PoloDriver

PoloDriver.com editor Rich Gooding tells the story of how an original 1970s Polo ended up being parked on the Cartier Style et Luxe lawn at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed

The words ‘Polo’ and ‘Goodwood Festival of Speed’ rarely, if ever, appear in the same sentence. So it was with great excitement that I opened an email from one of the organising team of the UK’s – the world’s – greatest motorsport festival.

In addition to the obvious action of cars speeding up the hill in front of Goodwood House, the four-day event has static displays, too, the most prestigious area being the Cartier Style et Luxe lawn, which usually features priceless supercars and vintage machinery on the grass next to Lord March’s country house. For 2024, one section of the lawn was to celebrate the work of car designer Marcello Gandini, who worked for Italian styling house Bertone, and was said to have had a hand in the Audi 50 of 1974, which became the original Volkswagen Polo.

Unmolested example
I feel this may be too laboured a point, as numerous stories haven’t confirmed the authenticity of this claim, but Goodwood wanted a car for the lawn, so around two months before the event, tasked me with the task of finding an unmolested example of Volkswagen’s pretty 1970s supermini. One lead sadly didn’t happen, so a post on a couple of now almost-defunct Polo forums resulted in Stuart Turner’s gorgeous 84,000-mile Manila Green 1977 Polo L being picked for the event.

Having seen it on Thursday 11 July when the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed opened its gates, the car looked perfect, with all the period details present and correct. Stuart has done a fantastic job in restoring the car to a period specification and, placed near one entrance/exit gate, it was attracting as much attention as the Lamborghini Miura and Countach parked just a few feet away.

It has been a genuine honour to see a Polo at such a prestigious event, and if you’d like to catch a glimpse of Stuart’s immaculate Polo at Goodwood, head to the Cartier Style et Luxe lawn. The 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed started on 11 July, and runs through the rest of the weekend of 13-14 July at the Goodwood Estate near Chichester in the UK.

Announced in April 2021, the refreshed sixth-generation Volkswagen Polo’s arrival came just after the small car name celebrated its 46th birthday. And rumours are circulating that this latest version of the Polo could be its last. It may not even live to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

The reason? The car market is a very different place to when the original incarnation of the Polo was launched in March 1975. Emission legislation – especially that in Europe – is forcing car makers to produce more electric models, and while internal combustion engines will remain for some time to come, the costs and development needed to make them more environmentally friendly and cleaner are rising. This means the prices will have to rise, making small cars much more expensive.

Small car casualty
Some manufacturers have already pulled the plug on some of their most popular models. The Ford Fiesta has long been a Polo sparring partner, having been launched a year later than the VW, but it is the most high-profile small car casualty yet. Ford has announced that production will stop in June 2023, bringing to an end 47 years of a very popular – the Fiesta has topped the UK registrations chart for several years, most notably from 2009-2020 – nameplate. Could the same be about to happen to the Polo?

Autocar reports that Volkswagen is to take a decision on the Polo’s future within the next two weeks. New technology needed to bring engine emissions down under proposed new Euro 7 regulations would add at least £3,000 to the average cost of cars like the Polo. Volkswagen’s new CEO, Thomas Schäfer, said that would make the Polo essentially unsaleable, making plans for a new electric small car even more prescient. Auto Express states that the larger – and more ‘iconic’ – Golf may stay and even turn into an electric-only model in the future. French magazine Auto-Journal hints that ID 1 and ID 2-badged models – with elements taken from the ID Life concept car – could replace the Polo.

Market withdrawal
What all this means for sales – and a very possible market withdrawal – of the Polo in the UK and Europe is unclear, but there are signs the nameplate may not die imminently elsewhere in the world. A popular model in South Africa – although Cars.co.za reports that sales are starting to slip – the Polo is also built there, the Volkswagen factory in Kariega producing all Polos exported to right-hand drive markets. The facility is also the sole producer of the Polo GTI.

While it may be phased out in Europe, Martina Biene, the managing director of Volkswagen Group South Africa, has commented that the Polo and its cheaper Polo Vivo sister – based on the fifth-generation Polo made from 2009-2017 – will ‘remain’ beyond 2025. Quite what this actually means, we don’t know, but it intimates that for the local market, the Polo name will live on, at least for the short-term, and the model will mark its 50th birthday.

Only electric cars in Europe
The Polo is also built for South American markets in Volkswagen’s Anchieta factory in Brazil and is produced in China in the Anting SAIC Volkswagen plant. South America is still at the very start of the electric car transition, and so will need internal combustion-engined cars for some time to come, whereas China already leads the worldwide electric car market. So, we certainly see the Polo remaining a South American small car staple for a few years yet.

