2010 volkswagen polo
The 2010 Volkswagen Polo will likely be built in North America. The fifth-generation European Polo is shown here. See pictures of the 2009 Volkswagen Rabbit.

Consumer Guide's Impressions of the 2010 Volkswagen Polo

Volkswagen is poised to take on the Honda Fit and other thrifty minicars with a baby Rabbit that should get 40-60 mpg. It's the first-ever U.S. Polo, and it could be U.S. made to avoid German-car sticker shock.

What We Know About the 2010 Volkswagen Polo

Most Americans know the Volkswagen Rabbit hatchback (a.k.a. Golf). Now it looks like we'll meet its kid brother, the Polo, which has been around since 1975 but has never been sold here before.

VW officials said last January that they were considering a smaller-than-Rabbit car for U.S. sale, provided they could get around the weakening dollar that's making so many euro-denominated imports so expensive. As VW CEO Martin Winterkorn told trade weekly Automotive News, "The car would have to be built in the U.S. To make the Polo in Europe and bring it to America would not work." More recent reports have suggested Mexico as a possible assembly point.

Even if production would take place south of the border, the basic statement is still true. So is the general rule about smaller cars making smaller profits, one reason Detroit has paid scant attention to them over the last 10 years. But with unstable gas prices and rising buyer demand for thriftier vehicles, every automaker is scrambling to get out higher-mpg models, so it's easy to imagine that a U.S.-market Polo has moved up on VW's priority list.

It's just as easy to imagine building it at the U.S. VW plant that's slated to open in 2010 as a prime means for avoiding the weak dollar and consequent sticker shock. VW will soon decide what the plant will build. Initially, VW said the facility would turn out core American-market models--namely the compact Rabbit and Jetta, a new lower-cost U.S.-only version of the midsize Passat sedan, and probably the just-introduced Tiguan compact SUV (currently sourced from Europe). But even with all three, the plant would still be some 50,000 units below its reported maximum capacity of 200,000 units a year, leaving plenty of room for a made-for-America version 2010 Volkswagen Polo. And so much the better for VW, whose recently launched "Strategy 2018" aims to double U.S. and global sales within 10 years in an ambitious bid to pass Toyota as the world's largest-volume automaker.

Then too, U.S. VW dealers certainly need a lower-priced car to take on the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, and other fuel-stingy subcompacts that are now flying off the lots. And as luck would have it, a redesigned Polo is due out in Europe later this year, so with a few tweaks VW could have the newest econocar on the U.S. market.

Updated by Don Sikora II 03.16.2009


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