VW ID.Polo hits £23,945 to reopen sub-£25k EV fleet cases

Volkswagen has lifted the covers on the ID.Polo, the electric supermini that finally brings a sub-£25,000 EV badge into the mainstream fleet conversation. UK pricing starts at £23,945, with order books opened on 30 July 2026 and series-production Life and Style trims orderable from 10 September 2026, according to The Electric Car Scheme.

The car arrives 50 years after the original Polo and rides on VW's new MEB+ platform, the first production model to do so, built at the SEAT & CUPRA plant in Martorell, Spain, per Volkswagen Newsroom. It is the 20-millionth-selling nameplate reinvented for the battery era, which is either a neat marketing line or a genuine signal that VW is serious about volume at this price point.

Four power outputs are confirmed - 85 kW, 99 kW, 155 kW and 166 kW - with range up to 450 km and a drag coefficient of 0.264. Luggage space rises 24 percent over the outgoing combustion Polo, from 351 to 435 litres, in a body measuring 4,053 mm long, 1,816 mm wide and 1,530 mm high on a 2,600 mm wheelbase. Officially, wider pre-sales begin end of April 2026, though UK order books have already opened via the July date above - worth flagging to procurement teams tracking delivery slots rather than launch headlines.

Why it matters: a genuinely sub-£25k EV with a five-door supermini footprint reopens salary sacrifice and small-van-alternative business cases that premium-priced EVs have been shutting down. Cheaper capital cost means lower BIK exposure for drivers and a friendlier lease rate for fleets chasing decarbonisation targets without blowing the budget on Golf-class money. The catch is residual values are unproven for a brand-new nameplate on an unproven platform, and early MEB+ pricing promises have a habit of drifting upward by the time metal reaches UK forecourts.

Range and boot space put it in direct competition with the Cupra Raval and other MEB+ siblings expected from the same Martorell line, so fleets shouldn't assume VW badge loyalty guarantees the best deal on this platform.

Anyone building 2026 replacement cycles or salary sacrifice scheme options should pencil the ID.Polo in now but hold off committing budget until UK-spec trims and delivery dates firm up past the September order date.