New Volkswagen ID Polo GTI revealed: electric hot hatch gets 223bhp

On sale Late 2026 | Price from £35,000 (est)

If you’re one of the thousands of Jack Russell terrier owners in the UK, the new Volkswagen ID Polo GTI could slot into your life as well as your four-legged friend does. It’s pretty much the vehicular embodiment of that small but energetic canine, and it’s likely to attract just as much attention.

The ID Polo GTI is the first fully electric VW to carry the hallowed GTI badge. That means it’s being pitched as a hot hatch, and as such will count the Abarth 500e, Alpine A290 and Mini Cooper JCW among its key rivals – as well as the pricier Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.

To separate the GTI from the regular ID Polo, it has bespoke styling details that include a meaner-looking front bumper, a red accent line underneath the headlights and a roof spoiler at the rear.

Based on the same underpinnings as the regular ID Polo (which in turn shares its parts with the Cupra Raval and Skoda Epiq), the ID Polo GTI is powered by a 52kWh (usable capacity) battery that feeds a 223bhp electric motor. The result is a 0-62mph sprint time of 6.8sec; that’s quick enough to beat the 500e and the entry-level version of the A290, although pricier A290s can manage 6.4sec. 

Where the Polo GTI soundly trumps its rivals, though, is with its forecast 263-mile range, which is farther than any electric hot hatch can go – barring the Ioniq 5 N. The battery’s maximum charging rate is 105kW, so topping it up from 10-80% will take around 24 minutes if you use a suitably powerful public charging point. That means the GTI will take marginally less time to top up than most rivals.

The Polo GTI won’t have quite the same yapping potential as your Jack Russell, of course, but if you switch to the included GTI driving mode, the synthesised sound of a petrol engine will accompany your inputs. Plus, the car’s background lighting changes to red and the 10.25in digital instrument cluster shows racier graphics. In another neat touch, the instrument cluster – as well as the 12.9in infotainment touchscreen – can be set to imitate the look of an original Golf GTI dashboard, complete with a retro-looking radio and faux-analogue dials.

When we took the opportunity to sit inside the Polo GTI, we were impressed with the quality of the materials on display. Soft-touch plastics and fabrics cover all of the surfaces that you’re likely to touch regularly, while harder materials are relegated to the lower edges of the car. Like the regular ID Polo, as well as other upcoming ID models, the Polo GTI gets proper physical air-con controls, which are a big improvement over the touch-sensitive sliders used in the Volkswagen ID 3.

Your dog will be happier in the back of the ID Polo GTI than it would have been in the previous, combustion-engined Polo GTI, because it has a substantially bigger boot. Indeed, with 441 litres of storage space, you’ll fit more luggage into the VW than you would into any of its small electric car rivals; you’ll need to step up to a small electric SUV such as the Ford Puma Gen-E if you want more.

Prices for this range-topping member of the ID Polo line-up are expected to start from around £35,000, which would make it slightly more than the A290 and a hefty step up compared with the 500e. Expect all three models to be closely matched on a PCP finance deal, though, and that’s how most buyers will put one on their driveway.

"What's special about the colour red? Well, in the case of the ID Polo GTI, rather a lot. You see, the special Tartan Red colour you see in our pictures here is reserved exclusively for GTI-badged models. So being the first electric GTI, it makes sense that the Polo has been adorned with it. And having seen the model in the metal, the colour really does pop. I can see a good portion of future Polo GTI buyers opting for the colour" – Darren Moss, Deputy Editor

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