Volkswagen Polo GTI starts reaching Indian shores ahead of November launch

German carmaker Volkswagen is expected to launch performance hatchback the Polo GTI in India by mid-November. Now confirming the arrival of the model to the market, the company has started importing the new Polo GTI to the country.

A record of Zauba, which tracks the import and export data of India, shows that Volkswagen has imported a couple of units of the Polo GTI to India from Spain. Considering the fact that the powerful hatchback will be brought to India as Completely Built Unit (CBU), the imported units of the model could be for sale. In India, the Polo GTI will take on the likes of Fiat Abarth 595 Competizione and the new Mini Cooper S. While it has been said that the company will bring both the three-door and five-door version of the Polo GTI to India, it is not clear which of the variants have arrived. Volkswagen is reportedly looking to launch one of the versions first to see the response from the market.

The Polo GTI was first showcased in India at the Auto Expo 2016 and the car has been undergoing tests on the roads since then. From a visual stand point, the Polo GTI is expected to come with features like new front and rear bumpers with a GTI badge and LED DRLs, honeycomb-styled radiator grille rear-spoiler, tail light clusters in dark red, a black grained diffuser and chrome dual exhaust tailpipes. It will ride on 17-inch alloy wheels.

Under the hood, the Polo GTI will get a 1.8-litre four-cylinder TSI petrol mill that can churn out 192bhp of power with seven-speed DSG gearbox. The engine can propel the powerful hatchback to reach 0-100 kmph in 6.7 seconds before hitting a top speed of 236 kmph. The hot hatch is expected to get a price tag of over Rs 25 lakh in India.