PoloDriver

Volkswagen Group South Africa has maintained its top position in the passenger car market with total sales of 8239 units and a market share of 21.1 per cent in March 2012. Once again the Polo Vivo was the country’s top seller, with the fifth-generation Polo 6R claiming the runner-up spot. ‘Volkswagen Group South Africa is delighted to finish the first quarter of 2012 as the leader of the passenger car market. Our consistent performance has been spearheaded by the market dominance of the Polo Vivo (2846 units) and Polo (2355 units) – strong brands that were again the top two sellers in March,’ said Mike Glendinning, Director, Sales and Marketing, Volkswagen Group South Africa.

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 R106,100 for the base-model 1.4 hatchback to R153,200 for the top 1.6 Trendline Sedan, the 2012 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 a three and five-door hatchback, in addition to the four-door Sedan.

The Polo has claimed another awards victory, taking the ‘Small Hatchback’ title in the Parkers Cost of Motoring New Car Awards 2012. Judged the cars which make motorists’ cash go the furthest, the Polo beat off the Ford Fiesta 1.25 Studio three-door and the Citröen DS3 1.6 e-HDi 110 Airdream DSport three-door, scoring victory with the 1.2 Match TDI three-door. No mean feat in a market sector which is so price-sensitive, Volkswagen also emerged as the winner in another category, with the Touran S 1.6-litre TDI BlueMotion Technology taking the top spot in the ‘People Carrier’ category.

Parkers New Car Awards winners are determined through data produced by Parkers’ ‘cost of motoring’ tool. This uses objective data to identify all the different elements involved in keeping a car on the road for three years and covering 30,000 miles, including depreciation, taxes, service, maintenance and repair, fuel consumption and breakdown cover. Kieren Puffett, editor of Parkers said: ‘To win one Parkers Cost of Motoring New Car Award is a real achievement, but to win two is outstanding. These awards are a clear demonstration that the Volkswagen Polo and Touran both provide new car buyers with exceptionally competitive running costs, strong residual values and fuel efficient engines.’

Fresh from the last round in Mexico, Volkswagen Motorsport driver Sébastien Ogier stormed to class victory in the latest round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), Rally Portugal. Taking the S2000 class first place with co-driver Julien Ingrassia, Ogier scored four championship points over 368km of special stages, despite turbulent weather conditions. In the overall standings, the French duo came eighth. The Frenchmen are staying in Portugal this week, testing the Polo R WRC with rally legend Carlos Sainz.

After the ceremonial start on Thursday, Ogier lost time on the night stages due to his Škoda Fabia S2000 developing clutch problems. Torrential rain on Friday brought a blocked stage, while stages 8 to 10 were cancelled due to fog, deep mud and flooding. Overall winner of Rally Portugal was Finn Mikko Hirvonen.

‘We lost a lot of time behind Craig Breen, who stopped at the end of a water passage. There were spectators on track to help him and as we didn’t want to jeopardise anyone we patiently waited. Unfortunately, we weren’t credited for this time,’ Ogier commented afterwards. ‘Considering the extreme conditions, I’m happy to have reached the finish. Without the time loss we would have clinched sixth place, which would have marked the best result of an S2000 car in WRC history,’ Ogier continued.

‘In view of the chaotic weather conditions and the large field with 19 WRC cars, eighth place is an optimum result. Sébastien and Julien did a perfect job. It was also good to see how calm and professional the team was in performing its work in such difficult conditions,’ said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen.

It wasn’t such good news for the Volkswagen junior driver Kevin Abbring and his co-driver Fréderic Miclotte. After an accident in qualifying on Wednesday, the roll cage in Abbring’s Škoda Fabia S2000 was so damaged the pair were unable to continue, by rule of the FIA. Next, Volkswagen Motorsport junior driver Andreas Mikkelsen will run with co-driver Ola Fløene on Rally Argentina from 27-29 April.

One from the archives today. The coming of April Fool’s Day reminded us of this press advertisement from 1996. Detailing the arrival of the Polo Harlequin special edition, this advert states that the colourful model was just one of several new Polo variations due to go on sale. On sale in the UK not long after its appearance at the 1995 London Motor Show, the Polo Harlequin was based on the 1.4 CL. The car featured its own unique upholstery, driver’s airbag, GLX ‘sports bumpers’, white indicators and darkened rear light clusters.

The car was made in batches of four (Yellow, Pistachio Green, Chagall Blue and Flash Red were the colourways) and the customer could not specify a certain panel to be a certain colour – the colour combination that the car arrived in would be a complete surprise. The price at launch in April 1996 (five-door only) was £11,095. It’s believed that Volkswagen UK sold just 113 examples, of which 62 are alleged to be still on the road with 9 cars currently SORNed (although many cars have been reportedly resprayed a single colour). The significance of April Fool’s Day? This advertisement was placed in the Daily Express on 1 April 1996!