The facelift for the VW Polo supermini was unveiled a few days ago and already the German company is source-feeding us new information that will surely keep fans buzzing. The source this time is Autocar magazine who has learned from Ekkehard Pott, an official with powertrain development, that the Polo might have two more engines soon.
It looks like Volkswagen has plans to continue with the current model for a much longer time and are adding very complex powertrains, a plug-in hybrid system which is almost a certainty and a compressed natural gas unit, still under both consideration and development.
The first-ever Polo with a plug and the only European supermini with two types of independent drive (Yaris Hybrid has no EV mode) will be fully detailed next year. It will wear the GTE badge, just like the 205 hp Golf hybrid they're working on. However, mr. Pott stressed the fact that the technology will be different because "We don’t have the same platform, so we have to make vehicle-specific adaptions.”
Did he really need to tell us that? Not really, because a 205 hp Polo would be absolutely ridiculous. Both petrol and diesel engines are an option for the car, since the Twin Up they developed uses a 0.8 TDI two-cylinder engine while the Golf GTE has a 1.4 TSI petrol. Yet if we were to speculate, electric mobility and outright power seem to be targets for the German company, who consider the GTE to be a GTI with electricity added will likely go for petrol. Either a 1.0 TSI or 1.2 TSI engine is probably going to be used. And since the Polo has a spare wheel and the gas tank under the rear seats, the battery and all the complex electronics are all going under the bonnet.
Volkswagen is also taking into consideration a compressed natural gas Polo for 2015. This would be similar to the Golf TGI BlueMotion and also similar to cars from SEAT, Skoda and Audi, all using the same 1.4-liter turbo engine. Opel already sells a 1.2 LPG ecoFLEX version of the Corsa, and the Polo will likely also have a 1.2 TSI-based engine.
The first-ever Polo with a plug and the only European supermini with two types of independent drive (Yaris Hybrid has no EV mode) will be fully detailed next year. It will wear the GTE badge, just like the 205 hp Golf hybrid they're working on. However, mr. Pott stressed the fact that the technology will be different because "We don’t have the same platform, so we have to make vehicle-specific adaptions.”
Did he really need to tell us that? Not really, because a 205 hp Polo would be absolutely ridiculous. Both petrol and diesel engines are an option for the car, since the Twin Up they developed uses a 0.8 TDI two-cylinder engine while the Golf GTE has a 1.4 TSI petrol. Yet if we were to speculate, electric mobility and outright power seem to be targets for the German company, who consider the GTE to be a GTI with electricity added will likely go for petrol. Either a 1.0 TSI or 1.2 TSI engine is probably going to be used. And since the Polo has a spare wheel and the gas tank under the rear seats, the battery and all the complex electronics are all going under the bonnet.
Volkswagen is also taking into consideration a compressed natural gas Polo for 2015. This would be similar to the Golf TGI BlueMotion and also similar to cars from SEAT, Skoda and Audi, all using the same 1.4-liter turbo engine. Opel already sells a 1.2 LPG ecoFLEX version of the Corsa, and the Polo will likely also have a 1.2 TSI-based engine.