Earlier this week, we showed you pics of a Volkswagen Polo hatchback being tested by JPJ. Snapped by our regular Putrajaya spy Anol Alias, the white hatch has many differences compared to the Polo TSI currently on sale in Malaysia. We detailed the visible changes and speculated that the car in question was a locally-assembled CKD unit from Pekan.
We now have confirmation that the Polo hatchback is indeed being locally-assembled in Pekan, where VW also puts together the Passat and Polo Sedan. Our friends at Indian Autos Blog (thanks Shrawan!) got the word from Volkswagen India, which said that CKD kit shipments from Chakan, India to Malaysia started in July this year, and that assembly at the DRB-Hicom facility started in September.
At yesterday's official launch of the 2014 VW Polo Sedan, Volkswagen Group Malaysia's MD Dr Zeno Kerschbaumer, in response to a question on the CKD Polo hatch, replied that there would be news on this in the coming weeks.
The picture is clearer now, but one question left unanswered is the CKD Polo hatch's powertrain. We reckon that it's likely to be a non-TSI naturally-aspirated unit for a car that will be priced significantly lower than the current RM114,888 Polo TSI.
In India, the Polo Petrol hatch is powered by a 75 PS/110 Nm 1.2 litre three-cylinder engine, but that engine isn't coming to Pekan from India - ICB learnt that Volkswagen India only sends out components that are localised in India, and the engine in the Indian-spec Polo comes from Europe.
So the CKD Polo hatch's engine remains a mystery - candidates include the 1.2 NA three-pot and the Polo Sedan's 105 PS 1.6L MPI engine, paired to the familiar six-speed torque converter automatic transmission.
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