PoloDriver

The Rally Mexico got off to a rapturous start last night in Guanajuato, with two short spectator stages. The Volkswagen Motorsport rally team were given an enthusiastic welcome at the 1km-long ‘Guanajuato Street Stage’ and the cobblestone-lined ‘Parque Bicentenario’ special stage. Maybe not surprisingly, Ogier posted the fastest time to move into the lead as the Mexican carnival gets ready for the start of day two. Jari-Matti Latvala finished further down the field, but only 6.4 seconds behind his French team-mate.

Both Polo R WRCs qualified well on their first competitive outing on gravel – Ogier came in fifth on the 6.2km stage near León, while Latvala followed two places behind. Post-qualifying, Ogier selected a ninth-place start position for the first 13 special stages of the event, while Latvala chose seventh. Volkswagen Motorsport will run hard compound tyres on the Rally Mexico for the duration of the event, even though the softer variant promises faster qualifying times.

Ogier was far from thrilled with his qualifying session: ‘I am not happy with qualifying. We had the disadvantage of having to open the stage. We took the safe choice with the hard tyre compound. What we didn’t expect was that there would be quite such a big difference between the hard and the soft. Qualifying is very important here at the Rally Mexico, to give yourself a good starting position. We still have that. Our goal is to finish the rally and get a good result. Compared to our rivals, we have an extra set of fresh tyres to use on the special stages.’

Latvala was equally wary of the non-obvious tyre choice: ‘Obviously the soft tyres have produced the better times in qualifying, while we opted for the harder compound. At first glance, starting from seventh does not look ideal. However, we will have to wait and see how the rally pans out – it could ultimately be an advantage to have more hard tyres left. Our priority remains to use our first gravel rally to close the gap on our rivals in terms of experience with the Polo. We can only do that if we complete the full distance.’

It was a story of continuing success for the Polo last month, as it remained in the top 10 UK best-selling cars chart, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Holding firm in seventh place with 1437 units sold, it fended off competition from the newly-launched Peugeot 208, although when the year-to-date tallies are taken into account, the positions are reversed. The Ford Fiesta hold the number one spot for 2013 so far, but was second in February’s chart, held off the top position by the larger Focus. Volkswagen’s Golf was placed higher last month than in January, no doubt buoyed by the introduction of the new Mk 7 car, and possible buying deals on the outgoing Mk 6 model.

Overall, February’s new car figures were up 7.9 per cent to 66,749 units, with last month securing the highest growth in the private market since the end of the Scrappage Incentive Scheme in Spring 2010. ‘February is traditionally a low volume month as motorists look forward to the plate-change in March, but attractive new car deals are sustaining the market. New models are delivering ever greater fuel efficiency, practicality, refinement, technology and predictable ownership costs, so motorists are seeing the benefit of new car purchases,’ said Mike Baunton, Interim Chief Executive, SMMT. The UK’s top 10 best-selling cars during February 2013 and the year-to-date (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Focus: 38536 (9647, 2nd)

2 Ford Fiesta: 3655 (11,561, 1st)

3 Vauxhall Corsa: 3214 (8392, 3rd)
4 Volkswagen Golf: 2413 (5748, 6th)

5 Vauxhall Astra: 2181 (7643, 4th)

6 Nissan Qashqai: 1856 (6136, 5th)

7 Volkswagen Polo: 1437 (4322, 8th)

8 Peugeot 208: 1423 (4382, 7th)

9 Mercedes-Benz C-Class: 1317 (3673, 9th)

10 Nissan Juke: 1106 (3628, 10th)

This weekend sees the first round of the 2013 South African National Rally Championship, and the newly-formed Volkswagen Sasolracing team is eager to head to KwaZulu-Natal for the 610km Total Rally and get the season of to a good start. The two-day event will see seven stages on day one for the teams to complete, while a further nine will be tackled on the second day. Volkswagen Sasolracing has a trio of Polo S2000s lined up ready for the off, while a Polo Vivo S2000 will contest the S2000 Challenge in the more than capable hands of reigning champions Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin.

