PoloDriver

China Car Times and Steering News both report that the saloon version of the latest Polo will debut at the Shanghai Auto Show later this year, and will be on sale in the country by mid-2011. The hatchback is already on sale in 1.4 and 1.6-litre guises (and doing well), though TSI engines are thought to be forthcoming. Whether the new car will be called Polo Sedan as in Russia or take the Indian ‘Vento’ nameplate hasn’t been confirmed. The Polo Sedan/Vento premiered in Moscow in June last year. Extremely popular, both it and its hatchback sister are suffering from 2-3 month waiting lists in India. Volkswagen’s smallest notchback has an 82mm longer wheelbase, an enlarged luggage capacity than the Polo hatch, and is powered by petrol and diesel engines developing 104bhp.

Will the success of the Polo Vivo ever come to an end? Even though it sold fewer units, the South African-only Vivo was once again the biggest-selling car brand in the country, with 2945 examples finding homes. The nearest challenger for the Vivo’s crown, the Toyota Yaris, was some way short of the mark, selling 2552 units, according to the latest figures from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA). The association reported that total industry sales for the first two months of 2011 were 21.9% ahead of the corresponding two months in 2010. Special incentive packages offered by a number of manufacturers and importers during February also contributed to the rise in sales volumes.

‘Volkswagen Group South Africa captured 21.7% of the passenger market in February – with 7421 units sold. Polo Vivo was once again the top seller, with sales of 2945 units. The New Polo sold 1704 units in February,” said Mike Glendinning, Director of 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. Available as both a three or five-door hatchback and four-door booted saloon with 74bhp/84bhp 1.4-litre and 103bhp 1.6-litre petrol engines, two trim levels are available: base and Trendline. Costing from R104,065 for the 1.4 hatchback to R156,220 for the 1.6 Trendline Sedan, the 2011 Polo Vivo is based on the revised version of the Series 4 Polo, built from 2005 to 2009.

To celebrate the launch of the 2011 Volkswagen Polo GTI, PoloDriver.com delves into the archives to trace the history of the performance Polo. In the first issue of a special series of digital mini-magazines, we focus on the Series 1 Polo GT of 1979-1981. Each issue will focus on the history of the sports variants – GT, G40, and GTI – of each Polo generation, culminating in the introduction of the current 1.4-litre 178bhp Polo GTI. Read the first of our performance Polo special issues by clicking on the magazine graphic below, or if you can’t see the preview, visit this link. Head over to the PoloDriver virtual bookshelf for our previous titles covering the fifth-generation Polo range (including the TSI and BlueMotion) and the smallest Volkswagen, the Fox.

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It’s long been rumoured, but yesterday, Volkswagen’s plans for a 2012 entry into the World Rally Championship (WRC) were made a little more public. Expected to confirm a team for the 2012 series by the end of the month, Autocar, Autosport and Auto Express in the UK have all pointed to that entry being, excitingly, Polo-based. An announcement on the 1.6-litre direct-injection turbocharged Polo WRC is expected to be given an an event celebrating VW’s Dakar Rally victory on 22 March, or at the start of Rally Portugal, which is being staged from 24-27 March 2011.

Why the Polo? Reports suggest that the Scirocco (which was in hot contention to be VW’s WRC challenger) exceeds the WRC’s width restrictions, and with rivals from Citroën and Ford based on the DS3 and Fiesta superminis respectively, a Polo would make much more sense. Sources state that the new engine is based on the unit for the forthcoming Polo R, but as Volkswagen has continually denied that that car actually exists, the new four-pot may well have been exclusively developed to take advantage of the new 1600cc-based WRC rules, which came into play this season.

Volkswagen would more than likely launch a limited assault on the 2012 WRC championship, before committing to a full series in 2013, just as Mini has done this year. Reports state that the company has been busy trying to secure a leading driver (Sebastian Loeb was mooted, but he couldn’t be prised away from Citroën), and current Intercontinental Rally Championship driver Juho Hannien looks to be in the frame. Other notable bodies involved in the project are Volkswagen Dakar driver and rally superhero Carlos Sainz, and ex-Citroën and Subaru engineer Francois-Xavier Demaison. The last works Polo rally car was the Super 1600, first announced in 2002.

The Polo has enjoyed a successful start to 2011 in terms of UK sales, and February’s figures point to it keeping up that momentum. The latest stats released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show the Polo is the eighth best-selling car in the country. While the Polo only dropped one place from January’s position, the larger Golf lead February’s charts from the Vauxhall Corsa and the Ford Focus. With a less than expected market fall, sales of 63,424 cars were not far off the same scrappage-boosted period last year. ‘February new car registrations were better than expected and while below 2010 levels, they were significantly ahead of 2009 and on an improving trend,’ said Paul Everitt, SMMT Chief Executive. The UK’s top 10 best-selling cars for February 2011 and the year-to-date (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Volkswagen Golf: 2709 units (6819, 4th)
2 Vauxhall Corsa: 2617 units (6980, 3rd)
3 Ford Focus: 2483 units (10,065, 1st)
4 Ford Fiesta: 2404 units (8248, 2nd)
5 Vauxhall Astra: 2036 units (6546, 5th)
6 Vauxhall Insignia: 1842 units (4078, 7th)
7 Vauxhall Zafira: 1705 units (3343, 10th)
8 Volkswagen Polo: 1570 units (4580, 6th)
9 = Nissan Qashqai: 1367 units (3475, 9th)
9 = Vauxhall Meriva: 1367 units

(The 2011 best-seller absent from February’s sales figures is the BMW 3 Series selling 4038 units in 8th place.)