PoloDriver

Here’s something to brighten up the darkest and bleakest January day. The enterprising Volkswagen importer in the Netherlands has created an updated version of the arresting Polo Harlequin, which was sold in Europe. Unveiled for ‘Blue Monday’ on 18 January, the new version of VW’s small car joker wears a brightly coloured wrap and is based on the current sixth-generation Polo.

It’s not the first time an updated version of the Polo Harlequin (named ‘Harlekin’ in Europe) has appeared of course, but this latest attempt is set apart by just how well it has been done, and by how ‘official’ it looks. But then it has, in effect, been made by Volkswagen Netherlands. There’s also the fact that its original Harlekin buddy in these images is in tip-top condition. It’s rekindling all sorts of rare Polo desires in us!

Originally on sale in the UK in April 1996 – yes, the Harlequin is now, unbelievably, 25 years old – after its its appearance at the 1995 London Motor Show, the Polo Harlequin was based on the 1.4 CL. Featuring their own unique upholstery, UK-bound Harlekins were equipped with a driver’s airbag, Polo GLX ‘sports bumpers’, white indicators, as well as darkened tail lights. The UK price at launch for the five-door-only model was £11,095.

‘Building block’ approach
Manufactured in batches of four (Yellow, Pistachio Green, Chagall Blue and Flash Red were the base car colours), the idea was reportedly born from how the continental, European-market Polo was sold. Employing a ‘building block’ approach where buyers could pick and choose between various option packs rather than the UK’s solid trim levels, the bundles were marketed with each one a different colour: blue for chassis and engine; yellow for equipment; green for paint colours; and red for options. Yep, you’ve guessed it, the same colours as the Harlequin panels.

The other innovative approach with the Polo Harlequin was that the buyer was unable to specify a particular panel to be a particular colour – the combination that their car arrived in would be a complete surprise! Around 250 Golf Harlequins employed the same idea in the US, and both the rainbow-coloured Polo and Golf may have been inspired by the ‘Ballyhoo’ Beetle of 1971 which was painted in the 10 colours of the UK-market model.

Initially a concept to gain a production acceptance, VW displayed the Harlequin at the 1995 Frankfurt motor show, and was inundated with customer requests to buy it. Twenty cars were initially made for the promotion of the ‘Baukasten’ building block option system, and a run of 1,000 cars followed. A total of 3,100 Harlequins were eventually produced. UK buyers bought only 113 examples, and a quick check on howmanyleft.co.uk shows that 27 Harlequin are still registered for use on UK roads.

Sadly, there are no plans to put the 2021 Polo Harlequin into serial production, the car clearly made just to brighten people’s spirits during what is traditionally a quiet and unexciting time of year. It has certainly succeeded. However, we think a production version could be just the ticket drivers need for 2021 as we hopefully start to slowly and steadily populate roads again, and see 2020 increasingly disappear in the rear view mirror. It’s also an anniversary ripe for exploiting. How about it VW?

[Images: Eric Van Vuuren / Volkswagen Netherlands]

Would you like to see a new and official production version of the Polo Harlequin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Now the jewel in Volkswagen’s electric vehicle production crown, the company’s Zwickau factory is home to the first model in the era of ‘new Volkswagen’, the ID 3. However, three decades ago, the first Volkswagen to roll off the production line at the former East German factory in the Mosel region was a Polo.

The DM17,410 Alpine White Polo CL ‘DDR’ (Deutsche Demokratik Republik, East Germany) built on 21 May 1990 was the first of 2,525 Zwickau-assembled Polos that year. Initial Polo production got underway at the rate of 50 units per day, built from ‘knock-down’ kits. Fitted with a catalytic converter and a 1272cc, 55bhp four-cylinder engine, a total of 17,978 Polos were built at Zwickau until February 1991, when the car’s place on the production line was replaced by the second-generation Golf.

