PoloDriver

Here’s some exclusive content for you on PoloDriver. Back in February we posted about the fifth-generation Polo’s ‘Expect Big Things’ TV commercial. Shot over three days in Cape Town in January for the car’s South African market launch, the typically hot and humid city was covered in snow, possibly for the first time. It was no ordinary snow, though; a fleet of five red Polos were towing snow-making machines, instantly covering everything with a dusting of the white stuff. The cars all end up on the top floor of a tall building, where the ‘Expect Big Things. New Polo.’ banner is unfurled.

A short time ago, we caught up with Matt Poolman, who works with MXFX Special Effects, the company that turned Cape Town into a winter paradise. Matt answered a few questions for us and explained what goes on behind the scenes at the shooting of a Polo TV commercial.

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Indian Autos Blog reported last week that Volkswagen has received over 5,000 firm orders for the fifth-generation Polo hatchback, just over 45 days after it went on sale. The response is said to be due to the car’s sharp looks and classy interior. The starting price at launch was Rs 4,34,000 for the base-model with a 1.2-litre petrol engine, but now, after the budget, Indians can visit one of India’s 42 Volkswagen retailers and get into a Polo for Rs 4,42,000.

Neeraj Garg, Member of the Board and Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India is pleased with the number of orders. ‘Polo is having a waiting period of three to four months and we are ramping up the production of to meet the demand accordingly; 500 units have already been delivered. The response towards our car has really reiterated the trust and confidence that our brand and our products have been able to build up in a short span of time.’

For the Indian market, the Polo is available in both petrol and diesel variants. Both 1.2-litre engines produce 74bhp, while Trendline, Comfortline and Highline models make up the three trim levels. The Indian-market Polo is produced locally at Volkswagen’s state of the art Pune factory, where the Škoda Fabia is also manufactured. VW is also expected to launch a saloon version of the Polo in India during the second half of 2010.

Earlier in the week, we brought you details about the new advertising campaign for Volkswagen’s TEAM range of models, featuring Germany’s greatest footballing heroes. As well as print and online promotions, there’s also this TV spot, too, to tie-in with the 2010 World Cup tournament. Walter Fritz, Paul Breitner and Rudi Völler all appear in the 30-second commercial which largely focuses on the Polo. Available to order in Germany, the 1.2-litre 59bhp Polo TEAM kicks the whole range off and is priced from €14,525, topping out with the €19.350 1.6-litre 89bhp TDI with seven-speed DSG gearbox.

The figures are out, and the good news is that the Polo is still a firm favourite with UK buyers. The March 2010 UK top 10 sales tallies show a 26.6% increase when compared to the same period last year and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) state that 397,383 new cars were registered last month – more than were expected, especially with the Government’s scrappage scheme coming to an end.

‘The UK motor industry has enjoyed a better than anticipated first quarter of 2010,’ says Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. ‘A strong March performance was underpinned by the scrappage incentive and improving demand in the fleet sector. The coming months will remain challenging and headline registration numbers are expected to dip, but underlying demand will continue to improve slowly.’

The multi-award winning Polo sold well again last month, though dropped to ninth place overall in the sales rankings from seventh In February and fourth in January. Competitors such as the Peugeot 207 and Renault Clio sold more, but the Ford Fiesta was once again top of the supermini heap, selling almost three times that of the Polo. The UK’s best-selling cars for March 2010 are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 23,681 units
2 Ford Focus: 17,989 units
3 Vauxhall Astra: 15,326 units
4 Vauxhall Corsa: 15,088 units
5 Volkswagen Golf: 9976 units
6 Peugeot 207: 8926 units
7 Renault Clio: 8641 units
8 Mini: 7919 units
9 Volkswagen Polo: 7580 units
10 Renault Megané: 6247 units

The latest batch of UK figures come as the eagerly-awaited CrossPolo and Polo GTI models are shown in Germany for the first time at the AMI Leipzig 2010 motor show, alongside the new Volkswagen Touran.

Via a convoluted route courtesy of WorldCarFans, Indian Autos Blog and CarEdge Russia, we bring you this alleged new Polo Sedan design sketch has leaked all across the internet. Volkswagen is known to be developing a new booted version of the fifth-generation Polo for sale in Africa, Asia and possibly even the US, and this sketch certainly has a Polo-looking front end. Whether it’s official or not we don’t know, but from the mules out testing already, the final car will look much less swoopy than this rendering would have you believe.

Indian Autos Blog reckons that the new notchback Polo will be, in longstanding Volkswagen tradition, named after a wind (Typhoon is our current favourite) and go on sale in that particular country in the second half of this year. CarEdge Russia meanwhile reports that an official presentation will be held in June. Again, whether this is true or not is open to opinion, but if it is, the already expanding Polo V family will grow once again very soon.