We’re reaching a watershed moment in the automotive industry where the dumbass names some car companies have given their electric vehicles no longer make sense, especially as their gas counterparts are phased out and replaced. Volkswagen is a great example of this with its ID (insert number) nomenclature that flies directly in the face of the fact all of its gas-powered cars have actual names. Well, the German automaker wants to rectify that, and it’s doing so with the introduction of the all-electric ID Polo and its hotter brother, the ID Polo GTI. That’s right, the hot hatch is going electric.
Volkswagen says the new ID Polo is meant to combine the characteristics the Polo has always stood for — quality, safety and the democratization of innovations — with what ID stands for, advanced technologies and electric mobility. From the looks of it, VW might be onto something with this refreshingly small package in a sea of ever-growing EVs. The new car is also launching, coincidentally, during the Polo’s 50th anniversary.
GTI In An EV World
Volkswagen’s EVs thus far have been a lot of things, but they haven’t exactly been sporty. Well, that’s all about to change with the introduction of the ID Polo GTI. We’d first caught a glimpse of it as the ID GTI Concept, but when it comes time for production sometime in 2026, it’s going to pick up the Polo moniker.
It’ll have a GTI-acceptable 223 horsepower, according to Motor1, which is a good bit more than the 207 hp the current gas-powered Polo GTI puts out. Like the regular ID Polo, the GTI will make use VW’s MEB architecture and use a single electric motor mounted at the front. Sure, a rear-wheel-drive hot hatch would be cool, but what can ya do?
The two Polos look nearly production-ready, but for the time being, VW is keeping them under camouflage until their official reveal sometime in 2026. But, we’ll get a closer look at both of them at the IAA Mobility Show in Munich next week, along with an electric crossover concept.
It’s seriously refreshing to see cars like this coming down the pipeline. It seems like cars are just getting bigger and bigger, so to have something certainly small coming our way is lovely to see. VW says the decision to ID-ify the Polo was made in response to customer feedback. People yearn for smaller, more affordable EVs, and that’s what VW is delivering with the ID Polo and ID Polo GTI. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t hold out much hope that we’ll ever see either of these cars stateside. That’s the price of freedom, baby.
Volkswagen ID Polo
