UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

As per topic heading, production of the petrol powered Polo GTI has been discontinued; the end of an era .

www.polodriver.com/polo-gti/volkswagen- ... th-africa/

The VW UK website configurator shows the car is now only available from stock.

The all-electric ID Polo GTI is due to premiere later this year………

SRGTD wrote: Fri Feb 20, 2026 9:10 pm As per topic heading, production of the petrol powered Polo GTI has been continued; the end of an era .

www.polodriver.com/polo-gti/volkswagen- ... th-africa/

The VW UK website configurator shows the car is now only available from stock.

The all-electric ID Polo GTI is due to premiere later this year………

Sign of the times I guess. That said I wonder if it will continue to be available here in SA because we well behind the curve on the EV front.

The new ID Polo series will not be assembled in the Eastern Cape, meaning here the Polo Vivo (previous 6C) will continue alongside the current Polo until the end of production life span. Thereafter there are rumours of a plan to assemble an affordable bakkie (pickup) locally and the recently announced baby SUV called the Tengo based off another model in Brazil called the Terra (launching 2027).

Recently I have seen a few of these AI images doing the rounds on X which also explains how much locals here want a small bakkie (pick-up):

A sign of the times indeed. Not so long ago, most car manufacturers had hot hatches in their model range but not now.

I quite like the Vivo Bakkie; we used to get the Skoda Felicia pick up back in the 1990’s which would’ve been a similar size but I don’t think we get any small pick ups now;
I don’t think I’d buy an ID Polo GTI - or any current VW for that matter. From what I read on some of the Golf forums, current generation VW’s are still bugged with software gremlins and VW’s attempts at fixing them often introduces new gremlins . I do quite like the styling of the ID Polo though and the entry price of €25k (circa £22k) will no doubt attract a fair bit of interest. I dare say the GTI will cost quite a bit more than €25k though.

That's a shame. At 50,000 miles now, I'll be keeping hold of my GTI for quite a while I imagine, the price of new and used cars is just silly at the moment.

S_94 wrote: Wed Feb 25, 2026 11:37 am That's a shame. At 50,000 miles now, I'll be keeping hold of my GTI for quite a while I imagine, the price of new and used cars is just silly at the moment.

Same for me, not planing on changing things anytime soon. Pre the Polo I currently own I would usually trade in my cars every 3 years, not anymore.

I'm a bit torn on this. End of an era, but at least my 2024 GTI will retain value a little better for when I decide to sell it in the future.