The Volkswagen ID. Polo GTI is coming next year
Volkswagen is revising its naming strategy for electric cars, returning to traditional model names. The ID.2all concept car, unveiled in 2023, will become the ID. Polo next year. The ID. GTI concept car will also be further developed and go into production as the ID. Polo GTI. The gasoline-powered Polo will remain in the lineup.
The two electric concept cars are now almost ready for production, even though Volkswagen is still showing them in colorful camouflage wrapping. The official premiere of the production model is planned for May 2026. Both camouflaged small cars will be presented next week at the IAA Mobility in Munich – along with a similarly compact crossover concept car. The regular ID. Polo will be launched in the fall of next year, available with two battery sizes and three power levels.
The sporty GTI variant will follow before the end of the year and will produce 223 hp. With the ID. Polo GTI, Volkswagen is entering the new class of electric compact sports cars. Competitors include the Abarth 500e, the Cupra Born VZ, and the MG 4 XPower.
All ID. Polo models are front-wheel drive and use an electric motor on the front axle. The technical basis is the MEB+ platform, which differs from the larger ID. models, which are available with either rear-wheel or all-wheel drive. With a length of 4.05 meters, the electric Polo is almost identical to the classic Polo. However, it is slightly wider (1.82 meters) and taller (1.53 meters) – due to the battery pack.
Thanks to the special architecture, the wheelbase was stretched to 2.60 meters, creating interior space comparable to a Golf. Volkswagen highlights a new battery with a range of 450 kilometers in the WLTP cycle, which can be charged with direct current as standard.
The base price of the ID. Polo in Germany is under €25,000. Higher-end variants offer features previously reserved for larger segments: automatic lane change, traffic light recognition, a 360-degree camera, and a parking assistant with memory function.
The ID. Polo marks the beginning of the new naming strategy. A smaller model, previously known as the ID. Every1 concept, is scheduled to go into production in 2027 and will cost around €20,000—but with a new name. Whether Volkswagen will revive previous model names like Lupo or up! or introduce a new name remains to be seen. The only thing that is certain is that it won't be called the "ID.1."
CEO Thomas Schäfer emphasizes: "The ID. Polo is just the beginning. We are bringing our well-known names into the future." There are many indications that the ID.3 will be marketed as the ID. Golf, the ID.4 as the ID. Tiguan, and the ID.7 as the ID. Passat. This move is a logical one, as these names carry decades of tradition that Volkswagen intends to leverage.
The question remains what will happen after the combustion engine era—if it ends. If there are no more gasoline vehicles, the "ID." prefix could be dropped, leaving only the familiar model names. For now, however, the designation is necessary to clearly distinguish electric cars from traditional models. Even if the names are reunited, the vehicles are technically independent and based on different platforms.
We look further into the VW future
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