Drivers for the Polo S2000 6Rs include the stalwart Volkswagen pairings of Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson, and former championship winners Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries. Henk Lategan (a mere 18 years old!) and Barry White (a navigator since 1993) are newcomers to the team, fresh from the S2000 Challenge category last year. ‘We have a highly skilled and experienced group of people in the Volkswagen SasolRacing rally team,’ said Mike Rowe, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport. ‘I am confident that the Volkswagen SasolRacing team will continue to be a dominant force on the South African rally scene – and will be the standard to which every other 2013 team will aspire.’

Volkswagen is having a busy Geneva motor show, with six new Mk 7 Golf variants being unveiled for the first time. Adding to the Golf 7 family, the best-selling small family car range now includes an estate as well as performance and eco-friendly versions. First previewed online ahead of the show, the Golf BlueMotion builds on the BlueMotion Technology versions of the new Golf already on sale, and posts an 88.3mpg figure on the combined cycle – giving it a theoretical range of 970 miles – as well as low emissions of just 85g/km (the current Golf SE 1.6 TDI is 14g/km more polluting). There’s also a 92g/km natural gas version of the car, which will only be sold in mainland Europe.

The Golf GTI and Golf GTD also headed to Geneva for their world premieres, with the former developing 217 or 227bhp depending on which version (standard or ‘Performance’) you choose. Long a mainstay of the range, the latter features all of the traditional sporting Golf trimmings, but with a 181bhp TDI engine and a low 109g/km CO2 figure. UK deliveries start in June for the GTI, while the GTD arrives in ‘the summer’. The first Golf 7 BlueMotion cars are scheduled to be UK-bound in August.

For now at least, the award-winning Golf range is completed by the arrival of the sharp-looking Golf Estate. It comes a full 20 years after the launch of the first Golf Estate, which was based on the Mk 3 model, and like the current hatchback, is built on Volkswagen’s new MQB modular platform. Load capacity is 605 litres with the parcel shelf and rear seats in place, more than doubling to 1620 litres with the rear seats folded. The new car is 307mm longer than the hatchback version, and will mirror that car’s engine line-up, with an 87g/km, 85.6mpg BlueMotion variant being added for the first time. UK deliveries start in October.

A 4MOTION four-wheel drive model will come in due course – but for mainland European markets only – and most excitingly of all, Volkswagen has given fans of fast estates a glimpse of the new Mk 7-based Golf R, with the unveiling of the Golf Estate Concept R-Line. The performance concept differs from the standard extended Golf by means of a more aggressive-styled bumpers, rear spoiler and sills, and new 18-inch ‘Salvador’ alloy wheels. Powered by a 148bhp 2.0 TDI engine, the Lapis Blue Metallic Golf Estate Concept R-Line is driven by all four wheels. There is no word yet on production feasibility.

Finally, to top it all off, Volkswagen bosses were handed the coveted European Car of the Year 2013 trophy last night, as the new Golf was voted the ‘Car of The Year’ by 58 automotive journalist panelists from all over Europe. The judges, from 22 countries, awarded the Golf the top prize by some margin, the Volkswagen car beating its nearest rival, the Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ, by 212 points. With a score of 414 points in the final vote, the Mk 7 Golf is the third Volkswagen to take the prize, following the Mk 3 Golf in 1992, and the fifth-generation Polo in 2010. It would seem that the public agrees with the CoTY jury: more than 150,000 Golfs have already been ordered throughout Europe.

Volkswagen Group South Africa maintained its lead in the passenger car market during February 2013, with the Polo Vivo still the best-selling car in the country. Selling 2742 units, the entry-level model in Volkswagen South Africa’s range was recently boosted with the arrival of the CrossPolo-influenced Polo Maxx last week. The recently-launched Mk 7 Golf did well, too, with 767 deliveries in its first month of reporting. During February, Volkswagen Group South Africa enjoyed total sales of 8516 units and a market share of 23.2 per cent.

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 R110,500 for the base-model 1.4 hatchback to R160,300 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 both a three and five-door hatchback, in addition to the more traditionally-styled four-door Polo Sedan.