Wolfsburg, Germany - The
Based on Volkswagen's MQB platform, it really is a
, bringing with it a number of features from the current Golf and Passat, and the world premiere of the second generation of Active Info Display digital instrumentation.
With VW having just released a sizeable batch of fresh pictures, we now get another visual taste tester of the new hatch ahead of its arrival in South Africa in early 2018.
Although we don’t have details yet of the local line-up, it's likely that most versions will be powered by the latest version of VW's 1-litre, three-cylinder TSI turbopetrol, also found in the facelifted Golf. In Polo guise, it's offered in 70kW and 85kW guises, mated to manual or DSG dual-clutch gearboxes.
Not to mention the 147kW, two-litre Polo GTI, due out in Europe by the end of 2017 and, given South Africa’s love affair with performance derivatives, in our showrooms not long after.
As mentioned local specs have yet to be announced but European variants are decidedly well stocked, with even the base Trendline model coming with LED daytime running lights, a speed limiter, automatic post-collision braking and Front Assist area monitoring system with emergency braking and pedestrian monitoring.
‘Make the Future Real’
Volkswagen’s new catchphrase (‘Das Auto’ was effectively killed off by the Dieselgate scandal) translates to the new Polo in terms of automated driving, with technology filtered down from the Golf and Passat, including blind spot monitoring, cross traffic alert and adaptive cruise control, a digitalised display and control concept along a common visual axis in the cockpit and a connectivity suite that includes App-Connect (with MirrorLink), Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, as well as the online ‘Guide and Inform’ services of Volkswagen Car-Net.