The Volkswagen Polo is one of those cool cars that we don't get in the USA. A smaller, lighter car than the iconic Golf, it has become something of an icon itself over the years. This is especially true of the Harlequin version, a car that was never meant to be mass-produced yet was eventually sold in low numbers. Unless you hang around near Jamie Orr's Orchid Euro shop in Pennsylvania, you're unlikely to have ever seen one on US soil, but some Harlequin versions of the Polo have been imported to the States. Now, there's a new one. And when we say 'one', we mean it.

Volkswagen's Dutch division (who else but the Dutch would recreate something as trippy as this?) decided to make just one modern version of the famous Harlequin. Unlike the original, the door handles have been painted rather than being left black. But like the original, Volkswagen says that this car won't see series production. VW said something similar about the 1995 version as the original Harlequin was limited to 20 units. The idea of the unique design was to show buyers how easy it is to configure their ideal Polo. But when the cars were displayed at dealer events across Europe fans of the brand fell in love, prompting VW's execs to approve an initial run of 1,000 units.

Surprisingly, even 1,000 units were too few, despite the fact that you couldn't choose which colors went to which panels. Customers got random patterns but they still proved popular and demand was so high that 3,806 examples were eventually built, 500 of which were awarded as prizes by McDonald's in Germany as part of a competition.

As you can see, public demand can make manufacturers do an about-turn, but even if that happens, we're unlikely to ever see a potential limited-edition 2021 Harlequin locally since the underlying car isn't offered here either. Then again, we made enough noise and eventually got the RS6 Avant, so who knows?