PoloDriver

Just before we went ‘to press’ with our story of the new Polo Sedan for South Africa, Volkswagen South Africa sent out an official press release, which we didn’t have time to include in our original post. Completing the range of South African new Polo models, the notchback joins the mainstream Polo range, Polo GTI and CrossPolo variants, making South Africa one of the only markets in the world – in our knowledge – to receive all three bodystyles. As we noted previously, the new Polo Sedan for South Africa comes in Trendline and Comfortline trims, powered by 84 and 104bhp petrol engines, and a 104bhp diesel unit. Prices start at R159,900 and rise to R218,000. The full Volkswagen South Africa press release and gallery follows.

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Remember the multi-coloured Polo Harlequin of 1995? Released as a special edition, the Polo Harlequin featured a multicoloured body, with each panel in a different colour. Four different versions and colourways were available – as the model was made in groups of four and the panels interchanged – with Chagall Blue, Flash Red, Pistaschio Green and Yellow being the available colours. Prospective owners didn’t know which colourway their car would be until it arrived, leaving an element of surprise in the buying process.

UK Harlequins were powered by a 1.4-litre 60bhp engine, and were fitted with 14” ‘Indianapolis’ alloy wheels and unique ‘Harlequin’ cloth, as well as a blue leather-trimmed steering wheel. Other exterior changes included white front indicators and tinted rear lamps. Originally limited to 1,000 examples worldwide, around 3,800 are thought to have been produced. Rumour has it that a few were resprayed one solid colour, as sales weren’t as high as VW was expecting.

Paul Baker of Drift Bridge Volkswagen certainly remembers the brightly-coloured special edition Polo. Wanting an eye-catching promotional vehicle to entice prospective fifth-generation Polos into the Drift Bridge Volkswagen showrooms, he had two cars wrapped in coloured film in the same colours as the original Harlequin. ‘I wanted to have a attention grabbing car for my forecourt, as Polo has some great offers at the moment, what with £500 off, 12 months free insurance and three years free servicing* (*if financed with VW Financial Services Solutions). We had two cars wrapped – one here and the other for our branch in Croydon,’ Paul said.

The wrapping was carried out by professional wrappers Creative FX, with Chris Pook leading the transformation. Each car took one day to wrap back in January, with the coloured film wrapped over a red-coloured base car. Based in Bromley, Greater London, Creative FX specialises in vinyl wrapping and personalisation of cars, vans, bikes and scooters, as well as offering stone chip protection and window tinting services for customers. And, it’s not the first time Drift Bridge Volkswagen has used Creative FX’s services. Paul Baker continues: ‘The last car we did was a bright pink Fox that went to a local customer. The Polo Harlequin 6R is for sale and we would be happy to wrap others if a customer wanted a different spec.’

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Recently creeping into the pages of Volkswagen South Africa’s website is the new Polo Sedan. Based on the fifth-generation Polo hatchback and the same as the Polo Sedan sold in Russia and the Vento available in India, the new Polo Sedan joins the new Jetta, new Passat, Passat CC and Polo Vivo Sedan in the German company’s South African saloon model range. We didn’t know the notchback was due to hit South African streets, and as no press release has yet been issued, the launch of the latest new Polo variant is certainly a quiet one. And we think it’s unique that the newest generation of Polo hatchback and saloon are being sold alongside the same two variations of the last generation cars.

The South African New Polo Sedan comes with a choice of 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre petrol engines (with 63kW/84bhp and 77kW/104bhp outputs respectively) and one 1.6-litre TDI with 77kW/104bhp. There are Trendline and Comfortline trims, with the 1.6 Comfortline having the choice of an automatic ‘Tiptrionic’ gearbox. All other versions are fitted with a five-speed manual gearbox. Trendline models get 14-inch steel wheels while Comfortline cars boast 15” ‘Riverside’ alloy wheels. Comfortline sedans are further differentiated by chrome trim on the front grilles and boot lid, and colour-coded door handles.

New Polo Sedan range: retail prices (VAT and Emissions Tax included)
1.4 63kW Trendline: R159,900
1.4 63kW Comfortline: R177,000
1.6 77kW Trendline: R182,200
1.6 77kW Comfortline: R195,000
1.6 77kW Comfortline Tiptronic: R209,000
1.6 77kW Comfortline TDI: R218,000

Is there no stopping the Polo Vivo? Once again, it was the best-selling car in South Africa in April 2011, according to figures released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA), posting an impressive sales tally of 2221 units. It was good news for the Polo 6R – 2011 South African Car of the Year – too, as it was once more behind its stablemate, in second place with 1955 cars finding new owners. During April 2011, a total of 26,347 new passenger cars were sold in South Africa, a decline of 25.1% when compared to March, but a rise of 11.7% when compared to April 2010. South African year-to-date sales of new passenger cars in 2011 are now 22.4% above January to April sales in 2010.

‘Volkswagen Group South Africa captured 24.3% of the passenger market in April with 6428 units sold. Polo Vivo again dominated the market, with Polo a close second. Just over a year after its launch, we are still elated by the reaction from the market to our entry-level Polo Vivo,’ said Mike Glendinning, Director of Sales and Marketing, 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 R104,065 for the 1.4 hatchback to R156,220 for the top 1.6 Sedan, the 2011 Polo Vivo is based on the revised version of the Series 4 Polo, (9N3) built from 2005 to 2009.

The latest set of UK sales figures from the are in from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ (SMMT), and the Polo’s popularity among the UK car-buying public appears undimmed. 4524 Polos found new homes in April 2011, meaning it was sixth in the monthly table – a rise of one place over March. It also sits at sixth place in the year-to-date tallies. The Ford Fiesta was once again the top seller, while Volkswagen’s Golf was runner-up in April (and the bet diesel seller), a jump of three places from March’s charts. There was yet more reason for VW to celebrate, too: the Passat slipped into the top ten at number 10, with the arrival of the new model no doubt playing a part.

New car registrations were ahead of expectations despite challenging conditions last month. The April new car market in the UK fell by 7.4% to 137,746 units. This was the 10th successive decline in volumes, although the market was 1.5% ahead of forecast and on par with the 2010 market with scrappage volumes removed. Overall, registrations over the first four months of 2011 were down 8.5% to 696,082 units. ‘New car registrations in April demonstrated continued stability in the marketplace, with demand remaining lower than in 2010, although slightly ahead of industry expectations,’ said Paul Everitt, SMMT Chief Executive. ‘The coming months will remain challenging, but we do expect to see a return to growth in the second half of the year.’ The UK’s top 10 best-selling cars for April 2011 and the year-to-date (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 6755 (34,679, 1st)
2 Volkswagen Golf: 4973 (22,074, 5th)
3 Vauxhall Astra: 4900 (22,150, 4th)
4 Vauxhall Corsa: 4888 (25,424, 3rd)
5 Ford Focus: 4843 (29,278, 2nd)
6 Volkswagen Polo: 4524 (16,738, 6th)
7 Vauxhall Insignia: 3912 (15,816, 7th)
8 Nissan Qashqai: 3738 (12,991, 9th)
9 BMW 3 Series: 3133 (13,274, 8th)
10 Volkswagen Passat: 2720

(The 2011 best-seller absent from April’s sales figures is the Peugeot 207 selling 12,188 units in 10th place.)