PoloDriver

After the GTI, the new Polo Saloon (the Sedan nameplate seems to have been dropped) is the one incoming fifth-generation Polo variant that has grabbed the most headlines. Both long-awaited and long-rumoured, Volkswagen has officially unveiled the car today in Moscow. Tailor-made for the Russian market and expected to be priced from €10,000 (a very modest £8300 at current exchange rates), only one 1.6-litre 104bhp engine is available, with either a five-speed manual or six-speed automatic gearbox.

To be built at Volkswagen’s brand new Kaluga factory in the traditional continental trims of Trendline, Comfortline and Highline, a version will also be sold in India later in the year. The biggest question of course, is whether this is the Polo model which will be heading Stateside? The latest in a line of European and global Polo notchbacks starting with the Derby in 1977, initial reports state that the new Saloon won’t be coming to the UK, where (unlike the US) buyers traditionally prefer hatchbacks. The full Volkswagen press release follows.

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Following preview microsites and information requests from potential buyers, Volkswagen Australia has finally launched the new Polo. The major product push for the Australian arm of the German giant this year, the new advertising campaign focuses on a ‘Followers of no one’ message – the thinking is that the car appeals to individualists – and VW has built a superbly interactive microsite to ensure that message gets into all those non-conformist’s heads. There are directly (fuel economy, performance, style options) and not so directly-related (innovative designers, unusual professions) photos and videos, all of which are accessed by a cleverly rendered Polo which can be ‘driven’ across the screen.

Buyers can even watch the TV spot which accompanies the campaign, by ‘driving’ to that particular on-screen parking space. As off-beat and strange as its parent microsite, the 45-second commercial features four friends driving to a bar, although all isn’t as it first appears. Mutating faces and clothes allied to outer space-type phaser noises give a clue the chaps’ origins. Confirmation from silver shoes pointing to alien descent comes at the end of the spot. Whether it works or not, the ‘For dedicated followers of no one’ commercial is certainly one of the most unusual and creative we’ve seen for the fifth-generation model. The Australian Polo range starts at $19,990 for the five-speed manual Trendline.

‘For dedicated followers of no one’ TV campaign credits
Agency: DDB Sydney
National ECD: Matt Eastwood
Creative Director: Mark Harricks
Creative Team: Paul Sharp & Mike Burdick
Business Management: Scott Thomson & Patrice Bougouin
Strategy: Nick Andrews
Director: Gary Freedman
Photography: Andreas Smetana
Production House: Revolver Film
Media Agency: Mediacom

It turns out that Volkswagen UK have brought over three left-hand drive Polo GTIs hot from the car’s launch in Germany to this green and pleasant land. UK performance car website PistonHeads.com has tested a white example in the roads above Crickhowell in South Wales, seemingly the same playground as where Autocar conducted the first UK drive of the new car a couple of weeks ago with a red model. But, encouragingly, the latest incarnation of the hot shot Polo was more to PistonHeads’ liking: ‘The Polo GTI kind of resurrects the chuckable-but-solid spirit of the old Mk2 Golf GTI. And that makes it rather endearing.’ Head over to the PistonHeads website to read their first impressions of the 2010 Polo GTI.

[Image: PistonHeads]

This weekend (29-30 May) sees the inaugural rounds of the new Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010. Twenty drivers have been selected from over 1,100 applicants in a two-month selection process at Kolhapur and Coimbatore, and they will drive their focused Polo racers around the Balewadi Stadium circuit in Pune, not far from where the road car version is assembled. The two-round selection process started in late April and tested potential racers, driving two and four-stroke carts as well as the Polo Cup car itself.

Forty-five candidates went through from the first stage at Kolhapur to the second evaluation days at Coimbatore, where 20 were picked (plus 5 back-up drivers) to take to the track in the latest evolution of the Polo’s motorsport career. At Coimbatore, the drivers also undertook advanced driver training, ready for the six-round series. Twenty identical Polo racers with 129bhp 1.6-litre TDI engines will contest the championship, and after the opener at Pune, races will follow at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore and the Irungattukottal Race Track in Chennai.

A more comprehensive version of this brochure has appeared on Volkswagen regional websites in Europe for quite some time now, but at last the UK gets its own specific official Volkswagen Genuine accessories catalogue. With sections on Sport & Styling (body kits, spoilers and sill trims), Alloys, Technology (mobile phone kits, sat-navs and upgraded radio units), Touring (roof bars and boxes), Child Seats, Convenience & Protection (mudflaps, boot liners and floor mats), Car Care and Volkswagen Collection, there should be something for everyone. Download your copy from the Volkswagen website.