine with 4,872 cc of displacement.

It developed a claimed maximum 100 PS (74 kW; 99 hp) of output at 3,300 rpm, which converted into a top speed of 120 km/h (75 mph).

Gone were the light-metal cylinder head and overhead valves that had excited commentators on the Type M. The three-speed manual transmission represented a step back from the four-speed transmission of the earlier car, and while the Type R retained four-wheel brakes, these were now mechanically rather than hydraulically controlled.

[3] The Type R also lost some of the earlier car's bulk, its 3,620 mm (143 in) wheelbase being 130 mm (5.1 in) shorter than that of the Type M. The vast Pullmann-Limousine-bodied car was also 200 kg lighter, with an official weight of "only" 2,300 kg.