Volkswagen Polo will live on to end of decade with safety and tech updates planned

The Volkswagen Polo will live on to the end of the decade after the softening of forthcoming EU emissions legislation gave it a new lease of life. 

The cost of meeting more stringent Euro 7 rules could have meant the end of VW’s entry model, but VW’s brand CEO Thomas Schafer confirmed the hatchback is here to stay. 

“Polo will carry on for now, definitely until the end of this decade,” said Schafer. “Euro 7 has been done in a reasonable way, it adds cost to the vehicle but not too crazily. The car runs well, we will keep it fresh and it’s a good entry to the brand.” 

Volkswagen has also upgraded the Polo’s safety tech to meet new General Safety Regulation rules coming in July 2024, which mandate a variety of systems including driver drowsiness and lane keep assist tech. Schafer said the rules add “real cost complication”, but work has been completed to ensure the Polo and its Skoda Fabia and SEAT Ibiza siblings are compliant. 

Golf updates before an all-new model

The current Volkswagen Golf, which has recently received a mid-life revision, could be updated again before reverting to purely-electric power with the next generation of car. 

“We will only call it Golf if it is a Golf, with the proportions, the performance, the genes the Golf has to have,” said Shcafer. “You cannot just call anything a Golf. You have seen a couple of attempts where cars were given traditional names and they had absolutely nothing to do with the traditional car - not to mention names. It backfiles. It has to be true Golf or we will call it something else.”

Early designs have already been sketched out for the all-new car. “You need to bring it into the future, you can’t just carry on the way we have been, we have to keep it fresh,” concluded Schafer. 

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