PoloDriver

While panoramic sunroofs may be a rare sight in the UK, they may be about to be commonplace in Europe. Volkswagen has recently added the five-door Polo Sky to its range in Austria, and as you’d expect with a name like that, a panoramic glass sunroof makes up a pretty large part of this special-edition Volkswagen supermini. Other extra kit differentiating the Polo Sky from its lesser brethren includes pricey LED daytime running lights, ‘Climatronic’ climate control, rain sensor, 15-inch ‘Riverside’ alloy wheels, ‘Pepper Grey Metallic’ centre console finish and unique ‘Livon’ upholstery.

Petrol engines start with the 68bhp 1.2, move up through the 1.4-litre 84bhp unit, and finish with the 1.2 104bhp TSI. 90 and 105bhp 1.6 TDIs are also available. Although sounding like a tie-up between Volkswagen and TV conglomerate BSkyB, the Polo Sky appears to be good value, starting at €17.880 for the lesser-powered 1.2, rising to €22.480 for the 90bhp 1.6 TDI with seven-speed DSG gearbox. For more information on the Polo Sky – and other models in the Volkswagen Austria special-edition ‘Sky’ range – visit the Volkswagen Austria website.

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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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Volkswagen is taking its special edition Style models on a nationwide tour of Germany, visiting more than 200 cities in the country. Starting in April 2011 and running until the autumn, the tour will highlight the company’s broad range of models to both retailers and potential customers. ‘With the Style Tour 2011, we invite visitors to experience the Volkswagen brand and experience the diversity of our attractive and environmentally friendly model range itself,’ said Werner Eichhorn, Head of Sales and Marketing (Germany), Volkswagen Passenger Cars. In addition to style, the models and the driver assistance systems will focus on VW’s environmental theme of ‘Think Blue.’

At the national roadshow, visitors can take a closer look at the Style special models, which include the Polo, Golf and Golf Plus. The tour kicked off on 8 April in Autostadt in Wolfsburg, where it will stay until 17 April. ‘We are pleased to present the Style special edition models to guests of Autostadt and Volkswagen employees here in Wolfsburg,’ said Christian Hammerich, Manager of Autostadt. In addition to the Style special models, the new Jetta and Eos will be shown, as will economical BlueMotion versions of the Sharan, Touran and Passat Variant. Drivers of a more sporting bent are offered the Golf GTI, Golf R and Scirocco.

In addition to short test drive appointments, Volkswagen will present the ‘Story of Style’, a selection of the company’s design milestones. In addition, there will be information and a world of ideas relating to sustainability and innovation at Volkswagen under the ‘Think Blue’ banner – how of make individual mobility safer and more comfortable, as well as films on driver assistance systems. Fuel saving tips will also be offered and VW will also inform visitors about its parking aid and new ‘Lane Assist’ lane departure technologies. The Polo Style is available from €14,075 and features a range of equipment including Toffee Brown metallic paint and 15-inch ‘Estrada’ alloy wheels.

News broke of the German-market Polo Style special edition earlier in the week, with the high profile announcement that the advertising campaign would be spearheaded by fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. Volkswagen released a full set of promotional images – which included a press advertisement – and now the TV commercial has broken cover. The 30-second TV spot portrays Lagerfeld living up to his ‘Kaiser’ image, muttering that the Style range of Volkswagens are all that cool and chic cars from Paris should be. His so-called muse, Baptiste Giabiconi, then tells him that the assembled models are in fact German, to which Lagerfeld acts flustered and denies. We’re not sure it will sell many cars, but it’s in keeping with the sense of fun and tongue-in-cheek spots that usually marks Volkswagen campaigns out from the rest.

[Source: Styleite]

Resurrecting a name from the Polo’s past, Volkswagen has asked legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld to be ‘campaign ambassador’ for the new Polo Style special edition model. Along with sister Golf Style variations, the latest special edition Polo includes many items of extra equipment for an all-inclusive price. Alloy wheels, fog lamps, and tinted rear windows are form part of just three of the extra kit packages available. A winter package, convenience package, and the electric ‘Light and Sight’ package can also be chosen. A new colour, Toffee Brown Metallic (we like it), distinctive ‘Style’ badging and 15-inch ‘Estrada’ alloy wheels also mark out the latest special edition Polo. The last Polo Style was based on the facelifted Series 2 coupé and hatchback models back in 1993.

Available from 23 December 2010, the Polo Style starts at €14.075 in Germany, saving €1885 over a similarly-equipped model if all the options were to be bought separately. A ‘Style-Plus’ package is also available which also adds a sunroof or panorama roof as well as new set of alloys, and the Polo Style is available with the mainstream model’s complete range of engines. Matthias Becker, Marketing Manager Germany, Volkswagen Cars stated that Lagerfeld was chosen as the spearhead of the campaign for his ‘style and humour’. VW has launched a large-scale advertising campaign for the special models with print ads, a TV spot, a nationwide poster campaign as well as online activities. Find out more about the special VW Style models here, and download a brochure here.