Volkswagen Polo R would be 'interesting'

Imagine a hard-charging, completely bonkers all-wheel drive compact car that was relatively affordable. Sort of like a more accessible, Volkswagen version of the Audi S1 – a car that motoring.com.au almost named as Australia's Best Driver's Car 2015.

This Volkswagen would undoubtedly be the Volkswagen Polo R, a proposition that appears to be tickling the fancy of VW product planners.

"It would be an interesting one to consider," Jeff Shafer, product marketing manager at Volkswagen Australia, told motoring.com.au when asked if there would be a potential market for a juiced-up, next-level version of the Polo GTI.

Due on sale here next March, the new-generation VW Polo is based on an all-new compact version of the company’s MQB platform, dubbed AO, and it'll make the new car lighter and more rigid -- a perfect base for 170kW-ish berserk Polo.

Volkswagen’s current 141kW Polo GTI is a $27,690 proposition in Australia, and has been a strong-selling compact hot hatch for the brand. The next-generation Polo GTI is due in Australia in the middle of 2018 and is tipped to ditch the current model’s 1.8-litre four-pot turbo for a beefier 147kW 2.0-litre engine.

"The Polo GTI has been a very strong performer for us and it has done well from both a sales and reputation standpoint. It's won a few bang-for-your-bucks comparisons and the new generation is something were really looking forward to,” said Shafer.

"The early reports internally is that the [new Polo GTI's] fun-to-drive factor has been really dialled up and the first step for us is to launch the Polo GTI in the middle of 2018."

Shafer wouldn't confirm the existence of a hard-core Polo R model for the first time, but he refused to deny its existence either.

"Beyond that [Polo GTI] I'd certainly be interested in anything VGA is planning, performance-wise, but we just have to wait and see."

Pricing for a VW Polo R could be expected to reach the low-to-mid $40K range in Australia, particularly if the car comes with AWD.

But with customer demand for high-performance models in Australia continuing to be significant (the Golf GTI and Golf R account for around 25 per cent of all Golf sales here), there appears to be plenty of room for more R models in the VW range.

Fingers crossed it gets the nod from VW’s Wolfsburg HQ, because apart from having no direct rival and trumping the Abarth 595, Ford Fiesta ST, Peugeot 208 GTi and Renault Clio RS, we reckon it would be an absolute giant-slayer.