VW updates global market Fox subcompact hatchback

The facelifted Fox gains a new look inspired by the seventh-generation Golf.

Volkswagen has published a full set of details about the updated Fox, a sub-compact hatchback built and sold in a number of Latin American markets. The Fox is offered in both two-door and four-door body styles.

Celebrating its 11th year on the market, the Fox gets a new front end that borrows styling cues such as sharp headlights, a more aerodynamic bumper and a thin radiator grille from recent members of the Volkswagen lineup like the new seventh-generation Golf and the Polo sub-compact. The back end of the Fox gains angular tail lamps again inspired by the Golf, but the middle section stays essentially unchanged.

Inside, the Fox gets a better-built interior with a slightly revised center console and rectangular air vents. Buyers looking to spruce up the cockpit can order additional chrome-look trim and a touch screen-based navigation system at an extra cost.

Although the Fox is unmistakably an entry-level car, upmarket trim levels come standard with piano black trim on the steering wheel, alloy wheels, cruise control, traction control, stability control, fog lights and a hill start assist function.

The Fox's base engine is a 1.0-liter four-cylinder unit that channels 76 horsepower to the front wheels via a manual transmission. In Brazil, the engine can burn either gasoline or ethanol. More expensive models get a 1.6-liter four-banger that generates 120 horsepower. It comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission, and a five-speed semi-automatic unit can be ordered as an option.

On sale now, the Volkswagen Fox carries a base price of 35,900 reais in Brazil, a sum that converts to approximately $16,000.