However, elsewhere, things are not so certain. Schäfer has outlined that from 2033 Volkswagen will only produce electric cars in Europe. Ironically, the Polo was the most popular VW in the UK in 2021, a market where the brand also reached the top of the registration charts for the first time. A total of 147,826 Volkswagens found homes, and the Polo was the fifth most popular car in the UK.

While the current Polo has nothing in common with the original car of 1975, given the name and subject of this website, we’d obviously be very disappointed to see the Polo name reach the end of the road. Now one of Volkswagen’s most popular models worldwide, the culling of the Polo name will be a decision that won’t be taken lightly, but European market odds don’t look good. We hope any decision Volkswagen reaches means its small car lives on in some way.

Long-standing and well-known Volkswagen parts supplier Heritage Parts Centre is now reproducing windscreen seals for the first-generation Polo and Audi 50. As the early cars now attract a growing following and original parts becoming rarer, Heritage is using an OE quality manufacturer to faithfully reproduce the front windscreen seal for chrome trim.

Priced at £44.95 and sold under part number 863-845-121/B, Heritage can also supply the correct and corresponding chrome trim, as well as the joining piece if required. For more details, call Heritage Parts Centre on 01273 444000, email sales@heritagepartscentre.com or visit heritagepartscentre.com.

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.

1978 Volkswagen Polo RX: Geoffroy Thirion

1978 Volkswagen Polo RX: Geoffroy Thirion

1978 Volkswagen Polo RX: Geoffroy Thirion

1978 Volkswagen Polo RX: Geoffroy Thirion

1978 Volkswagen Polo RX: Geoffroy Thirion

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.

1978 Volkswagen Polo RX: Geoffroy Thirion

1978 Volkswagen Polo RX: Geoffroy Thirion

1978 Volkswagen Polo RX: Geoffroy Thirion

1978 Volkswagen Polo RX: Geoffroy Thirion

1978 Volkswagen Polo RX: Geoffroy Thirion

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.

It’s been another busy year for the Volkswagen Polo. The model has celebrated its 40th birthday with an exhibition of rare models at the AutoMuseum Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, and the revised fifth-generation Polo range has been completed with the addition of new BlueMotion TSI and GTI models.

On the asphalt and gravel stages of the 2015 FIA World Rally Championship, the Polo has, like 2013 and 2014, once again come out on top. Just like last year, the Polo R WRC has won 12 events out of 13, taking the Manufacturers’ Championship title for Volkswagen Motorsport and has also carried Frenchmen Sébastien Ogier the Julien Ingrassia to their third consecutive Drivers’ Championship prize.

Other Polo-based motorsport series have also continued around the globe, with Wolfsburg’s small car taking an even larger presence in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, as well as being a track machine in many countries. Here, we round up the Polo’s biggest achievements in 2015. (Bold entries are illustrated by the picture above that particular month.)

January

– Polo and Vento help Volkswagen India achieve record 2014 production figures
– Milltek Sport cat-back twin 80mm exhaust system launched for Polo R WRC road car
– Uprated Polo GT and new Polo GTI under consideration for India
– Volkswagen Motorsport unwraps second-generation Polo R WRC
– New petrol-powered 1.2-litre Cross Polo for India
– Indian-only Volkswagen Polo R-Cup series makes way for Vento Cup in 2015
– Our cars: 2001 Polo GTI – report eleven
– 2015 Polo R WRC makes dream debut at Rally Monte Carlo with Volkswagen 1-2-3
– Polo is the second best-selling car in Europe
– Polo is the eighth best-selling car in the UK.

February

– PoloDriver.com launches new model profile series: the eco Polos
– Sébastien Ogier sweeps to spectacular 2015 Rally Sweden win
– Our cars: 2015 Polo SE 1.2 TSI – report one
– Sheldon van der Linde hat-trick at 2015 Engen Volkswagen Cup opener
– Refreshed Polo hatchback heads to the Philippines
– Volkswagen does the double: Golf and Polo still Europe’s top sellers.

March
– Volkswagen India launches the special edition Vento Magnific
– Sébastien Ogier celebrates third 2015 WRC victory with Rally Mexico win
– KW Automotive launches coilover suspension kit for Polo R WRC
– Volkswagen Sweden backs two teams in 2015 World Rallycross series assault
– Polo GT TDI wins Budget Driver’s Car of the Year at the Indian Zeegnition Auto Awards 2015
– Vento DSG wins Auto Bild India Golden Steering Wheel award
– Polo wins Carbuyer 2015 Best Small Car award
– Polo is the sixth best-selling car in the UK.

April

– Volkswagen celebrates 40 years of the Polo at Techno Classica 2015
– Volkswagen South Africa launches the new 2015 141kW Polo GTI
– Zulu and Arries celebrate Polo S2000 podium position at 2015 Sasol Rally
– PoloDriver.com drives the 2015 189bhp 6C Polo GTI
– Retirements force Volkswagen out of podium places at Rally Argentina
– Polo is the sixth best-selling car in the UK.