Communist-era car
A former Trabant factory, Volkswagen’s takeover of the Zwickau plant was completed in on 26 September 1990. The little communist-era German car born in 1957 had enjoyed a more modern engine during 1989-1990 with the fitment of the 1093 cc unit from the second-generation Polo, and so Volkswagen thought it made sense to build the small Volkswagen in East Germany, too. The cleaner-powered ‘Trabi’ began to banish its noisy, smoky, and two-stroke reputation in favour of a more environmentally-friendly image. Before the Trabant chapter in the Zwickau story, there are more links back to the Volkswagen Group as we know it today. Horch founder August Horch settled in the city in 1904, and brought with him the brand that bore his name, as well as Audi, DKW, and Auto Union.

The second-generation Polos built at Zwickau were identical to those coming off the lines at Volkswagen’s ‘home’ plant in Wolfsburg. Based on the first-generation Polo’s chassis, a very different body ensured that there was no mistaking the new car for the old. Styled like a small estate car, the second-generation Polo had improved engines, more practical features, and increased comfort. Clever ‘Formel E’ versions pioneered some of the BlueMotion technology enjoyed by more recent Volkswagens.

All-electric offensive
Fittingly, the factory which once produced a much cleaner range of Polos, is now spearheading Volkswagen’s all-electric offensive. The new ID 3, the company’s first purpose-designed, electric hatchback is available to order now, and the first examples silently emerged from the plant in November 2019. Marked by a lavish opening ceremony attended by German chancellor Angela Merkel, the factory now solely produces fully electric vehicles. The ID 4 SUV will be the next new car to roll off the lines.

Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH, as the factory complex is now known, now employs over 10,000 people at three locations, a massive increase on the 500 staff when that first Polo was built there in May 1990. A phased €1.2 billion e-mobility manufacturing transformation of the Zwickau factory will see a total of six all-electric models produced at the plant from 2021, with cars from Audi and SEAT added to the pair of ‘new era’ VWs.

Highly automated production lines
A total of 330,000 vehicles will be produced annually by the highly automated production lines, and it won’t be the first time other Volkswagen Group cars will have been made at the Mosel factory: bodies and chassis of Bentleys have been made there since 2001, with those of the Lamborghini Urus joining them in 2017. The luxurious Volkswagen Phaeton also had its bodies built at the historic former East German plant. The Polo may have played a small part in the Volkswagen Zwickau story, but being the first car to roll off the line wearing the fabled VW roundel, its role was a very important one. It helped established a vital grounding for what will now be a blueprint for Volkswagen factories of the future.

Update: the Zwickau factory produced its final internal combustion-engined car on 26 June 2020. Since 1990, a total of 6,049,207 Volkswagen cars have been produced at the plant, and the final petrol-engined car was an Oryx White Pearl Effect Golf R Estate. As well as the Polo, Golf, Golf Estate, Passat and Passat Estate models have also rolled off the Zwickau production lines. The ID 3 which replaces all of them at the factory, will also be produced at Volkswagen’s Transparent Factory in Dresden from 2021.

MOSEL MILESTONES: THE LIFE AND CARS OF ZWICKAU

1904
10 May August Horch moves his company to Zwickau, and establishes A Horch & Cie Motorwagenwerke AG.

1957
Trabant production starts at the Zwickau factory, now named VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke.

1990
21 May First ‘GDR’ Volkswagen produced, an Alpine White Polo CL.
August Trabant production ends (Trabants were fitted with Volkswagen Polo engines from 1989).
26 September Ground broken for new automobile factory.
12 December Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH formed.

1991
15 February Volkswagen Golf production starts in a new purpose-built factory.
October 20,000th Volkswagen produced at Zwickau.

1992
23 July Third-generation Volkswagen Golf production begins.
September 100,000th Volkswagen produced at Zwickau.

1993
September Volkswagen Golf Ecomatic production starts exclusively at Zwickau.

1994
February All-electric Volkswagen Golf CitySTOMER production begins.
August 250,000th Volkswagen produced at Zwickau.

1996
Volkswagen Passat joins Golf on the production line.

1998
Annual production capacity reaches 250,000 vehicles.

1999
9 July One millionth Volkswagen produced at Zwickau.

