Wolfsburg – Volkswagen has yet to officially reveal the next-generation Polo hatch, but already there’s talk of how powerful the GTI version will be.
According to
, VW has confirmed (to the UK publication) that the next Polo GTI will inherit the previous Golf GTI’s 2-litre turbopetrol engine, and that the hand-me-down motor will be tuned to produce 147kW.
The current Polo GTI’s 1.8-litre TSI turbopetrol makes 141kW and while a 6kW power hike is hardly earth-shattering, the Polo is also likely to follow the Golf 7 in losing some weight as it migrates to VW’s modular MQB platform.
The forthcoming Polo GTI will match the new-generation Fiesta ST’s power figure, which is achieved with just three cylinders and a 1.5-litre displacement.
Yet VW’s larger and less strained alternative will no doubt appeal to those seeking a more proven formula and with future official economy and emissions testing protocols unlikely to favour smaller engines to the same degree, Wolfsburg could well have made the wiser move here.
While we’re unlikely to see the new Polo GTI before 2018, the normal versions of the next-generation Polo hatch will be revealed to the world fairly soon, and in fact VWSA is set to start production of the new hatch in its Uitenhage plant later this year following a R4.5-billion investment in the local facility.