Volkswagen Electric Polo sells so much that waiting list reaches ten months

Amid the closure of factories and the cutting of tens of thousands of jobs, the Volkswagen Group has found a ‘good’ problem in Europe: it cannot produce its cheap electric cars at the pace at which orders arrive. This is the case of the new ID.Polo, which is sold out and has customers in the queue for at least ten months.

According to Automotive News Europe, the hatch has accumulated more than 30 thousand orders since the opening of orders in April. The performance of the Skoda Epiq, which shares the platform and most of the components with the German model, is even more expressive: there are 35 thousand orders since July, that is, more orders in less time.

A Skoda spokesperson told the publication that the electric SUV is gaining traction quickly and that the brand hit the mark with the model. The information about the ten-month queue came from a dealership heard by the magazine.

The result is of interest to an automaker that comes from successive drops in global sales and is going through the biggest restructuring in its history, with deactivation of units, mass layoffs and downsizing of the product line. The bet on entry-level electric vehicles is precisely the other side of this strategy: concentrating investment in the segments that still sell.

Two Spanish factories for four models

The group’s entire so-called Electric Urban Car Family is produced in Spain. The ID. Polo and Cupra Raval leave Martorell, on the outskirts of Barcelona, a unit that received more than 3 billion euros to adapt to electric vehicles. The Epiq and the future ID. Cross are with the Navarra plant in Pamplona, which manufactured the combustion Polo for four decades. To shorten the deadlines, Volkswagen intends to expand production at both plants.

The appeal of the models is in the price. In Europe, the ID. Polo starts at around R$ 148.3 thousand (24.900 euros) in the entry-level Trend version, with a 116 hp engine, 37 kWh battery and a declared range of 334 km. It is a level that practically did not exist among European electric vehicles until last year, at a time when cars and fuels are still on the rise on the continent.

In Brazil, VW’s electric costs twice as much

The comparison with the Brazilian market is unfavorable. Volkswagen has just announced the ID.4 Pro 2027 for R$ 299.990, arriving in stores in October — it will be the brand’s first electric sold in the country outside the subscription program. Nothing has been confirmed about the ID. Polo here, and the model would face established Chinese competitors, such as BYD Dolphin, Geely EX2 and GAC Aion UT, all positioned below R$ 200 thousand.