PoloDriver

This morning, PoloDriver.com took delivery of L9 VWW, a Polo BlueGT fresh from Volkswagen UK’s press car fleet. We’ll be spending 10 days with the split-personality hatchback in the south-west of England, and it will no doubt be an interesting period. The Polo BlueGT features a 138bhp 1.4-litre TSI petrol engine with Active Cylinder Technology (ACT) which deactivates two cylinders under light engine loads. This helps the sporty-looking small VW to achieve quoted figures of 72.4mpg on the combined cycle, and only 107g/km of CO2. The Polo BlueGT gets from 0-62mph in 7.9 seconds, and a five-door like our test car costs from £18,155. See how we get on during the week by following us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/polodrivercom or by using the hashtag #bluegttosw

Volkswagen is clearly doing something right. No doubt the enhanced specification of Match and Match Edition models has helped, but the Polo remains in the top 10 best-selling cars in the UK sales chart, according to the latest figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). The evergreen supermini was the UK’s eighth best-selling car in July 2013, which although a fall of one place when compared to June, doesn’t alter the Polo’s seventh best-selling car in the UK for the year-to-date placing.

The SMMT has significantly raised its forecast for 2013 new car registrations, predicting sales will reach 2.216 million units, 8.4 per cent ahead of 2012. There were strong performance across the private, fleet and business market sectors, and the market saw the 17th successive monthly rise in July, growing 12.7 per cent to 162,228 units. ‘Strong business and consumer confidence in July saw the new car market continue to rise, posting double-digit growth. Recently, we’ve seen a range of economic indicators point to improving conditions and our raised sales forecast emphasises how positively we view the rest of 2013,’ said Mike Baunton, SMMT Interim Chief Executive. The UK’s top 10 best-selling passenger cars during July 2013 and the year-to-date (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 9089 (72,129, 1st)
2 Ford Focus: 7229 (54,904, 2nd)
3 Vauxhall Astra: 6165 (39,896, 4th)
4 Volkswagen Golf: 5166 (37,297, 5th)
5 Vauxhall Corsa: 4986 (51,133, 3rd)
6 Nissan Qashqai: 4312 (31,424, 6th)
7 BMW 3 Series: 3070 (24,658, 8th)
8 Volkswagen Polo: 3001 (26,288, 8th)
9 Nissan Juke: 2943
10 Fiat 500: 2768


(The 2013 top 10 best-selling car absent from last month’s sales figures is the BMW 1 Series in 10th place with 22,437 units sold.)

Editorial website motoring.com.au has recently named its recommended cars for 2013, and the Polo has triumphed in the city car category. Volkswagen did well in the Australian website’s list, with four recommendations from its passenger car and commercial vehicles ranges. The Polo won the award in 2012 and keeps it for 2013. It was the same story for the Touareg, which scooped the gong for best SUV over $50k, while the new Volkswagen Golf took the best family car under $30k win. The Amarok pick-up meanwhile was named best ‘tradie’.

The motoring.com.au recommended cars categories correspond with search options across parent company carsales.com Ltd’s network of websites which include carsales.com.au, CarPoint.com.au, Redbook.com.au and motoring.com.au. The awards are defined by Redbook data including factors such as price, size, and passenger capacity. motoring.com.au and carsales.com Ltd Editor in Chief, Mike Sinclair, said: ‘Volkswagen is one of the world’s iconic auto brands. It’s a measure of its models’ competence and competitiveness that four of them have again been selected in motoring.com.au’s Recommended Car awards.’

According to the latest figures released by NAAMSA, the Polo Vivo was once again the top-selling car in South Africa. A total of 3574 Polo Vivos found new homes in July 2013. Yet again, its younger brother, the Polo 6R followed it, with 2618 units sold putting it in second place. The new Golf GTI also added to Volkswagen Group South Africa’s success – 477 examples were sold in its first month to market. Total Golf sales in South Africa last month were 908. When all brands were tallied up, Volkswagen Group South Africa sold 10,613 units in July, capturing a 24.4 per cent market share.

‘The market results reflected the on-going positive demand for new vehicles. They were further boosted by a relatively higher number of selling days in July as well as the rental car demand which accounted for 15.4% of the passenger car market,’ said Mike Glendinning, Director Sales and Marketing at Volkswagen Group South Africa.

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 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. Costing from R111,900 for the base-model 1.4 hatchback to R161,100 for the top 1.6 Polo Maxx, the 2013 Polo Vivo is based on the revised version of the Series 4 Polo (9N3), built from 2005 to 2009. The fifth-generation Polo (6R) is available as a three and five-door hatchback, in addition to the four-door Polo Sedan.

One year’s free insurance is available to retail customers** purchasing most Polo models on Volkswagen Financial Services’ Solutions (PCP) package over three years and 30,000 miles. Available until 30 September, all cars bought on Solutions will be entitled to a three-year, 30,000-mile service plan for £199. All prospective owners must be over 21 while the free insurance offer will be restricted to over 25s for higher-powered BlueGT and GTI models. Full details of insurance terms and conditions can be found at www.insurewithvolkswagen.co.uk/polo. There is also a £1000 deposit contribution, while the Solutions rate of interest is 6.4 per cent APR representative (retail sales only). ** Free insurance is not available in Northern Ireland, however customers will receive a deposit contribution in lieu.