2003 Volkswagen Polo

The body style has been varied through the life of the car, most widely as a hatchback which derived from the Audi 50. A saloon version was marketed as the Volkswagen Derby, a descendant of the Audi 60.

Volkswagen vehicles built off different platforms have carried the Polo name plate. For example the Volkswagen Polo Playa hatchback sold in Southern Africa in the late 1990s was a rebadged SEAT Ibiza which has a different body shell from the Mk3 Polo sold in Europe at the same time. The current saloon is only available in China, Latin America and South Africa and other Southern Africa countries.

Position in the Volkswagen range

On its introduction in 1975, the Polo was Volkswagen's second front wheel drive hatchback model, fitting into the range beneath the Golf, which had been launched the previous year. It remained the smallest model in the Volkswagen range until 1998, when the Volkswagen Lupo was introduced. The Polo is still Volkswagen's second smallest model, larger than the Fox and smaller than the Golf. (In North America, the Golf – now sold there as the Rabbit – is the smallest Volkswagen available, the Polo never having been sold in this territory.)