VW Polo to use 4Motion, Fabia to be made in China

Shanghai, May 27 (Gasgoo.com) The Volkswagen Group recently said that the small-car platform underpinning the VW Polo, Seat Ibiza and Skoda Fabia is likely to use the four-wheel drive (FWD) in the next-generation VW small cars.

According to Seat president Erich Schmitt, the new small-car platform structure includes the optional version of 4Motion, the four-wheel drive system from Volkswagen, and Seat (ensconced within the VW group) will not use the 4Motion technology in the all-new Ibiza, though it's may be integrated in other car models of the VW group. This FWD architecture will underpin the next-gen VW small car, the Cross Polo, and then the Audi A1 in 2009.

The Fabia hatchback of Skoda Auto (Volkswagen's Czech division) is expected to be locally made in China. This car shares the chassis with VW Polo. At the 2008 Beijing auto show, Shanghai VW confirmed that it will make the Skoda Fabia later this year, but recent reports said that the final version of Fabia for Chinese production will not use the new platform.

The first batch of Fabia cars to be made in China will be powered by 1.4L and 1.6L engines for choice, which match the five-speed manual and six-speed manual-automatic transmissions respectively.