At the same time as the SMMT’s welcome war cry on the affordability front, Volkswagen formally announced last week that its trusty Polo has just been awarded the official Best Car of the Half Century title as part of the Best Cars of the Year awards, not least because the supermini has, from 1975 to 2025, consistently offered “affordable mobility for all”, according to the company.

And with accessible future products very much on his mind, Volkswagen’s global chief, CEO Thomas Schäfer, went further still by adding that his ID.1 all-electric sub-supermini for 2027 will be “affordable, high quality and profitable”, with a price tag of just under £17,000 (at today’s prices). That puts the imminent Volkswagen in the same price league as the basic, humble Dacia Spring (from £14,995).

This, to me, is an acknowledgement from Schäfer and his team that some of his previous ID products have hardly had affordability written all over them. They therefore required and received straightforward price cuts or lower-priced entry models (or both). Put another way, VW now knows that the long-term durability and borderline premium build quality of its cars mean nothing if those cars aren’t priced right.

Did you know you can sell your car with Auto Express? Get the highest bid from our network of over 5,500 dealers and we’ll do the rest. Click here to try Auto Express Sell My Car now…