May
– Johan Kristoffersson scores maiden win at World RX of Portugal
– Toomas Heikkinen highest-placed Polo driver at World RX of Hockenheim
– Volkswagen Australia issues recall for 2015 Polo 1.2 TSI models
– Gugu Zulu scores Volkswagen Sasolracing result at Secunda Motor Rally
– Toomas Heikkinen wins World RX of Belgium
– Polo is the seventh best-selling car in the UK.

June

– Our cars: 2015 Polo SE 1.2 TSI – report two
– Johan Kristoffersson puts Polo on the podium at World RX of Great Britain
– Revised Polo saloon for India and Russia unveiled
– Latvala heads Volkswagen podium lock-out at Rally Portugal
– Volkswagen South Africa announces Polo Vivo Eclipse special edition
– Ogier snatches third Sardinian Volkswagen victory at 2015 Rally Italy
– Polo is 500,000th car produced at Volkswagen India factory
– Volkswagen Australia recalls refreshed fifth-generation Polo for seat issue
– Johan Kristoffersson finishes fourth at World RX of Germany
– Tommy Rustad takes Euro RX win
– Polo is the eighth best-selling car in the UK.

July

– Toomas Heikkinen sweeps to fourth at World RX of Sweden
– Webcon reintroduces 1043cc carburettor kit for 1981-1985 Polo and Derby
– Volkswagen Australia realigns Polo range with 2016 model year upgrades
– Volkswagen Polo scoops Auto Express Supermini of the Year 2015 award
– ‘40 Years Polo’ exhibition opens at AutoMuseum Volkswagen
– Club Polo 2015 Polo Social event celebrates 40 years of the Polo.

August

– Volkswagen’s Ogier and Mikkelsen take one-two at Rally Poland
– HG Motorsport unveils 260bhp 6C Polo GTI
– Volkswagen Polo’s 40th anniversary celebrated with ‘Original’ limited edition model
– Sheldon van der Linde does the Engen Volkswagen Cup double at Zwartkops
– Polo is the fifth best-selling car in the UK.

September
– Polo Trophy special edition launched in Malaysia
– Volkswagen wins Rally Australia; takes WRC titles for third consecutive year
– Johan Kristoffersson’s Polo RX second at World RX of Spain
– Podium success for Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo S2000s at Toyota Cape Dealer Rally
– Volkswagen ‘Dieselgate’ emissions scandal breaks
– Polo is the fifth best-selling car in the UK.

October
– Polo BlueMotion TSI completes Volkswagen South Africa new Polo range
– Volkswagen India recalls 389 Polo models due to handbrake defect
– Latvala and Anttila take Polo R WRC to victory in Rally Spain
– Volkswagen India launches limited edition Polo Exquisite and Vento Highline Plus
– 1.2-litre TDI Polo engine also caught up in ‘Dieselgate’ emissions scandal
– Revised Polo Sedan launched by Volkswagen South Africa
– ABT Sportsline celebrates Polo’s 40th birthday with 230bhp upgrade
– 500,000th Polo produced at Volkswagen South Africa’s Uitenhage factory
– Andreas Mikkelsen claims maiden WRC win at Rally Spain
– Polo is the seventh best-selling car in the UK.

November
– Revised petrol-only Volkswagen Polo Sedan launched in Argentina
– Our cars: 2001 Polo GTI – report twelve
– Sébastien Ogier scores hat-trick and eighth 2015 WRC win at 2015 Rally Great Britain
– Selected Polo TDI and TSI models affected in Volkswagen CO2 emissions issue
– Polo Vivo remains number one best-seller in South Africa; new Street model launched.

December
– Volkswagen Vento rated a five-star car in Latin NCAP creash tests
– Volkswagen Motorsport takes first, second and third 2015 WRC drivers’ titles
– Volkswagen Polo R WRC awarded Autosport Rally Car of the Year
– Our cars: 2013 Polo R-Line – report four
– Polo Allstar special edition launched
– Polo ends 2015 as the sixth best-selling car in the UK.

It’s once again been a busy Polo year for Volkswagen and also for all here at PoloDriver. We would like to thank the loyal readers and followers who have helped make the year another fantastically enjoyable one, and hope that you’ll enjoy the developments and stories coming to the website in 2016, which will include full coverage of the 40 Years Polo exhibition at AutoMuseum Volkswagen.

[Click on the ‘Polo 2009-’, ‘WRC’ and ‘Motorsport’ tags in the category drop-down list in the right-hand sidebar of the website to see all entries pertaining to the revised fifth-generation Polo, Polo R WRC, and Polo motorsport activity respectively. Choose other category or month sections for relevant entries.]