VW considering bringing the Polo to the US market
Click on the photo for a high-res gallery of the Polo
The guys over at eGMCarTech are reporting that Volkswagen is considering launching the b-class Polo in the US market. If it does come over here it could launch sometime around 2010. The Polo is smaller than the Rabbit/Golf, and in fact a previous generation was sold in North American market in the late eighties as the VW Fox. The Fox was built and exported from Brazil, and was never very successful. As the price of existing VW models continues to climb, a small stylish modern car priced competitively with the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris could do well here especially if they bring a BlueTec diesel variant. Something like the BlueMotion Polo would be even more efficient in real world terms than any of the hybrids on the market. In Europe, the Polo is available as a two or four door hatch, and also as the Outback-like CrossPolo.
Gallery: 2007 VW Polo
[Source: eGMCarTech]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike 3:51PM (2/02/2007)
Now that's a cute lil' thing. Kinda has that original 'Bug vibe thing goin' on.
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marcel 4:40PM (2/02/2007)
In europe they sell the Polo blumotion, wich is a 1.4 liter 3-cilinder diesel engine 59 kW/ 80 HP.
this gets a combined gasmilage of 4L/100 km (60 MPG) or 48/75 MPG city/hwy. these are US gallons
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Karkus 5:35PM (2/02/2007)
What's taking them until 2010? Their Bluemotion version should already be close to passing US emissions (and besides, the Jetta will do it in 2008). Perhaps the safety regulations? Or are they waiting for gas prices to go back up?
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TDIMeister 7:12AM (2/03/2007)
The Polo BlueMotion can likely meet all US emissions regulations in its current unchanged form except for NOx. Tier2/Bin5 is still much more stringent for NOx than Euro-IV for Diesels.
Plus a great deal of engineering would be required to adapt US-specific safety regulations (e.g. lighting, 5 MPH bumpers, OBD-II....).
Then it's the matter of bringing in and selling this model at an attractive price point in the market that is still profitable for VW. That might be the bigger challenge...
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Ryan 7:04PM (2/03/2007)
I'd buy one.
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Bob 8:27AM (2/05/2007)
The US Fox was not a Polo. The Fox was the sedan version of the Brazilian Gol. It was built on a platform derived from the B1 Passat/Dasher.
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Greg A. 9:38AM (2/05/2007)
"What's taking them until 2010?"
Perhaps that's when the next, redesigned version is due out in Europe anyway. It should be easier to meet U.S. regulations if the car is designed with them in mind rather than try to adapt a pre-existing model.
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jay 2:43AM (2/10/2007)
I'd really love to own one. VW Polo looks really nice and comfortable, that you can use everywhere you want to go. It can accommodate four passengers, has some of the state-of-the-art parts like that of Volkswagen struts [ http://www.dubautoparts.com/volkswagen-strut.html ] and has some space for stuffs. Like any other VW, the VW Polo, another car for car lovers to wait.
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Anthony 1:06AM (2/14/2007)
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