Cast your mind back to the greatest marketing successes of the 90s, and chances are, you're immediately picturing Eva Herzigová saying "Hello Boys" on the Wonderbra billboards, Nike's "Just Do It" slogan, the galloping horses in the sea for Guinness, and of course, the technicolour king of the road, that was the Harlequin version of the Volkswagen Polo.
In fact, it is perhaps the best known iteration of the German automotive marque's long running supermini car, from its third generation of production in 1995. It had its admirers as much as it had its denigrators, and one look at the original for a quick reminder will give all the explanation as to why.
The livery on this Polo sums up everything that the 90s was synonymous with; being a bit daft, thinking out of the box and letting creativity run wild. The original Harlequin Polo was designed to showcase how modular and also instantly bespoke it could be made, making it as much of a marketing tool as it was a car.
That's because it consisted of four different colours; green, red, blue and yellow, representing the "building blocks" of the Polo, and thus proving, as per its tagline, that "Small can be versatile", which was believed to have originated from trainees in the sales team at the time, and thus led to it appearing in dealer pamphlets, adverts and phonecards (an equally more 90s relic if ever there was one). It was even made in 1:87 scale diecast model form - which now change hands for anywhere upwards of £250 for collectors!
So, with Volkswagen this year celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Polo, it only makes sense that, like chart topping boyband Five recently reforming with their full line-up and Frazzles being a crisp of choice again, that the Harlequin has had a celebratory revival, as they've applied an updated version of that bright primary coloured livery to a special edition replica of their World Rallycross Championship winning Polo R WRX model as driven by Johan Kristoffersson.
It's been showcased at the recent Bicester Springtime Scramble event that took place last weekend (27th April), and fans were actually involved with choosing the livery on this model via Volkswagen's social media channels. Whilst it's not believed to be for sale, it will be featured at a number of celebratory VW events that will mark the anniversary later this year.
Whilst there are some cars which are definitely better off left in the last decade of the century - here's looking at you, the Fiat Multipla and the Suzuki X-90 - we're all for a bit of light hearted fun, however brief, that Volkswagen are providing with the return of this favourite. After all, 20 million sales worldwide over five decades can't be wrong.
Was the Polo your first car you drove? Or perhaps it was the one your parents drove when you were a kid? Why not visit our Ambergate Car Museum venue in Derbyshire, where you can book to drive the cars you grew up in with our Drive Dad's Car Experiences from as little as £54 - a great early gift idea for Father's Day!
IMAGE CREDIT: VW Press (https://www.vwpress.co.uk/releases/5294)
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