PoloDriver

Sneaking in under the radar yesterday, is this, the latest special edition Polo, the CrossPolo ‘Urban White’. Announced late in the day on Friday, the ‘Urban White’ takes the familiar CrossPolo body and embellishes it with coloured trim and interior finishes. Pearlescent white paintwork – a CrossPolo first – contrasts well with black roof rails and mirrors, and the regular 17-inch ‘Budapest’ five-spoke alloys can be specified with either black or white spoke centres. A silver-strip ‘Urban White’ badge similar to that on BlueMotion models sits on the CrossPolo ‘Urban White’s tailgate.

Inside, there’s a GTI-style black headlining, black and pale grey cloth/Alcantara sports seats, climate control, cruise control, and silver dashboard inserts around the centre console and gear lever, another Polo debut. Although the CrossPolo ‘Urban White’ looks rough and tumble, it is still resolutely two-wheel-drive, and can be had with four petrol and three diesel engines, from 69bhp to 104bhp, with five or six-speed transmissions. A seven-speed DSG gearbox can be optioned, too. What price style? The CrossPolo ‘Urban White’ starts at €18,975 for the 69bhp entry-level model.

[Source: German Car Scene]

Announced at the end of March, ex-Ford Special Vehicle Team supremo Jost Capito has now officially become a member of the Volkswagen Motorsport team, taking up his post as Motorsport Director. Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Brand for Development, welcomed the 53-year-old Capito on Wednesday. At the same time he thanked outgoing Motorsport Director Kris Nissen, who has lead VW’s motorsport division to, among other victories, three consecutive Dakar Rally wins. Nissen will be supporting Volkswagen Motorsport in an advisory role.

Hackenberg commented: ‘I cordially welcome Jost Capito to our ranks as new Motorsport Director. I wish him and the team a lot of success. I view the transfer of Kris Nissen’s role to Jost Capito like the handover of a relay race baton. This process is taking place place hand in hand, and aims to accelerate afterwards. My personal thanks go to Kris Nissen – he has moulded the squad into a winning team over the past years.’

‘I’m very much looking forward to working together with this strong team and have a lot of respect for the successes that have been achieved so far. My first impression is that the squad is working with great enthusiasm, and big and interesting tasks are awaiting all of us and we will tackle them with high motivation. My thanks also go to Kris Nissen, who has done very good preparatory work and who will continue to play a part in this endeavour in order to assure a harmonious handover,’ said Jost Capito.

Capito joins Volkswagen Motorsport at an exciting time. The division is gearing up for a full-scale assault next year on the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) with the new Polo R WRC rally car, and has commitments in touring car racing with the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup, which supports rounds of the German DTM championship. In addition, there are also numerous one-make global series in which Volkswagen is involved, such as the Volkswagen Polo Cup India and Engen Volkswagen Cup.

In its latest batch of historic motorsport titles, motorsport-dvd.de has released a round of the 1980s Volkswagen Polo Cup on DVD. Original uncut footage courtesy of MCN Nuremberg, sees thrilling overtaking moves and numerous position battles, complete with the 28 year-old, 1984 soundtrack. The 65-minute, German-language DVD retails at €16,80 plus postage. Taken from original VHS, S8, and 16mm media, the ‘Uncut’ range is, according to the company’s website, a series of DVDs from the ‘good old days’ of motorsport. motorsport-dvd.de specialises in DVDs with footage and races from the ‘80s and ‘90s from the DRM German Racing Championship and the ‘old’ DTM German Touring Car Championship. Other original Polo Cup races available on DVD include rounds from the Nürburgring in 1987, and the Norisring in 1988.

According to the latest figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) for April 2012, the Volkswagen Polo held its position as the seventh best-selling car in the UK, and the third best-selling supermini, behind the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Corsa. Once again the sixth best-selling car for 2012 so far with 15,743 sales, its larger Golf sibling sold only 21 units more last month, placing it one position ahead in the SMMT’s chart. April again saw a rise in supermini registrations, while overall, registrations rose 3.3 per cent to 142,322 units, the largest 2012 increase.

‘A strong April new car market has raised confidence across the UK motor industry with registrations increasing 3.3 per cent,’ said Paul Everitt, SMMT Chief Executive. ‘We are seeing a steady increase in consumer confidence with growth in private demand, boosted by the arrival of a raft of new products. SMMT has increased its full year forecast to 1.95 million units, putting the market marginally ahead of 2011, indicating a period of relative stability.’ The top 10 UK best-selling cars in April 2012 and for the year overall (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 8780 (42,170, 1st)
2 Vauxhall Corsa: 6184 (29,934, 2nd)
3 Ford Focus: 5491 (29,933, 3rd)
4 Vauxhall Astra: 4684 (19,578, 5th)
5 BMW 3 Series: 3737 (13,685, 8th)
6 Volkswagen Golf: 3600 (22,394, 4th)
7 Volkswagen Polo: 3579 (15,743, 6th)
8 Nissan Qashqai: 2990 (15,481, 7th)
9 Vauxhall Insignia: 2751 (12,082, 9th)
10 Fiat 500: 2600

(The 2012 year-to-date top 10 best-selling car absent from April’s sales figures is the Peugeot 207 selling 11,957 units in tenth place.)

Once again, Volkswagen Motorsport’s Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia have scored points on an international rally, taking their third consecutive set at Rally Argentina on 27-29 April. Finishing seventh overall, the French pair took the S2000 class victory over their Norwegian team mates, Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene, who had to retire within sight of the finish line due to suspension damage. The 19 stages around Villa Carlos Paz near Cordoba included gravel tracks, dangerous cliffs, a number of jumps and spectacular water splashes. Stages of up to 65kms in length required hard concentration from all the participating teams as well as careful tyre choices. Volkswagen Motorsport’s all-Škoda Fabia S2000 in-house competition entertained the crowds – at one point, Ogier and Mikkelsen were just 1.5 seconds apart.

‘It was a very interesting and exciting rally for us. The inter-team duel with Andreas was the hardest up to now and we had to try everything to be quicker. It’s a shame that both the cars didn’t make the finish,’ said Ogier, who now holds 10th position in the WRC with 16 points. ‘The team richly deserves the World Championship points, since the engineers and mechanics did a flawless job throughout the four days. The tyre strategy was also crucial for our good result. We managed our tyres very well, so we were quick. Participating in the rally was very valuable for the drivers and the whole team because we have now familiarised ourselves with the long stages, know much more about the entire rally, and can now prepare meticulously for next year’s event.’

Mikkelsen was also extremely satisfied despite his retirement. ‘We put in a great performance on our first appearance here. We could run the same pace as our team mates and didn’t make any big mistakes. Even though we didn’t make it to the finish we can be very proud of our performance,’ said Mikkelsen for whom the suspension defect came as a surprise. ‘To start it felt like a flat tyre because the car didn’t turn left well. Then the suspension broke suddenly,’ said the 22-year old Škoda UK driver.

‘Our good experiences continue in Argentina: not just three victories in the Dakar Rally, but this test event in the WRC will also remain in our memories for a long time,’ explained Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. ‘It was the longest WRC rally held for years and because of its character, one of the hardest. The thrilling head-to-head duel between Ogier and Mikkelsen impressed the spectators and provided us with a great deal of data and knowledge. The team did a perfect job to match in preparing and entering the cars and also the overseas logistics. We were well-equipped and are looking forward to 2013 when we will roll across the start ramp in Argentina with the Polo R WRC.’