PoloDriver

Fresh from its double victory at the Golden Steering Wheel awards last week, the new Polo has clinched its first UK trophy, winning Small Car of the Year at the Scottish Car of the Year awards. Placed in the fiercely competitive supermini category, the Polo was crowned champion at a ceremony in St Andrews after being tested by judges on Scottish roads.

The panel said: ‘The Polo’s mix of quality and competitive pricing plus a wide range of trim and engine options ensured its place on pole position. If only everything in life was as reliable as our 2009 champion.’

Volkswagen reports that since the new fifth-generation Polo went on sale on 16 October, over 8,000 advance orders have been taken, beating projected volumes by 86%. This high level of interest is expected to be sustained in the New Year with the introduction of the new 83mpg Polo BlueMotion. Over 1,060,000 Polos have found homes in the UK since the model’s introduction in 1975.

Chris Craft, Director of Volkswagen UK, commented: ‘To win this award is a tremendous honour. The Scottish market is incredibly important to us and the Polo accounts for nearly a third of all Volkswagens sold in Scotland. We’re looking forward to even greater success in 2010.’

The latest rendering of the rumoured high-performance Polo R (above, top left) has been causing ripples on internet forums this week. Nothing has been confirmed by Volkswagen of course, but the firecracking version with upwards of 200bhp could be a possibility. Even respected UK motoring weekly Autocar recently reported that a ‘Cup’ version of the new Polo could arrive sometime in the future.

This, the magazine reported, would be powered by a 280bhp version of the 1.4-litre TSI engine already in service in the SEAT Ibiza FR and Cupra, and slated for a starring role in 2010’s Polo GTI, with or without its seven-speed DSG gearbox. The GTI itself is still causing excitement, too; initial reports suggested 168bhp, but now 198bhp could well be likely.

So, how likely is the 136mph R? The new Scirocco R has been largely well received by the motoring press and with the even more powerful Golf R due very soon, the time could be right to light the blue touch paper on a hot shot Polo. It could hit the roads in 2012, but its price would be crucial.

It would need to be around £17,000 to be on a par with the souped-up supermini class-leader, the 200bhp Renaultsport Clio. With the high-gloss and high-tech that would come as standard with a Polo R, that seems unlikely. That same Polo R rumour mill quotes a proposed price of 22,500 euros (£20,300) in Germany.

But, Volkswagen has been known to surprise. When we visited the AutoMuseum Volkswagen five years ago, a special prototype rumoured to be a Polo R18, R23 or R25 was being moved from the store to the development centre at the company’s Wolsfburg HQ. It looked suitably sporty and could well have been a little brother to the Golf R32, but unfortunately it never made it into production. Check back in a few days for a fuller report of this exciting but forgotten Polo design study.

[Polo R rendering: Bernhard Reichel/Bild]

Many sources have reported in the last week that Volkswagen has already achieved its 2018 goal to become the world’s largest carmaker. The latest set of released production figures state that the German giant has now overtaken Toyota to become world number one in terms of units produced.

Industry analysts Global Insight state that the Volkswagen Group manufactured 4.4 million units in the first nine months of 2009, compared to Toyota’s 4.0 million. Ford and General Motors made up the top four (in that order), with VW producing over 700,000 units more than its nearest American rival.

Success has been due to a large number of factors. Pan-European scrappage schemes have undoubtedly helped, along with rising new car sales figures in Western Europe where Germany has seen the largest upturn. From January to September 2009, the Volkswagen Group’s sales rose by 34.0% to 622,853 units.

The Polo and Golf have contributed greatly to the company’s astonishing figures, with sales of the new-generation models up 56.2% and 54.1% respectively. While the Volkswagen Group hasn’t released a formal statement, it told the UK’s Autocar magazine that the quoted production figures were accurate.

The new Polo has added two more awards to Volkswagen’s trophy cabinet. It scored two wins at the ‘Golden Steering Wheel’ awards in Berlin last Wednesday evening. The Polo not only came top in the supermini category, but also picked up the ‘Green Steering Wheel’ for its BlueMotion variant.

The ‘Goldenes Lenkrad‘ is one of the most important awards for new car models in Germany. First awarded by Bild am Sonntag and Auto Bild magazines since 1976, it recognises the best cars in each sector. This year’s winners were determined by an independent jury, made up of editors-in-chief from the 22 international editions of Auto Bild (which includes the UK’s Auto Express), as well as technicians, motorsport professionals and celebrities. Test drives take place in Balocco, Italy and last several days.

The ‘Green Steering Wheel’ was introduced in 2007, with winners decided upon by experts from political parties, environmental associations and automotive clubs (as well as luminaries from the automotive industry), after a preliminary selection has been made by readers. In both categories, the Polo beat its competitors due to its efficient powertrains, low fuel consumption, safety, comfort and quality.

[Image: Volkswagen]

It’s now in dealers across the country and available on our roads (though I haven’t seen any) and still the new Polo is appearing in the UK motoring weeklies at an encouraging frequency. This week it’s the turn of the new BlueMotion and the 74bhp 1.6 TDI SE.

Autocar has published a first drive of the production version of the new eco Polo, saying that it’s better than ever before, even if it’s not as clean as it could be (left-hand drive cars stick with 87g/km of emissions as per the concept version, whereas right hookers are saddled with 3g/km more due to the relocation of the catalyst and diesel particulate filter in relation to the engine).

Auto Express meanwhile have announced the 40 least-depreciating new cars on sale, and even though it’s only just available to buyers, the new Polo has scooped the honours in the closely-fought supermini class, beating rivals such as the SEAT Ibiza and Mazda 2. The magazine states the £13,205 Polo 1.6 TDI SE five-door is the safest supermini financial bet, holding onto over 54.1% of its value over three years, when it will be worth £7,144. Read what other attributes make the Polo top of the supermini residual value tree here.

The print-based editions of both titles are on sale now until Wednesday, and carry a cover date of 3 November, along with first drives of the tasty and performance-orientated VW coupé, the Scirocco R.