Volkswagen cans electrified Polo

In a shock move, Volkswagen's brand boss has confirmed there is no electrification planned for the entire eight-year life cycle of the all-new VW Polo.

CEO Herbert Diess on Friday confirmed that while there would be an array of 1.0-, 1.5- and 2.0-litre, three- and four-cylinder petrol engines and two SCR-equipped 1.6-litre diesels, he had shied away from hybrid, plug-in-hybrid or full battery-electric versions.

"It isn't so critical at this end of the market," Dr Diess admitted. "Nobody is doing this and there is no market for it.

"Another thing we had to look at is that the electrification is very expensive and these are not expensive cars, so it's almost not possible to recover the cost.

"Also, cars in the A segment are the smallest, the lightest in the car industry. Their emissions are also the lowest because of that."

While the Polo's main competition, including Ford's Fiesta, Renault's Clio, Honda's Jazz/Fit and Hyundai's i20, also plump for pure internal-combustion powertrains, it's not quite true that nobody makes an A-segment hybrid. Toyota does.

The Yaris uses a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain and though it's more of a rival for the Polo's little brother, the Up!, on size, it's price point puts it firmly in the bottom-to-middle levels of the Polo range.

The next level of electrification will instead come with the Golf VIII, due in 2019, just before the more stringent EU7 emissions rules come into effect in 2020.

"You will see the real-world benefits of hybrids with the Golf eight," Dr Diess insisted.

"This car will introduce 48-Volt technologies to the masses and that means fast harvesting and fast discharging, so it will really work well and improve performance and reduce emissions at the same time."

Asked what the next steps were to counteract the relatively flat Volkswagen sales so far this year, Diess pointed to both the Polo and the upcoming T-Roc crossover SUV, which will make its debut at September's Frankfurt motor show.

"We are making good progress," Diess said. "2018 will be a strong year for VW."