PoloDriver

Sailesh Bolsetti was crowned the inaugural Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010 champion during the final round at the Irungattukottai race track in Chennai over the weekend of 18-19 December. Bolsetti was second in the leaderboard standings before Round 6, 26 points behind potential champion Parth Ghorpade with 359 points, but a stand-out drive from the 22-year old from Vishakhapatnam. Going into the final race of the season with a 2-point deficit from Ghorpade, Bolisetti’s sixth place finish in race two was enough to take the series championship, after a mistake from Ghorpade left him struggling in 11th position.

Qualifying for the first race left Bolisetti in second place behind Vishnu Prasad in pole position, while Ghorpade was behind in third. A false start in the first race gave Ghorpade a 30-second time penalty, from which he never recovered. A tyre-to-tyre battle for the top three spots resulted in Prasad taking the top spot with a time of 00: 24: 50: 051, with Bolisetti in second place, and Ghorpade rounding out the podium. However, Ghorpade’s penalty pushed him down to ninth place, promoting fourth place Karthik Shankar to the podium.

As is customary, the grid for the second race was a reverse of race one for the first eight drivers, meaning Munjal Savla, Vikash Anand and Sahil Shelar were pushed to the front of the track. Rookie Salva maintained a good lead, but Anand and Shelar struggled to keep up during the latter half of the race, enabling Ghorpade and Prasad to overtake and chase the leader. Falling behind, Bolisetti and then Ghorpade gave way to Prasad and Shankar who tailed Savla, who was amazing the enthusiastic crowd with his consistent speed. Consistency paid off, and Salva clinched first place, with Shankar 3.145 seconds behind, and Prasad a close third.

Bolisetti meanwhile, finished sixth ahead of Ghorpade from Kolhapur, who came way down the field in eleventh. Ghorpade’s  misfortune at Chennai enhanced Bolisetti’s standing for championship title with an aggregate score of 411 points. Ghorpade had to settle for the runner-up position with a total of 403 points, while Chennai’s Prasad was third with 370 points. Commenting on the eventful first season of the Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010, Prithviraj Siddappa, Head of Motorsports, Volkswagen India, said: ‘I am very happy that the first Polo Cup season here in India was a great success, and I can confidently say that this years championship has proved that this our Cup series can infact produce and nurture good drivers.’

[Sources: cardekho.com and zigwheels.com. Video: Autocar India]

News broke of the German-market Polo Style special edition earlier in the week, with the high profile announcement that the advertising campaign would be spearheaded by fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. Volkswagen released a full set of promotional images – which included a press advertisement – and now the TV commercial has broken cover. The 30-second TV spot portrays Lagerfeld living up to his ‘Kaiser’ image, muttering that the Style range of Volkswagens are all that cool and chic cars from Paris should be. His so-called muse, Baptiste Giabiconi, then tells him that the assembled models are in fact German, to which Lagerfeld acts flustered and denies. We’re not sure it will sell many cars, but it’s in keeping with the sense of fun and tongue-in-cheek spots that usually marks Volkswagen campaigns out from the rest.

[Source: Styleite]

We’d like to extend season’s greetings to all the loyal readers of PoloDriver and thank you for your ongoing support. We hope you have a fun-filled and restful festive break and a healthy and prosperous new year. Join us next week when we’ll take a reflective look at the major Polo developments from 2010.

[Image: Matt Poolman]

Resurrecting a name from the Polo’s past, Volkswagen has asked legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld to be ‘campaign ambassador’ for the new Polo Style special edition model. Along with sister Golf Style variations, the latest special edition Polo includes many items of extra equipment for an all-inclusive price. Alloy wheels, fog lamps, and tinted rear windows are form part of just three of the extra kit packages available. A winter package, convenience package, and the electric ‘Light and Sight’ package can also be chosen. A new colour, Toffee Brown Metallic (we like it), distinctive ‘Style’ badging and 15-inch ‘Estrada’ alloy wheels also mark out the latest special edition Polo. The last Polo Style was based on the facelifted Series 2 coupé and hatchback models back in 1993.

Available from 23 December 2010, the Polo Style starts at €14.075 in Germany, saving €1885 over a similarly-equipped model if all the options were to be bought separately. A ‘Style-Plus’ package is also available which also adds a sunroof or panorama roof as well as new set of alloys, and the Polo Style is available with the mainstream model’s complete range of engines. Matthias Becker, Marketing Manager Germany, Volkswagen Cars stated that Lagerfeld was chosen as the spearhead of the campaign for his ‘style and humour’. VW has launched a large-scale advertising campaign for the special models with print ads, a TV spot, a nationwide poster campaign as well as online activities. Find out more about the special VW Style models here, and download a brochure here.

Following Hyundai and Suzuki, Volkswagen plans to turn its operations in India into a low-cost export hub. The Polo is central to this plan, with completely knocked-down kits and fully-built examples of the fifth-generation model to be exported from the second quarter of 2011. The Indian-export Polo will be sent to Africa, the Middle East, and South East Asia from Volkswagen’s Pune plant in Chakan. VW believes that the Indian-made Polo suits the markets of South East Asia and Africa well, as well as being pegged at a competitive price.

Earlier in the year, Volkswagen forecasted production of 50,000 Polos in India, with 35,000 of those for the domestic market. Exports made up the remainder of the production projections. Even the recently-launched fifth-generation Polo-based Vento saloon is said to be under export consideration. The Polo is in direct competition with cars such as the Ford Figo and Hyundai i20 both in India and also the export markets the company is targeting. The Indian-built Polo has just been launched in 1.6-litre, 104bhp form in addition to the 1.2-litre, 74bhp variants.

[Source: 9to6.com]