We already smelt this coming when Volkswagen pulled the covers off of its all-new Polo R World Rally Championship contender recently - now there's word that a production version of the Polo R for the road has become more likely to see the light of day.
A VW board member reportedly told Autocar that such a Polo flagship has become a stronger possibility now that the WRC programme has been set up. Even so, it would be quite a long wait - the board member said it wouldn't happen before the rally assault is launched, which only happens in 2013.
It's still unclear whether the road-going Polo R would have all-wheel drive, but then considering that the group has already invested in AWD for the Audi A1 quattro, it would certainly make sense.
Power would, naturally, come from a compact force-fed petrol engine, current speculation pointing towards a highly boosted version of VW's 1.4-litre Twincharged motor with more than 150kW on tap - although at this end of the scale, it would also make sense for them to use a milder version of the 220kW 1.6-litre TSI engine found in the rally car.