Volkswagen’s Polo Harlequin is one of the most divisive cars of the modern era.
While some loved the eccentric colour scheme of the limited-edition mid-nineties supermini, others were less impressed with the hotchpotch of multi-tone panels.
This week, VW Netherlands has celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Polo Harlequin – or Harlekin, as it is known in Europe – by replicating patchwork panels on a brand new version of the compact Volkswagen hatchback.
But fans hopeful of the rainbow Polo making a comeback for 2021 are set to be disappointed…
Patchwork Polo’s return: VW Netherlands has created a new version of the iconic VW Harlequin model that was sold in the mid-1990s
The original car launched a quarter of a century ago was at first designed to be a marketing gimmick to promote the arrival of the third generation Polo in 1994.
The mk3 Polo was seen as a major step forward for the brand, being the first of its superminis available with five doors and the safety benefits of airbags, seat belt tensioners and anti-lock braking (ABS).
VW also used the third-gen Polo to launch the ‘Baukastensystem’ – or modular system – which provided buyers with four building blocks to make it easier to put together a Polo to their liking and taste.
These four categories were all distinguished by a colour, with Chagall Blue representing the engine and chassis, Ginster Yellow for equipment, Tornado Red standing for options and Pistachio Green for paint colour.
To make the code language more appealing in showrooms, Volkswagen created twenty Polo Harlequins to promote the scheme.
The original Polo Harlequin – or Harlekin – was designed to be showcased in VW dealers to show the ‘modular system’ of ordering one of the cars via four stages, dictated by one colour for each phase or the purchase
The four colours are: Chagall Blue representing the engine and chassis, Ginster Yellow for equipment, Tornado Red standing for options and Pistachio Green for paint colour
The 20 cars showcased in dealers were so popular that VW decided to make 1,000 to begin with. Once they rapidly sold out, production was increased to almost 4,000 in total
However, having seen the colourful cars in dealers, VW started receiving requests from customers for the multi-tone models.
Volkswagen took customer demand seriously and from 1995 started a production run of 1,000 four-colour Polos, which rapidly sold out.
Repeat orders meant the total production increased to a total of 3,800.
Some 2,500 right-hand drive Polos were given the rainbow treatment for the UK market, though How Many Left – which uses DVLA records – suggests there are fewer than 100 either in use or declared off the road at the moment.
The cars were given the name Harlequin after the cheerful, acrobatic, mischievous and colourfully dressed figures from the Italian Dell’Arte.
And now, 25 years later, there’s a new one.
Some 2,500 right-hand drive Polos were given the rainbow treatment for the UK market. The How Many Left website – which uses DVLA records – suggests there are fewer than 100 either in use or declared off the road at the moment
While the new model is like-for-like with the colour combinations, fans of the Polo Harlequin will be disappointed to learn that the car is a one-off tribute
Customers who ordered the original Polo Harlequin could not indicate a preference for the base colour and combination of panels. Instead, they had to wait and see which of the four available colour combos arrived
Volkswagen Netherlands unveiled the six-generation Polo Harlequin this week to showcase how far the small hatchback has come in a quarter of a century in terms of comfort, connectivity, safety and efficiency.
However, it is purely a one-off commemorative special edition that won’t be going into production.
Unlike the original version, this example isn’t a mishmash of panels from four different cars off the production line – instead, a specially painted single model that’s perfectly colour-matched to the Harlequin.
Five facts you might not know about the VW Polo Harlequin
1. The answer’s on the roof
Because the original VW Polo Harlequins were made up of a group of cars with shared panels, it is difficult to tell what colour each car started life as when you see one on the road.
However, there is a telltale giveaway – the roof panel, which denotes the original colour of the Polo off the assembly line.
If you can take a closer look, you can also tell the original colour from the door sills and the engine compartment.
If you see an original Polo Harlequin on the road, you can tell the original colour of the car by the roof panel
2. Same pattern repeated, but buyers didn’t get to choose
On each Harlequin the front bumper, front doors and mirrors are the same colour as well as the rear doors and rear bumper.
As a customer you could order a Polo Harlequin, but you could not indicate a preference for the base colour and combination. You just had to wait and see which of the four available colour combinations you finally got.
3. It confused police officers
The Polo Harlequin was not officially available in the Netherlands, though many ended up in the country from across borders. One owner told VW they were stopped by Dutch police, not because of a violation but because they wanted to know the colour the car was officially registered.
In the mid 1990s, McDonalds gave away 500 examples of the Polo Harlequin in Germany as part of a customer lottery
4. McDonalds gave away 500 of them
In Germany, the Polo Harlequin is still to this day associated with fast food chain, McDonalds.
That’s because they offered them as part of competition for customers.
When ordering from the menu, diners would receive part of a photo of the car. Six different photos together would create the full vehicle and those who completed the picture of the car could then participate in a lottery to win the real thing.
Incredibly, 500 were given away.
5. It wasn’t the only multi-coloured VW
The idea of body panels in different colours was not entirely new to Volkswagen in the early ’90s.
An advertisement from 1964 showed a brightly coloured Beetle. That advertisement was intended to demonstrate how easily parts of Beetle models from different construction years were interchangeable.
And since the Polo, the Harlequin idea was used in the US.
In 1996 the Golf was available on North America as a Harlequin that matched the Polo variant’s colour schemes. Just 246 were produced.
SAVE MONEY ON MOTORING
