PoloDriver

Continuing its phenomenal success story, the Polo Vivo remains the best-selling passenger car in South Africa, with the fifth-generation Polo the runner-up. 3170 Polo Vivos were sold in South Africa in October 2015 while 2320 Polo 6R/6Cs found new homes. Volkswagen Group South Africa still dominates the local passenger car market with a share of 22 per cent, the sixth year in a row it has done so. The company has sold 76,209 cars in the months from January to October 2015.

Polo Vivo Street
Coinciding with the latest buoyant sales figures, Volkswagen South Africa has also launched a new version of the Polo Vivo to entice younger buyers with a sense of style. The R159,900 (VAT and emissions tax included) Polo Vivo Street gains a style package and new exterior colours, and is only available as a hatchback: no saloon version is offered.

Unique features
Powered by the standard Polo Vivo’s ubiquitous 1.4-litre 84bhp (63kW) petrol engine, the Street is spotted from its lesser brethren by its unique features which include silver mirror caps; 15-inch ‘Cordoba’ alloy wheels; 7mm lowered suspension; and the twin silver stripes on its bonnet, roof and lower front and rear doors. Inside, there is grey stitching on the leather steering wheel, gear lever and gaiter as well as its unique ‘Kadra’ seat trim.

The sporty Polo Vivo GT has also been enhanced with the upgrade of 16-inch ‘Rivazza’ alloy wheels which replace the 15-inch rims the previous version sported. ‘Clark’ seat trim has also replaced the previous ‘Rocket’ upholstery.

Style package
A Style package is also now available for 1.4-litre 84bhp (63kW) Trendline, 1.6-litre 103bhp (77kW) Trendline (Sedan) and 1.6-litre 103bhp (77kW) Comfortline derivatives. Features include 15-inch ‘Riverside’ alloy wheels, ‘Vienna’ leather seats, cruise control and chrome trim rings in the instrument cluster, as well as the ventilation and switch knobs. The Style package costs R13,000 for the Trendline models and R9,100 for the Comfortline variant.

Finally, four new colours have been also added to the Polo Vivo palette. Buyers can now also choose Sunset Red Metallic, Blue Silk Metallic, Pepper Grey Metallic and Honey Orange (exclusively available for the Polo Vivo Maxx).

The Polo Vivo was launched in March 2010 as an entry-level model for the South African market, replacing the Series 1 Golf-based CitiGolf and is based on the facelifted Series 4 Polo sold in Europe from 2005-2009. It is available as a three or five-door hatchback and four-door booted saloon with 74bhp/84bhp 1.4-litre and 103bhp 1.6-litre petrol engines.

For more details on the Polo Vivo and Polo ranges in South Africa, visit the Volkswagen South Africa website.

While the ‘dieselgate’ controversy has faded from the daily headlines, Volkswagen has faced another emissions issue in recent days. On 3 November, Volkswagen released a statement which claimed it had now found ‘irregularities’ in some of its 2016 model year cars’ CO2 emission levels, which it discovered itself while investigating vehicles for type approval.

430,046 blacklisted vehicles
On 13 November, the company announced which vehicles are affected by the latest emissions issue, and, as with the diesel irregularities, selected Polo models are included in the 430,046 blacklisted cars.

2016 model year Polos fitted with 1.4-litre TDI engines with 74, 89 and 103bhp outputs are affected by the CO2 irregularity issue, as well as those which are powered by the new 1.0-litre TSI petrol unit, including, ironically, the latest BlueMotion models.

Initially, 800,000 Volkswagen Group cars were thought to be affected by the ‘implausible’ CO2 figures, so the company must be breathing a slight sigh of relief that the confirmed figure is lower. However, if vehicles from previous years are investigated, the number of affected cars could nudge that initial figure. VW has disclosed its findings to the ‘relevant authorities’.

Vehicles’ safety not affected
A new round of CO2 figures will be monitored and determined under the supervision of the German Federal Vehicle and Transport Authority (KBA). As with the diesel controversy, Volkswagen websites will carry vehicle identification number (VIN) checkers to enable easy recognition of affected cars.

With many European countries deciding vehicle tax bands on CO2 emissions, hundreds of thousands of drivers may have been charged the incorrect tax. The Volkswagen Group has declared that it, and not the customer, will pay for any discrepancies arising from this latest disclosure. An initial estimate puts the economic risks at approximately two billion euros.

