Volkswagen of America has acknowledged that hatchback and sedan versions of its just-redesigned Polo compact will be sold in the United States by 2011.
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The model would compete with Ford’s European-designed Fiesta, by then built and sold in North America, and Asian cars like the Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit (Jazz).
A VW spokesman told the New York Times any United States-spec Polo “would be similar in size” to its European counterpart, denying rumours the Stateside version would be larger than models sold elsewhere.
“I don’t know if the car would weigh much more than the Euro version,” Keyes told the paper. “The crash evaluations are becoming very similar.”
Rumors of larger Polos for America apparently started when Stefan Jacoby, chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America, was quoted at the Geneva motor show earlier this month as saying the United States versions could be expected to have more headroom, legroom and perhaps luggage space than the European models, the paper noted.
The revamped European Polo is longer and wider but weighs 7.5% less than its predecessor, according to VW.
