The revamped Volkswagen Polo recently went on sale in showrooms but there was something missing from the lineup. The GTI had been left out, with the closest thing to a spicy Polo being the turbocharged 1.2 TSI with 110PS.

2015 will see that gap filled as the refreshed GTI joins the range. These official pictures show that the Polo GTI will retain its familiar appearance but what they don’t show is the big changes occurring underneath.

Volkswagen Polo GTI at 2014 Paris Motor Show

Volkswagen Polo GTI at 2014 Paris Motor Show

The trusty twin-charged 1.4 TSI has been dropped in favour of a 1.8-litre TSI from Volkswagen’s EA888 family of engines. The bigger displacement sees a slight increase in power and torque (up to 192PS and 320Nm).

It’s a surprising move, especially when you consider the number of rival cars downsizing and even dropping from four to three cylinders. However, the EA888 is one of Volkswagen’s most advanced engines and despite the increase in capacity the GTI’s official fuel consumption figure is expected to be better than the twin-charged 1.4-litre’s 47.9mpg.

Even more significant is the new 6-speed manual gearbox, now fitted as standard in place of the 7-speed DSG on the previous GTI. Is this Volkswagen bowing to pressure from motoring journalists who bemoaned the lack of manual interaction or is this shift in thinking brought about by customer feedback?

You can still pick the 7-speed dual-clutch and this should certainly be your choice if you want the fastest accelerating GTI – the 62mph time is just 6.7 seconds, 0.2 seconds quicker than before.

The revised Polo also brings with it a host of new technology and the GTI will be available with some tempting kit. All-LED highlights, adaptive cruise control with automatic braking, and post-collision braking systems are all new to the GTI. It can also be specced with the same Adaptive Chassis Control as you’d find on the Golf GTI, allowing drive profiles to be selected via the touchscreen.

We’ll see more of the Polo GTI at the Paris Motor Show, but for now feast your eyes on these images and see if you can spot the differences over the old model.