2022 Volkswagen Polo GTI Spotted With Almost No Camo Ahead Of Imminent Reveal

Volkswagen gave the Polo a well-deserved mid-cycle refresh in April and now they’re ready to give the hotter GTI version of the car the same treatment.

Our eagle-eyed spy photographers caught the car testing on public roads wearing little to no camouflage ahead of its unveiling. We already have a pretty good idea of what the car’s front end will look like thanks to a teaser released in May.

Thanks to that teaser, we know that VW is hiding the edges of the headlights, the dice-like fog lights (of which we expect to see just two), and it almost looks like they’ve blacked out the GTI logo to hide it unsuccessfully but maybe that’s just a shadow.

Although we haven’t seen a teaser of the rear yet, it’s clear that VW is trying to hide the full shape of the taillights. These ones, covered to look like the outgoing model’s lights, will actually extend further into the tailgate, like the lower-trim Polos.

These spy pictures also reveal a small spoiler where the tailgate meets the roof that looks pretty good.

Although we still haven’t seen the interior of the Polo GTI, we would expect it to have tartan seats as well as some sporty red accents and GTI badging throughout. The Polo update, meanwhile, made a 10.25-inch digital gauge cluster and 9.2-inch infotainment system the biggest option in the Polo, which we would expect this car to come with as standard.

Similarly, VW hasn’t revealed what’s going on under this car’s hood, but the current Polo GTI features a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that makes a healthy 197 hp (199 PS/147 kW) and 236 lb-ft (320 Nm) of torque. That power still puts it roughly on par with competition like the 201 hp (203 PS/149 kW) Hyundai i20 N and the 197 hp (199 PS/147 kW) Ford Fiesta ST.

We can expect to fill in all of the gaps in our knowledge very soon as the Polo is expected to be fully unveiled before the end of this month.