Weeks before the official launch, pictures have leaked on the internet of the new ID.Polo, Volkswagen’s highly anticipated €25,000 EV model. Even the more powerful GTI was unveiled at what appeared to be an internal presentation in Wolfsburg. The interior and the back of the car remain undisclosed.
The pictures reveal what the camouflaged versions (scroll down) already hinted at. The electric Polo shies away from bold design. Newly appointed Head of VW Group Design, Andreas Mindt, has flagged off a city car with conventional lines, in line with the brand’s legacy values.
The ID. Polo marks the end of the bulbous ID styling and introduces a return to familiarity. It must navigate the company back to the times when the brand was a strong beacon.
In fact, the ID.Polo could easily be mistaken for the ICE version of the next regular Polo. Even the red GTI remains understated and hardly demonstrates any major differences in the looks department. Is Volkswagen playing it too safe? Customer adoption will tell.
Four drivetrains, two batteries
During a ‘Covered Drive’ event, Volkswagen already revealed concrete technical details about the drivetrain, information that was missing during its IAA premiere in September.
While it had already been leaked that the top versions of the VW and its sister models from Cupra and Škoda would deliver 166 kW, Volkswagen had remained silent about the base variant, the long-awaited €25,000 model.
The ID.Polo will be available in four drivetrain variants. The smaller battery will be offered with power outputs of 85 or 99 kW, while the larger battery will be available with 155 or 166 kW. Volkswagen will market the 166 kW version as the ID.Polo GTI.
In all variants, the motor is the APP290, explicitly developed for front-wheel-drive models, which, according to Volkswagen’s naming convention, delivers 290 Nm of torque.
Also new is the inverter, which Volkswagen calls the ‘pulse inverter.’ This component was developed and will be manufactured in-house, contributing to cost savings and enabling the starting price of around €25,000.
Since the presentation of the ID.2all showcar in 2023, it has been clear that there would be two different batteries: an LFP battery for an affordable entry price and an NMC variant for a range of up to 450 kilometers.
The two drivetrain versions with 85 and 99 kW will come standard with the LFP battery (lithium-iron-phosphate), which offers 37 kWh of usable net energy. According to preliminary data, this should enable WLTP ranges of up to 300 kilometers. The exact figures will likely be available at the start of pre-sales, planned for April 2026.
According to Volkswagen, the LFP battery’s maximum charging power is 90 kW, with a charging time of about 27 minutes for a 10-80% charge. The NMC battery (nickel-manganese-cobalt), designed for a range of 450 kilometers, has a net energy content of 52 kWh. Its charging time from 10 to 80% is 23 minutes with a peak charging power of 130 kW.
Both battery variants utilise PowerCo’s standardised cell. This is a prismatic cell of uniform size that can be filled with different cell chemistries tailored to the specific vehicle. The unified cells are integrated into the underbody using the cell-to-pack principle, eliminating the modular level found in other MEB vehicles.
According to the carmaker, this will reduce cost, installation space, and weight, improve thermal management efficiency, and increase energy density by around 10%.
MEB+ FWD platform, new chassis
Because the MEB’s front-wheel-drive platform is new, the chassis had to be developed from scratch, allowing it to be precisely tailored to the ID. Polo. However, cost, space, and weight efficiency were prioritized above all else.
The ID. Polo features a MacPherson front axle and a ‘particularly compact’ compound crank rear axle. “The interplay between these two new axles is characterised by the highest degree of precision linearity – vehicle handling that conveys maximum feedback to the driver and thus ensures noticeably more safety,” the carmaker says.
The compact rear axle frees up space to accommodate additional storage under the normal trunk level, as already promised in the concept car.
The foundation for the ID.Polo and its sister models are the newly developed front-wheel-drive variant of the MEB+. “Thanks to the completely new and particularly efficient electric drive, the complexity and thus the number of components and weight have been reduced,” stipulates Volkswagen.
Parameters that have enabled Volkswagen to lower costs and consumption. In addition, the electric front-wheel drive is on board the ID.Polo offers clear advantages in terms of space,” the carmaker adds. Thanks to the front-wheel-drive concept, the ID.Polo provides space for five people and 435 liters of luggage, the press release underlines.
Not bigger
The ID. Polo is almost precisely the same size as the current internal combustion engine Polo, but offers 19 millimeters more interior space. The trunk is also larger: the combustion version offers up to 351 liters of cargo space.
“Thanks to this extra space, the four-door and five-seater ID.Polo is now more of an all-rounder than any of its predecessors, specialised in urban environments but equally at home far beyond the city limits,” Volkswagen proudly adds – the ID.Polo will also be offered with a tow hitch, supporting a 75 kg static load and an impressive towing capacity of 1,200 kg.
While the ID. Polo GTI will stand out from the standard model with its sportier bumpers and dimensions of the ID.Polo has been known since the IAA: the model is 4.05 m long with a wheelbase of 2.60 m, 1.82 m wide, and 1.53 m tall.
Newly disclosed are the kerb weights: with the 37 kWh battery, it weighs 1,512 kg, and with the 52 kWh battery, 1,515 kg. This means that the additional weight of the electric Polo compared to the current ICE variant is some 400 kg for the basic variants and only 200 kg for the GTI.
Pre-sales in April 2026
According to Wolfsburg, “Every detail of the interior has been completely revamped and redesigned.” Highlighted features include “the ergonomic interplay of digital and physical controls as well as the horizontal architecture of the dash panel.” The digital cockpit consists of a 10.25-inch screen, while a 13-inch touchscreen for infotainment is positioned in the center.
Volkswagen has not yet confirmed whether all four drivetrain variants will be available at the start of pre-sales in April 2026. It is likely that initially only one or at most two drivetrain versions will be offered, with production complexity increasing later.
This could mean that the long-awaited €25,000 ID.Polo may take some time to arrive, especially if Volkswagen starts with the larger battery first.
‘The future is electric’
Volkswagen’s upcoming family of smaller, more affordable EVs will not be offered with a gas-powered engine. During an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, Schäfer explained that “offering new gasoline-powered models in the Polo class and below makes no sense in light of future emissions regulations.”
“The future in this segment is electric,” Schäfer urged, adding that new gas cars would be “too expensive,” and wouldn’t make any sense.
As for hydrogen-powered cars, Schäfer called them “a sham discussion” for the volume segment. “There simply isn’t enough green hydrogen, the fuel cell is far too expensive, and the technology isn’t efficient either,” he said.
“The only way to quickly decarbonize mass-market cars is through electric drive,” according to Schäfer. The ID.Polo is kicking off a new generation of Volkswagen as its first EV to bear an established brand name.
These statements by the VW boss stand in stark contrast to the enthusiasm with which the manufacturer has responded to the EU Commission’s (still to be validated) decision to postpone the 2035 ICE ban in Europe.
We now see many European manufacturers blowing hot and cold on the decision, leaving consumers with even more doubts and hesitation about what to buy. Is this the start of a schism in the car market where ‘common people’ will have to drive electrically, while the more wealthy can still thrive in the decibels of their many-cylinder ICE powerhouses?
