Volkswagen didn't really need a smaller station wagon vehicle since it had the Golf and the Passat to cover most of the market, but it was cheap for them to do it, and the results were good. In the late '90s, the market share for station wagons decreased, but there was still some demand for such a vehicle. Volkswagen already had a good platform on the Polo. Thus, it allowed them to increase the profit from the same base and, after the sedan, hatchback with three and five doors, the station-wagon was the next logical step. Up to the B-pillar, the Polo Variant looked similar to the 5-door version. While most of its competitors already started to sweeten the car's lines with more curves imposed by the biodesign trend, Volkswagen decided to just soften the edges. It was a form-follow-function vehicle without too much imagination in its look. The tailgate was unusually wide for a car of its class, and the small taillights were mounted right above the rear bumper, on the D-pillars. Inside, the Polo Variant featured the same dashboard as the rest of its range, with a rounded, small instrument cluster. The odometer was no longer on a regular counter but displayed on an LCD placed at the tachometer's bottom. The fits and finishes were above its competitors. Since it was a station wagon, it was normal to feature a folding rear bench seatback. For the engine bay, Volkswagen installed a choice of gasoline and diesel engines ranged between 60 hp and 100 hp. An important novelty was the 1.9-liter diesel unit with direct fuel injection, which provided a great fuel-efficiency.