2001
Bentley and Volkswagen Phaeton bodies enter production.

2003
One millionth Volkswagen Passat produced at Zwickau.

2005
Zwickau Volkswagen Golf production reaches one million.

2016

Volkswagen Phaeton body production ends, Bentley Bentayga body production starts.

2017
Lamborghini Urus body production starts.

2018
Transformation to an e-vehicle production hub begins, with a 1.2 billion euro investment. From 2022, 330,000 electric cars will be produced at Zwickau, including six models for three brands: Volkswagen, Audi and SEAT.

2019
4 November Volkswagen ID 3 pre-production begins, with the build goal of 1,500 units per day.

One of the 1970s stars of Volkswagen’s rejuvenated and company-changing range of new front-wheel drive and water-cooled cars, the lifespan of the Mk 1 Polo was only six years, but a small number of special editions were wheeled out in that time to either bolster interest and create something special – Polo Jeans, 1976 and 1978 – or to rekindle demand towards the end of its life – Polo LX, 1981.

There was another, more elusive limited edition, though – the Polo RX. Not to be confused with the 600bhp Polo RX rallycross car of today, the 1970s Polo with the similar name had around ten times fewer horsepower and looked a lot less extreme. Only available in Belgium during 1978, production was limited to 1000 examples only.

Sports styling
Sports styling took nods from the Golf GTI – then only two years old remember – and previewed the Polo GT which arrived a year later in 1979. A matt black rear window surround matched the black-painted metal bumpers perfectly, while stripes in a similar shade emblazoned with the ‘RX’ legend adorned the side panels. A large badge on the front grille left cars in front in no danger of what was behind them, while under-bumper front fog lights further added to the menace.

While the appearance of the Polo RX was similar to the later GT, the engine was, too. A 1.3-litre four-cylinder unit taken from other models in the Volkswagen range was installed in the RX’s engine bay, and made the same 60bhp as the ‘proper’ hot Polo, too, with 0-62mph coming up in 12.9 seconds. Inside, occupants were treated to dark-coloured padded seats, a rev counter and a water temperature gauge.

The brochure promised: ‘The “RX”, a special edition of the Polo. With much punch.’ There was more: ‘The Polo is like no ordinary vehicle. But here is really something extraordinary.’ The RX certainly worked its magic on Geoffroy Thirion, who has owned the Polo RX featured in the photos here since 2012. Geoffroy is from Belgium and likes the fact that the RX is so rare, even more so that it was a limited model for for his own country.

Rarest Polo models
Probably one of the rarest first-generation Polo models, Geoffroy has lusted after one since he was a young boy: ‘Since I was a kid, one of my dreams was to one day be able to make the acquisition of a Polo RX – they have become so rare! To my surprise, while rummaging in period magazines at the 2011 Techno Classica Essen show, I came across the photo of a Polo RX. A year later I managed to buy one!’ he enthuses.

Geoffroy’s car has worn various wheels over his five-year ownership, from the standard 13-inch steel wheels (not as nattily painted as the red and black rims on the GT), through red cross-spoke alloys, to ‘telephone dial’-style rims. It also has a spoiler from the Polo GT nestling under its front bumper. The car sits alongside his 1979 UK-specification Polo GLS in his garage, and is an award-winner, too, having won the Best in Show’ prize at the 2015 WPG20 show in Belgium which celebrated the Polo’s 40th birthday.

With only one other Polo RX owned by a member of the Belgian Typ86.be Polo forum, the question is where have the other 998 cars got to? We suspect by the age – 38 years is a long time in first-generation Polo circles – that sadly many are no longer with us, but it doesn’t stop us holding out hope that one day, a collective rasp of RXs will line-up in all their red and black-striped glory.

Once that has happened, we need to look out for the perhaps even scarcer ‘J’ and ‘CLE’ special edition first-generation Polo models, as well as the ultra-rare 850cc-engined version sold in selected Scandinavian markets and early ‘square-roof’ cars… Find out more about the Mk1 Polo special editions here.

