German automobile manufacturer, Volkswagen is officially discontinuing the plug on Polo brand on April 8. The dealerships will stop taking the bookings of the Polo from June this year, 2022. The cost of the car is Rs 10.25 lakhs (ex-showroom). There are only 700 units of the Polo Legend Edition that will be made.
The manufacturer has posted a heartening welcome letter on social media, thanking many people including dealership, engineers and general public. It is also mentioned in the letter that it is passing legacy to SUVW and sedan. This step has been taken after 12 years of endless acceleration in India.
Polo was launched in 2010 and it has been on sale in India for past 12 years. The company did update the Polo, however the changes were mild. The design stayed mostly the same. The features inside the headlamps and tail lamps were changed. The bumpers were also changed.
March 2010
Volkswagen launched the Polo in 2010. It was offered with 2 engines, a diesel and a petrol engine. Both had a displacement of 1.2-litres and had three-cylinder units. The petrol engine churned out 74 bhp of power and 110 Nm of peak torque. Whereas, the diesel engine produced 74 bhp of max power and 180 Nm of peak torque.
September 2010
Customers wanted a more powerful engine to take the advantage of the playful chassis of the Polo. Therefore, the company brought launched 1.6-literally naturally aspirated petrol engine. It produces 103 bhp of max power and 153 Nm of peak torque with the same 5-speed manual gearbox.
April 2013
Here, Volkswagen added new 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine that featured direct injection. It came on a new variant that was called GT TSI. It produced 103 bhp of max power and 1775 Nm of peak torque. Furthermore, the company used a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox for the GT TSI.
September 2013
The GT TSI was one of the most successful car in the Indian market. Therefore, Volkswagen decided to add the 1.6-litre diesel engine from the Vento under the bonnet of the Polo. The engine churned out 103 bhp of power and 250 Nm of peak torque.
July 2014
The two engines of 1.2 and 1.6-litre diesel engine got replaced with a new 1.5-litre diesel engine. It produced 105 bhp and 250 Nm of peak torque. It was offered with a manual gearbox.
November 2016
Volkswagen introduced the GTI version of the in 2016. It was a 3-door version and was priced at Rs 25.99 lakh (ex-showroom). It came with a 1.8-litre TSI petrol engine that produced 190 bhp and 250 Nm of peak torque.
March 2020
2020 was considered a bad year because BS6 emission norms came in. Therefore, the company discontinued its diesel engine and brought a new 1.0-litre TSI petrol engine that produces 110 PS of power and 175 Nm of torque. It was offered with 6-speed manual gearbox and a new 6-speed torque converter. There is also a 1.0-litre MPI on offer for people who can afford which produces 75 PS of max power and 95 Nm of peak torque.
Volkswagen started out with Phaeton, Passat, Touareg, Jetta and Beetle first. However, it was Polo who built the brand. It will be missed as the company has no plans to bring the next-gen Polo to country.