‘Do its utmost to rebuild trust’
Once again, and not for the first time in recent weeks, Volkswagen has stated that ‘the latest findings must be an incentive for the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management to do their utmost to resolve such irregularities and rebuild trust’. That trust appears to need building at an increasingly alarming rate.

Despite reports that Volkswagen sales fell by 10 per cent in the UK last month when compared to the same period last year due to the ‘dieselgate’ emissions issue, the Polo is still in the UK’s top 10 best-selling cars list, sitting in seventh.

According to the latest figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) today, 3233 Polos found new homes during October 2015, boosting the car’s overall top 10 best-sellers position for the year so far to sixth.

New car registrations down
Overall, UK new car registrations were down 1.1 per cent last month to 177,644 units, after a record 43 months of growth. The year-to-date figures are up 6.4 per cent, though, with 2,274,550 vehicles registered. Both diesel and petrol engines remained steady through October, though slightly more petrol vehicles than diesel were registered (1,117,306 vs 1,095,601 respectively).

With 8577 examples registered, the Ford Fiesta once again reigned supreme at the top of the October 2015 chart, with the 5061-selling Vauxhall Corsa in second. Another VW, the Golf, finished third (actually up one place from September), with 5,057 cars driven off the forecourts, despite the barrage of publicity and ongoing ‘dieselgate’ issue.

The UK’s top 10 best-selling passenger cars during October 2015 and the year so far (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 8577 (116,631, 1st)
2 Vauxhall Corsa: 5061 (77,896, 2nd)
3 Volkswagen Golf: 5057 (64,257, 4th)
4 Ford Focus: 4913 (73,966, 3rd)
5 Nissan Qashqai: 4544 (54,259, 5th)
6 Audi A3: 3884 (42,137, 8th)
7 Volkswagen Polo: 3233 (48,770, 6th)

8 Nissan Juke: 3155
9 BMW 1 Series: 2944
10 BMW 3 Series: 2805

(The 2015 top 10 best-selling cars absent from last month’s sales figures are the seventh-placed Vauxhall Astra, the ninth-placed Mini and the Mercedes-Benz C Class in tenth place with 45,487, 38,241 and 37,748 cars sold respectively.)

Our friends at Indian Autos Blog have reported that Volkswagen Argentina has launched a revised version of the Polo Sedan, but only with a petrol engine. The Argentina Polo notchback is the same as the revised versions of the Polo Sedan in Russia and South Africa, as well as the Indian-built Volkswagen Vento. In fact, the Argentinian cars roll out of the same Indian plant in Pune where its Vento sister is produced.

1.6-litre, 103bhp engine
Premiered in Buenos Aires earlier in the year, the Polo Sedan for Argentina has a 1.6-litre, 103bhp engine with peak power produced at 5250rpm. Peak torque of 112lb ft (153Nm) of torque comes in at 3750rpm. Both six-speed manual and five-speed automatic gearbox options are available. Manual versions have a top speed of 116mph.

Standard equipment is high and includes ABS, Bluetooth connectivity, climate control, cruise control, dual airbags, electric windows, Isofix child seat mounts and an RCD 320G CD/MP3/USB/SD music system. Fifteen-inch alloy wheels are also fitted. Prices start at ARS 237,600 for the Comfortline manual, and rise to ARS 251,400 for the automatic version.

[Source: Indian Autos Blog]

Volkswagen South Africa celebrated the 500,000th Polo to be produced at its Uitenhage factory on 22 October. The jubilee car – a Flash Red Cross Polo to be shipped to an Austrian customer – was met by a number of dignitaries, including the Managing Director of Volkswagen Group South Africa, Thomas Schaefer.

Sole supplier
‘We have also exported over 390,000 vehicles since 2009, with the Uitenhage plant being the worldwide sole supplier of the Cross Polo derivative which coincidentally is the 500,000th vehicle to be manufactured today,’ commented Schaefer.

‘Since being launched in the South African market in January 2010, the Polo has consistently been the second best-selling passenger model after Polo Vivo. We are extremely proud to reach this milestone as 2015 also marks 40 years since the very first Polo was manufactured in 1975 in Germany,’ he added.

All five-door Polos for right-hand-drive markets including Britain, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand are produced at the Uitenhage plant.

The South African-built Polo built has received notable recognition, including the 2011 South African Car of the Year and 2010/2011 Japanese Import Car of the Year. Uitenhage is scheduled to build over 85,000 Polos this year.