Facelifted Volkswagen Polo to be launched in India tomorrow

Volkswagen will launch the 2014 Polo for the Indian market tomorrow. The facelifted hatchback was unveiled at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show and is now on sale in the European markets. The vehicle gets some minor cosmetic changes but most importantly a new diesel engine.

Volkswagen has made minor visual updates to the 2014 Polo like a revised front grille, new bumper, fog lamps, reflector elements inside the headlamps, new alloy wheels and an orange exterior color option. The changes to the interior include a new centre console which is now finished in silver and the multi-info display on the instrument cluster that gets a new font style. However, the biggest change on the inside is the new flat-bottomed three-spoke steering wheel. 

Coming to the mechanicals, the biggest change on the mid-life facelifted Polo actually lies under the hood in the form of a new 1.5-litre four-cylinder diesel engine. It will be available in different power outputs – 89bhp and 104bhp. However, the latter will be exclusive to the GT TDI model.

There are no changes to the petrol variants and they will be powered by the same 1.2-litre three cylinder engine that produces 73.5bhp of power. The top-end Polo GT TSI will be powered by the turbocharged 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol mill that churns out 102.9bhp of power. All the variants of the Polo will be equipped with a five-speed manual gearbox, with the exception of the Polo GT TSI which is equipped with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

The facelifted Polo is expected to be priced Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000 more than the outgoing model. The new Polo will replace the current version when launched tomorrow. 

The 2014 Vento might also be launched this year with the same engine specifications. Volkswagen had scaled down its target Indian market share it aims to achieve in 2018 from 20 per cent to 7-8 per cent and has attributed the change to poor sales. Though VW has competitive products in the Indian market, they will probably take time to come close to big manufacturers in terms of sales.

Edit: the facelifted VW Polo has been launched for an introductory price of Rs 4.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).