Volkswagen Polo CNG & Plug-In Hybrid Under Consideration

If you thought only Maruti and Tata were interested in bringing CNG variants of their popular models then its time to think again. Volkswagen revealed their facelifted 2014 Polo hatchback yesterday at their Wolfsburg, Germany headquarters and according to AutocarUK, the automaker revealed their plans of developing alternate fuel powered variants of the hatchback.

VW is seriously planning on introducing a plug-in hybrid variant of the Polo, along with a CNG version. VW is not a newcomer when it comes to plug-in hybrids. The automaker already offers a range of hybrid products such as the super efficient XL1, a Twin Up hybrid and the Golf GTE.

Also Read: 2014 VW Polo Is A Sweat Looking Hatchback

The Polo plug-in hybrid, however, will be different than any of these existing cars. In fact, a hybrid Polo will not even be capable of running on the same system that runs the Golf GTE, which is a "transversely mounted 148bhp 1.4-litre four-cylinder direct-injection petrol engine with a 107bhp electric motor"

That's because Polo is based on VW old PQ25 platform whereas the Golf uses the latest MQB platform. Hence, a new powertrain has to be developed for the hybrid Polo. VW has not revealed a lot of information about their plans just yet and has only informed that the hybrid technology will be called ‘TwinDrive' and it will be capable of integrating with either a petrol or a diesel engine.

As for the Polo CNG, it will not have the same problem as the plug-in hybrid system and it will be capable of making use of the CNG system that was first seen at the Golf TGI BlueMotion displayed at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. That system was a 1.4 liter TSI engine capable of running on either petrol or CNG.

"Things are still under development, but if there proves to be an good outlook for TGI and TwinDrive we will unveil more of the details next year," Ekkehard Pott of Volkswagen's powertrain development team told Autocar.