PoloDriver

Last month, as a further marketing exercise for the new Polo GTI, Volkswagen exhibited the car at gamescom, Europe’s largest electronic games show in Cologne. To support the launch, from 18-22 August, visitors could also experience virtual Polo GTI-powered Volkswagen Racing Cup simulators, with the best drivers receiving real-life safety training from VW’s young driver programme. Winners of the awards were announced by Hamburg-based German rapper Samy Deluxe (no, we don’t know who he is either), who is involved in the musical support of the Volkswagen Sound Foundation.

A white Polo GTI was centre stage on the Volkswagen stand in Hall 9, and is the first car to be actively marketed on social networks by the German company. Hitting cyberspace communities only a few weeks ago, the Facebook ‘Fast Lane – Driven by Fun’ campaign is primarily aimed at young drivers, with interactive videos and competitions, to drum up interest in the new performance Polo. Digital eGames are very much now part of Volkswagen’s international marketing arsenal, and the company has its own Facebook electronic games channel at www.facebook.com/volkswagen.egames

Sailesh Bolisetti and Parth Ghorpade were the most successful drivers at the third race weekend of the Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010 at Coimbatore on 28 and 29 August. Bolisetti, who had celebrated two victories as early as the first race weekend, triumphed in race one and finished the second race in second place. 17-year-old Ghorpade took fifth place in the first race and in the second round captured the lead which he maintained all the way across the finish line.

Bolisetti clinched the first two races of the season back in June, and started second on the grid at for the first race of Round 3 at the Kari Motor Speedway, overtaking Vishnu Prasad on pole in the fourth lap. Completing the race in 25 minutes and 55.675 seconds, Prasad and Sahil Shelar were on his heels, finishing second and third respectively. An ecstatic Bolisetti said: ‘I got a good line and was able to pass Prasad on lap four. After a minor set back in round two, it feels great to be back on the top of the podium. I hope my luck continues to the next race and I hope to back here on the podium.’

The second race in Round 3 saw 17-year-old Parth Ghorpade from Pune take the chequered flag, improving on his third place podium finish in race one. Starting from fourth on the grid, he overtook pole-sitter Samyak Shah, completing the race in 26 minutes and 00.295 seconds. Sailesh Bolisetti, winner of race one, finished second followed by Mohd Fahad Kutty. Commenting on his win, Ghorpade said: ‘In qualifying our setup was not so good, but for the race the car felt really good. I am really happy with my performance today and to win my first Polo Cup race is a really special moment.’

Round 4 of the Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010 is at Irungattukotal, Chennai over the weekend of 25-26 September. The series is run by Volkswagen India Motorsport in conjunction with JK Tyres. The field of 20 young racers drive identical and centrally-prepared 129bhp TDI Polo Cup cars.

The latest version of the car that started the eco-car revolution, the Polo BlueMotion, has been tested along with 16 other eco-minded new cars in Auto Express’ round-up of sub-100g/km CO2 models. The UK motoring weekly has run the rule over all the road tax exempt eco contenders and spec tables include residual value forecasts, Euro NCAP crash test results and claimed economy figures. The Polo BlueMotion 1.2 TDI is compared with class rivals such as the Citroen C3 1.6 16v HDi Airdream+, Citroen DS3 DStyle 99g, Ford Fiesta Econetic 1.6 TDCi DPF, Peugeot 207 Economique 1.6 HDi, Renault Clio Extreme eco2 dCi 86 and Vauxhall Corsa S 1.3 CDTi ecoFLEX, as well as in-house sparring partner, the SEAT Ibiza SC 1.2 TDI Ecomotive. The sub-100g/km green car group test is in issue 1129 of Auto Express on sale now. Click here to read online.

Volkswagen premiered a number of new models at the Moscow International Automobile Salon 2010 when the doors opened yesterday. One of the star exhibits on the German giant’s stand is the latest notchback Polo, the sedan. It’s the first public viewing for the handsome saloon version of the new Polo, which, the company say, was ‘specially-designed for Russia’ (we’ll ignore the fact that it’s also on sale in India as the Vento, then). Tested in extreme weather conditions to cope with the harsh Russian winters, the car has a ‘cold climatic zone package’, and suspension adapted for badly-surfaced roads. The Polo sedan is based on the fifth-generation Polo hatchback launched in 2009, and is powered by a 1.6-litre 104bhp engine. Prices start at 399,000 rubles for the Trendline model. Manufactured locally in Kaluga, the Russian factory also produces the Golf, Jetta, Passat, Passat CC, Tiguan and Touareg.

The full and official Volkswagen Polo sedan press release from June 2010 and a gallery of pictures follows.

> Read More

On 3 July 2010, Volkswagen Classic (the company’s ‘heritage’ division) sent 12 teams to compete in the Youngtimer Tour 2010, a 220km-long road rally organised by German motor magazine Auto Zeitung. Seventy teams took part in the circular run to the Nürburgring from Euskirchen and among Volkswagen’s entries were an example of the stylish Porsche 914 (we’re big fans of the chunky 1970s VW/Porsche baby here at PoloDriver) and a 1973 Apal Buggy. The bulk of the company’s entires were made up of early VWs, though, with old Golfs, Passats and even a K70 joining a classic Polo. Nestled in the exhibits at the Volkswagen exhibition at the Euskirchen start and finish venue were the Eco Racer concept from 2005 and the Golf GTI W12 from 2007.

Only cars built between 1969 and 1990 were eligible to take part in the Youngtimer Tour 2010, and all of Volkswagen’s teams completed the event, the K70 of Volkswagen Executive Vice President Dr Rudolf Krebs, Plant Manager of Salzgitter (and Manager of the brand’s Future for Electric Vehicles division) crossing the line in third place overall. The more modern era of the Volkswagen Group was represented by a Lamborghini Jalpa, a Series 2 VW Scirocco, and a Škoda Fabia vRS. It’s not the first time Volkswagen has entered vintage Polos into road rally events; in 2005 it entered two older examples of its supermini on the Hamburg to Wolfsburg Creme 21 Youngtimer Rallye (pictured above), both of which were taken from the AutoMuseum Volkswagen.