The VW Polo is a compact car manufactured by Volkswagen, sold mainly in Europe. It is generally available only as a hatchback but there have been sedan and wagon variants available in markets such as South America and South Africa.

The Mk I Polo was an Audi design. Introduced in 1975 it was manufactured at the VW plant in Wolfsburg and sold as both the Polo and as the Audi 50.

A revised model version was introduced in 1981, the major change being the introduction of a station wagon body (curiously referred to by VW as a hatchback), whilst the version that actually looked like a hatchback was called a coupé. Like its predecessor, this car was available with either 1049cc or 1300cc engines. Production was switched to Spain in the late 1980s following VW's takeover of SEAT. A facelift in 1990 saw the introduction of fuel injected engines, and the supercharger-equipped G40 version, but by this point the Polo was now terminally dated.

The Mk III Polo appeared in 1994, and was based on the second generation SEAT Ibiza which was launched the preceding year. The new car addressed many of the Polo's shortcomings, principally the lack of a 5-door version, and feeble performance. For the first time, turbodiesel versions became available.

The current Polo was launched in 2002, and is available in South America - produced in Brazil - and South Africa as a sedan, called the Polo Classic. In Australia, where it has also been sold since 2004, the sedan is imported from China. This has the distinction of being the first Chinese-built car to be produced in right hand drive.

The Polo is the second smallest model in the current VW range, larger than the VW Lupo and smaller than the VW Golf. It is mechanically very similar to the SEAT Ibiza and Skoda Fabia, being based on a standard VAG group chassis used for a large number of models. The SEAT Ibiza was sold in South Africa as the Volkswagen Polo Playa.

Previous sedan and wagon versions (Polo Classic and Polo Variant) have been based on the SEAT Cordoba.

See also: Giorgetto Giugiaro