Volkswagen Polo R under development

Polo R due in 2012

Following a recent decision by Volkswagen chairman Martin Winterkorn to re-engineer the company’s widely used PQ25 platform to accept four-wheel drive, there is now word of a new range topping R version of the Polo doing the rounds of its  Braunschweig engineering base in Germany.
Expected to join the Golf R and Scirocco R in an expanded range of performance hatchbacks by the end of 2012, the Polo R will share its underpinnings, including a Haldex based multi-plate clutch four-wheel drive system, with the Audi S1, which is also likely to hit showrooms around the same time. Both cars are also set to use the same 7-speed dual shift gearbox (DSG).
By using the same system in two different models, Volkswagen hopes to recoup the high costs that have gone into modifying the PQ25 structure, following an earlier decision to engineer it only in front-wheel drive, in which form it is used by standard versions of Volkswagen Polo, Audi A1, Skoda Fabia and Seat Ibiza.
Further info after the jump


Signs are, though, that the Polo R and Audi S1 won’t be the only two models to receive the new four-wheel drive PQ25 underpinnings. Volkswagen has also begun studies into a small uniquely styled four-wheel drive SUV as an alternative to the front-wheel drive CrossPolo. Audi has also left the door open for an even more powerful RS1 model sometime in the future.
There's precious little word on what engine Volkswagen has planned for its new entry level performance model, but with the Polo GTi already boasting 180bhp from its supercharged and turbocharged 1.4-litre four-cylinder gasoline TwinCharger unit, the R is expected to get upwards of 200bhp from either the Audi developed turbocharged 1.8-litre four-cylinder TFSI engine or, alternatively, Volkswagen’s 170bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder common rail diesel. Watch this space . . .