In 2024, Volkswagen commemorated the Golf’s golden jubilee. Indeed, last year, the Wolfsburg-based brand’s popular midsize hatchback celebrated its 50-year anniversary. However, with a new year comes another milestone moment for a Volkswagen product — released in 1975, the year 2025 signifies half a century of Polo.
Presented in March 1975, the original Polo was based on the Audi 50; in a modified form, of course. Positioned below the Golf in Volkswagen’s product portfolio, the Polo rounded off the firm’s then-new model family. The Polo continued to evolve — and improve! — with each iteration. Now in its sixth generation, more than a whopping 20 million Polo models have been sold around the globe.
A noteworthy mention, the German marque’s South African-based production facility in Kariega, Eastern Cape, is the only manufacturing plant where the Polo hatchback and its performance-oriented, “GTI”-badged sibling, the first generation of which was introduced in 1998, is built. Of course, the Polo Vivo, which recently scored a four-star Global NCAP rating, is also exclusively produced in Mzansi…for Mzansi!
As a reminder, locally, the current-generation Polo hatchback is available in five flavours, with the first four available with the choice of two transmission options, a five-speed manual and seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, and a single engine option, the company’s familiar 1.0-litre turbo-triple, which, depending on the drivetrain, is available in two states of tune — 70 kW/175 N.m in the manual models and 85 kW/200 N.m in the variants equipped with the dual-clutch cog swapper.
Of course, there is also the aforementioned Polo GTI, which makes do with the automaker’s 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged petrol powertrain. As a reminder, the EA888 unit, which is coupled with a six-speed dual-clutch transmission, churns out a healthy 147 kW and 320 N.m of torque, the latter of which is available from a mere 1 500 r/min, for a claimed 0-100 km/h sprint time of 6.7 seconds and a top speed of 238 km/h.
In addition, the Polo spawned another popular Volkswagen, the (Spain-built) T-Cross, which we’ve driven in pre-facelifted format (the refreshed model recently made its debut on South African shores).