Volkswagen Polo: the supermini from Audi’s leftovers

The Volkswagen Polo is a supermini produced since 1975 and sold worldwide as a hatchback, saloon and estate. Six separate generations had been built by 2018, usually identified by a Mark or Series number, and facelifted versions are unofficially known by adding the letter F to the mark, such as Mk2F. The first Polo was a rebadged version of the Audi 50 hatchback, and its saloon variant was sold as the Volkswagen Derby.

Volkswagen Polo at a glance

History of the Volkswagen Polo

The first Polo was a rebadged version of the Audi 50 hatchback, which had been launched in August 1974. Audi dropped the 50 in 1978 to concentrate on larger luxury models, and the Mk1 and Mk2 Polos then became standalone models in the Volkswagen range. The first-generation Polo was introduced in 1975 and built until October 1981; it was also called the Volkswagen Derby, and by 1979 half a million Polos had been produced worldwide. The early cars were hatchbacks, with the saloon marketed as the Derby.

As the group grew through the acquisitions of Audi, SEAT and Škoda, the Polo’s platform was shared widely. The Polo Mk3 shared its underpinnings with the SEAT Ibiza Mk2, which had actually been launched first and used essentially the same mechanicals and interior although no body panels were shared; the saloon and estate versions of the Mk3 were rebadged SEAT Córdoba models, and the SEAT Inca and Volkswagen Caddy vans were based on the same car. The Volkswagen Lupo and SEAT Arosa used a shortened Mk3 platform. The Mk4 continued the practice with the SEAT Ibiza Mk3 and the Škoda Fabia Mk1 and Mk2, and the Mk5 of 2009 was built on the PQ25 platform, the same as the SEAT Ibiza Mk4 of 2008 and the Audi A1. A Polo Playa sold in southern Africa in the late 1990s was a rebadged SEAT Ibiza with a different body shell from the European Polo Mk3. From 1982 the Polo was sold in Japan, at first through the dealer Yanase, and until 2017 it and the Golf were the only Volkswagens to comply with Japanese dimension regulations.

The body styles changed over the years. With the Mk2 the saloon became the Polo Classic and the sloping-tail hatchback was renamed the Polo Coupé, while a third body marketed as the Polo Hatchback was closer in concept to a small estate, with the same wheelbase and floorpan as the coupé; this squareback, or steilheck, version was the most popular in almost every country where the Polo was sold, and all body types were two- or three-door only. From the Mk3 onwards the range became more conventional, with clear saloon, hatchback and estate models, five-door hatchbacks and estates, and a crossover-style hatchback with two-wheel drive in the Mk4 and Mk5. The engine layout has stayed transverse with front-wheel drive; the Mk1 had only four-cylinder petrol engines, a diesel arrived with the Mk2 in some markets, and the modern range uses three- and four-cylinder petrol and diesel units with six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic gearboxes.

Design and features

• Audi origins: the first Polo was a rebadged Audi 50.
• Six generations: hatchback, saloon and estate bodies over more than four decades.
• Derby and Classic: the saloon versions carried their own names.
• Group platforms: shared with SEAT Ibiza and Córdoba, Škoda Fabia and Audi A1.
• Squareback: the steep-tailed hatchback that outsold the other early bodies.

Volkswagen Polo versions

• Polo Mk1 (1975–1981): the Audi 50-based hatchback.
• Derby and Polo Classic: the saloon versions.
• Polo Coupé and squareback: the two early hatchback shapes.
• Polo Playa: the southern African car based on the SEAT Ibiza.
• Polo Mk5 (2009): the PQ25 car shared with the Ibiza Mk4 and Audi A1.

The Polo sits below the Golf and above the up!, and its derivatives include the Caddy van and the Fox. More cars are in the Volkswagen collection.

Video: Volkswagen Polo hatchback review

Video by Carbuyer on YouTube.

Sources

• Volkswagen Polo, English Wikipedia: generations, Audi 50 origins, platforms, body styles