Volkswagen Polo Tyres

History Of The Volkswagen Polo

The Volkswagen Polo started life as a cheaper rebadged version of the Audi 50. The Polo was sold alongside the Audi 50 from 1975 but, the Polo went on to sell much more than the 50 did, leading to the 50's eventual discontinuation in 1978. In 1979, the Polo received a facelift, giving the Polo plastic bumpers, a revised grille, and the Jetta's square headlights, signifying VW's full ownership of the model in a way. The Polo saw great success in the first years, aligning itself with the rest of the supermini hatchbacks that were getting popular at the time and becoming the emerging Hot Hatch scene such as the Simca 1100 TI, Renault 5 Alpine, and Volkswagen's own VW Golf.

The Mark 2 Polo hit the market in late 1981 with the major change of the introduction of a new body style. A steep rear window was added, despite both body styles being three-door hatchbacks they are dubbed as the Hatchback and Coupe. This new Polo was used as a test platform for VW's new developments, such as the G40 Supercharger, which was implemented into the Polo GT G40, the first Hot Hatch in the Polo line. In 1990, the Polo received a facelift, referred to by many as the Mark 2F "F" standing for a facelift of course. bringing a few major reworkings, which is why many confuse this facelift to be a new generation of Polo, although due to the time of the facelift and the changes made, it's easy to see why so many make this easy mistake. The Polo received bigger bumpers, a rounder front end, and a revised interior, giving it a fairly different appearance from its predecessor.

The Mark 3 Polo brought in some more big changes to the line that brought it up to speed with its competitors, such as the Peugeot 205 and Nissan Micra, adding diesel models and 5-door models to the line. The Introduction of the true sporting model was the real big change in the lineup of hatchbacks in Europe. The GTI was powered by a 1.6 16V 125 PS (92 kW) engine with variable valve timing, this made it the most powerful Polo produced yet, the only thing missing would be the six-speed gearbox that was later introduced into the Lupo GTi. Adaptations to the bodywork gave the car the look to match its power. Deeper front bumpers with honeycomb mesh inserts, side skirts, fog lights, a honeycomb mesh grille, and 15" BBS split rims made the car look the part. The Polo's GTi models never really saw as much popularity as its groundbreaking counterpart, the Golf, ever really did, this is understandable though, considering the quantity of high-quality hot hatches that were being produced up to, and beyond this point, you were really spoiled for choice, the BMW made John Cooper Works Minis, Seat Leon Cupra, and Honda Civic Type R were all fantastic newcomers to this market as well as the more well-established cars still selling well.

The Mk4 Volkswagen Polo was launched in September 2001. The Mark 4 received smaller, more simplified bumpers and round headlights similar to that of the Lupo. The Mark 4 model range was still very modern, featuring further adaptations of the fuel injection models, with the diesel engines receiving turbocharged units, namely the 1.9TDI PD model launched in 2004. Many old luxuries such as ABS, power steering, and front and side airbags were now standard across all models and the newer digital luxuries such as satnav and brake assist were featured as optional features on the higher-spec models. As the SUV craze swept Europe, Volkswagen took to experimenting with a crossover-inspired model of Polo, named, the Polo Dune in the UK, this was an odd branching out at the start of the urban off-road trend that is very prevalent in the Modern Day with Range Rovers and Mercedes G Wagons.