Culture|Garage

While rumors of this had started coming out back in the summer, no one was quite sure of the sincerity of it.  “We are deliberating whether to launch smaller models than the Golf in the US market,” Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn said in an interview with Handelsblatt at the Detroit auto show.  This is the automaker’s first consideration of models smaller than the Golf in the U.S.

Winterkorn said: “I will ask the question this week when I meet with our 600 dealers in the U.S.: ‘Do you need the VW Polo?’”

I have a funny feeling that dealers will overwhelmingly say, “Ja!”  With success of cars like the Fit, Scion, Versa, etc, it seems entirely plausible that they would bing the Polo over.

specs, etc

Now maybe Ford will open their eyes and realize what they are missing by not bringing the Puma over.

I guess the real question is, which engine will they bring over?  According to VW’s UK site there are at least 10 different engine variants.  I doubt they would bring the pictured GTI version, that would start cannibalizing Rabbit sales.

If I had to wager, I would imagine they would bring over one of the gasoline variants and hopefully a TDI model.

The 1.9 TDI models are returning between 60-70mpg and making the trot to 60mph in ~10 seconds.

Realistically, this model would need to come in at a pretty low price point (the current Rabbit starts at $15k with no options).

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