Geoffroy Thirion is a European Polo enthusiast. Currently residing in Belgium, he is an active member of the Typ86.be club and owns an immaculate 1979 Polo GLS. What’s so special about a Polo GLS in Belgium? This one is right-hand drive and an ex-UK car, that’s what…

Geoffroy first saw ELF 247T on a trip to the UK in September 2007. He was visiting the annual Beaulieu Autojumble held at the National Motor Museum in Hampshire, and the low-mileage silver top-spec Polo was for sale. What immediately struck Geoffroy was not only was the immaculate, but is was also registered the same year as when he was born. He had to have it! ‘I did not hesitate to import into Belgium,’ he says.

Optional and desirable
The third owner of the car, Geoffrey knows what he likes most about the small VW from the 1970s. ‘They remind me of my childhood and transports back me in time,’ he remarks. His particular Polo GLS has the optional and desirable sliding steel sunroof as well as an extra mirror on the passenger side and driver and passenger window deflectors.

Geoffroy had problems importing the Diamond Silver car into Belgium due to customs clearance issues. Only the third owner of the car in 36 years, he intends to keep ELF 247T standard and as much in its original state as possible. His only plan is to make it more well-known through national and international Volkswagen rallies.

A lovely-looking and highly original car, it’s a shame the UK lost this Mk 1 Polo from its shores. However, in Geoffroy, we know it has a very enthusiastic and caring keeper and therefore a safe and welcoming home for years to come.

POLO GLS: RANGE-TOPPER
Following the launch of the Polo N and L in 1975, the Polo GLS was launched in 1979 and superseded the LS which was introduced in 1976. Equipment highlights included chrome headlight and grille surrounds, polished hubcaps, a quartz clock, a trip mileage recorder and a cigarette lighter.

A coveted factory-fitted steel sunroof was an option and the Polo GLS shared its 50bhp 1093cc engine with the defunct LS. A corresponding version of the Derby saloon was also launched, but was fitted with the sunroof as standard as well as a larger 1272cc 60bhp engine.

We’d heard earlier in the year that a special exhibition celebrating 40 years of the Polo was to open in the famed AutoMuseum Volkswagen, and on 23 July a small gathering of enthusiasts were in Wolfsburg to mark the start of the jubilee display.

21 special Polos
The ’40 Years Polo’ exhibition runs until 4 October at the former Odermark factory Dieselstrasse site in Volkswagen’s home city. Twenty-one special Polos are on show. The display largely focuses on the early Mk 1 and Mk 2 cars, but later models can be seen among the museum’s regular exhibits.

As well as production cars, unique prototypes can be seen, too. As well as the well-known 1983 rear-engined rear-wheel drive Polo Sprint built to evaluate handling characteristics and the 1985 G40 endurance record-setting car, one very special Mk 1 Polo features, awaken from its slumbers from the annals of Volkswagen’s heritage collection.

Eco-Polo prototype
The ‘VW 80’ eco-Polo prototype is fitted with a supercharged three-cylinder diesel engine, much the same technology as in the later Öko-Polo (Eco-Polo) from 1987, which is also on display. The VW 80 Polo dates from 1980 and looks odd with its faired-in front grille section, half rear wheel arch covers and aerodynamic body kit.

Other highlights include a Mk 2 Polo designed by Rainer Buchmann. On sale in limited numbers during 1986, the BB Polo Paris features a digital dash, uprated sound system, alcantara Recaro seats and very unique square-edged body kit.

Motorcycle and sidecar
The first Mk 2 Polo GT is also on show, as well as the VW Motorsport-created wide-arch Polo G40. One of the least known Polo exhibits is the motorcycle and sidecar, which was built by Volkswagen employees.

Our friends at the VW Polo IG Germany e.V. have helped bring the special Polos together, so the exhibition is one of the most diverse collection of early models. A special brochure is also available for €5 which describes all the exhibits in fascinating detail.

We’re heading over to Wolfsburg for the day in early September, so will report back in greater detail. We’d really encourage a visit anyway, as it’s a fascinating place full of unique production cars and prototypes and really is a must-visit place for Volkswagen fans. Head over to the AutoMuseum Volkswagen website to find out more.