PoloDriver

The current Polo GTI isn’t known for its lack of power. Yes, it may not develop quite as much go as the Renaultsport Clio 200, but its 178bhp serves it well. Now, though, if you want more, you can have more, with Volkswagen Racing UK official tuning partner Superchips’ ECU remap. The Buckinghamshire company’s software tweak sees the Polo GTI’s 1.4-litre ‘twincharged’ engine 27bhp more powerful (the 204bhp Superchips Polo GTI is only 3bhp down on a Mk 6 Golf GTI), with an additional 26lb ft (35Nm) of torque.

Both evo and Volkswagen Driver magazines have tested Superchips’ demo car, and while the extra power takes the GTI over the 200bhp threshold, it does have to pump the extra power to the road through the front wheels. The Superchips remap has to be carried out at one of the company’s outlets, and can be removed and reinstalled with the supplied Bluefin handheld device. The Superchips remap costs £455.

[Source: German Car Scene]

With three in-house rivals, the Polo GTI is one of a four-strong Volkswagen Group attack on the hot supermini market. The Audi A1 1.4 TFSI Sport, SEAT Ibiza Cupra, Škoda Fabia vRS and Volkswagen Polo GTI all employ the same 1.4-litre ‘twincharged’ engine, and all pump out, more or less, 180bhp. So, are there any real differences? We thought it was about time we found out. We recently had a Fabia vRS from Škoda UK’s press fleet spend a few days with us, to see if there really is £2645 worth of difference between it and the hot Polo. Read what we thought of the (very) green machine here, or click on the magazine graphic below. The seventh of our special digital mini-magazines, check out the PoloDriver bookshelf on issuu.com for our previous six titles.

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The Volkswagen Polo has jumped one place up the UK top 10 best-sellers list. According to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) for March 2012, the small Volkswagen was the seventh best-selling car last month with 7748 sales, three places behind its larger Golf relative. March was a bumper month for supermini sales, with half the cars in the best-sellers list of a smaller persuasion. Even the misguided youth-orientated advertising campaign for the new Toyota Yaris seems to have worked positively, with the model chasing the Polo’s tyre tracks in eighth.

March’s 372,835 units bettered the SMMT’s forecast for the month by some 20,000 units or almost 6 per cent, and looks set to beat the 18 per cent share of total annual volumes by 1.4 per cent. Supermini registrations rose in both March and Q1, to account for 39.1 per cent and 37.7 per cent respectively of the market. ‘The important March new car market performed above expectations rising 1.8 per cent to 372,835 units. Domestic demand for new cars is showing signs of recovery with private buyers increasingly returning to take advantage of a wide range of excellent products and, this month, the new 12-plate,’ said Paul Everitt, SMMT Chief Executive. The top 10 UK best-selling cars in March 2012 and for the year overall (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 22,667 (33,390, 1st)
2 Vauxhall Corsa: 17,271 (23,750, 3rd)
3 Ford Focus: 15,086 (24,442, 2nd)
4 Volkswagen Golf: 11,945 (18,794, 4th)
5 Vauxhall Astra: 9965 (14,894, 5th)
6 Nissan Qashqai: 8487 (12,491, 6th)
7 Volkswagen Polo: 7748 (12,164, 7th)
8 Toyota Yaris: 6973
9 Peugeot 207: 6948 (10,221, 8th)
10 BMW 3 Series: 6472 (9948, 9th)

(The 2012 year-to-date top 10 best-selling car absent from March’s sales figures is the Mercedes-Benz C Class selling 9485 units in tenth place.)

The latest in a line of interactive advertising campaigns for the current fifth-generation Polo, Volkswagen Denmark has launched ‘The Polo Principle’. What is it? The company says: ‘We take the newest technology, the highest quality – the innovations that were made for the elite – and make them available to everyone. Each and every part of the Polo works to give the power of innovation and quality to all.’ That’s all very well, but what’s more impressive is that way in which the campaign is being marketed.

Users are invited to create their own Polo ‘prototype’, either by downloading a template to illustrate in Adobe software, or by using the online 3D designer. Using preset tools and icons, users can layer on designs and graphics or even upload their own. The realistic, fully interactive online modeller gives many views of the car, and can be rotated and spun, so all the car is decorated. When complete, the user clicks the ‘Make It Real’ button and the finished Polo prototype is shown on the next page.

By submitting a design, the user is effectively entered into a prize draw. Volkswagen Denmark will select the 40 most creative cars for clever plaster-based 3D printing, as shown in the video above. The successful creators will then receive a physical 3D prototype models of their design after they’ve been exhibited in Copenhagen in May. Finally, one lucky winner will have their Polo prototype turned into a real Polo (by way of a film wrap of their design we imagine), and will get to drive it for two months this summer.

Volkswagen Navarra celebrated a production anniversary when the six-millionth Polo to be built there rolled off the production line last month. The landmark car, a Candy White Polo BlueMotion 1.2 TDI was produced on 15 March. Yolanda Barcina, chief official of the northern Spanish region of Navarra; Hubert Waltl, Director of Production and Logistics of the Volkswagen brand; and Patrick Danau, Volkswagen Navarra plant manager, handed the keys to the new owner.

Waltl said: ‘The success story of the Polo is also a success story for Volkswagen Navarra. For nearly 30 years, the team at Pamplona has made this award-winning bestseller. It has set quality, comfort, and finally, sustainability standards for years in the small car segment.’ Danau thanked the staff: ‘Only a dedicated and highly qualified team can continuously produce excellent products. The six-millionth Polo produced from Navarra is a collaborative effort of all the 4700 employees at the site.’

Production of the Polo started at Pamplona in 1984 with the Series 2. The European best-seller has sold 11 million examples over the past 37 years, and is the number one small car in Europe. In Western Europe alone, more than 340,000 Polos were sold in 2011. The recent international popularity of the Polo is also reflected in its global production locations: the car is currently manufactured at Volkswagen plants in Africa, China, Europe, India, Russia, South America, as well as Spain. Its most popular markets are Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain.