PoloDriver

On 6 March, Volkswagen South Africa celebrated the production of the 1,250,000th Polo at its factory in Uitenhage. Thomas Schaefer, Chairman and Managing Director of Volkswagen Group South Africa joined in the celebrations, together with employees and management of the vehicle assembly line.

Local and international markets
The South African Volkswagen plant which is 1,000km from Johannesburg builds both the current fifth-generation Polo, Cross Polo and its entry-level sister, the Polo Vivo, which is based on the 2005-2009 facelifted fourth-generation Polo. Uitenhage Polos are produced for local and international markets, with some right-hand drive models exported to the UK.

Polo Vivo meanwhile is an African-only model, introduced in 2010 to replace the Citi Golf. From December 2016, Kenya joined Uitenhage as a production facility and the car is sold in both countries. Both Polo and Polo Vivo have been the best-selling passenger cars in South Africa for the past seven years.

The 518,912 square-metre Uitenhage plant is a Volkswagen ‘Think Blue’ sustainable-initiative factory, and employs 4,000 people. In 2015 it built 120,000 Polo, Cross Polo, and Polo Vivo cars, in addition to 113,000 1.4 and 1.6-litre ‘EA111’-series engines for consumption by the whole VW group. Fifty-five per cent of the vehicles produced at Uitenhage in 2015 were exported.

After missing the chart in January, the Volkswagen Polo is once again one of the UK’s top 10 most popular cars. In February 2017 – and despite being only months away from the end of production – 1,746 examples of the fifth-generation VW supermini found new homes, putting it in seventh place.

The latest registration figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) once again saw the Ford Fiesta at the top of the most popular cars list, even as, like the Polo, that car is due to be replaced by a new model very soon. A total of 4,282 Fiesta were registered in February, the small Ford sitting pretty at the top of the year-to-date figures pile, too.

The UK’s top 10 most popular passenger cars during February 2017 and the year overall (sales figure and position in brackets) were as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 4,282 (12,777, 1st)
2 Volkswagen Golf: 2,949 (8,404, 2nd)
3 Vauxhall Astra: 2,170 (6,235, 4th)
4 Ford Focus: 1,971 (6,767, 3rd)
5 Nissan Qashqai: 1,829 (5,329, 6th)
6 Mercedes-Benz C Class: 1,760 (5,990, 5th)
7 Volkswagen Polo: 1,746 (4,742, 9th)
8 Audi A3: 1,532 (4,650, 10th)
9 Vauxhall Corsa: 1,362 (5,260, 7th)
10 BMW 3 Series: 1,341

(The 2017 year-to-date top 10 most popular car absent from February 2017’s registration figures was the eighth-placed Nissan Juke with 4,759 cars registered.)

Volkswagen South Africa has revived its iconic ‘Citi’ name for a new special edition version of the best-selling Polo Vivo. Most Volkswagen fans will know the nameplate when applied to the Citi Golf, South Africa’s version of the first-generation Golf which stayed on sale as an inexpensive entry-level car after the second-generation of the venerable hatchback was introduced in 1984.

Special edition of 2,000
Keeping with the spirit of the original Citi Golf, the Citi Vivo is available in a similar vibrant Flash Red, Sunflower Yellow and Cornflower Blue palette as South Africa’s popular Volkswagen, which finally ended production in 2009. Over 377,000 Citi Golfs were built, but the series of Citi Vivo specials will be much rarer, with Volkswagen South Africa stating that only 2,000 examples will be made.

1985 Volkswagen Citi Golf (South Africa)

1985 Volkswagen Citi Golf (South Africa)

1985 Volkswagen Citi Golf (South Africa)

The Citi Vivo is based on the 74bhp/55kW 1.4 Conceptline entry-level model. In addition, the Citi Vivo gains white-painted 15-inch ‘Lakeside’ alloy wheels, door mirror caps, door handles and tailgate release, all of which evoke the image of the Citi Golf, helped by the extensive white ‘CiTi’ decals along the sides and across the rear hatch. Extra equipment also includes an alarm, cruise control, front electric windows as well as front fog lights.

2017 Volkswagen Citi Vivo (South Africa)

2017 Volkswagen Citi Vivo (South Africa)

2017 Volkswagen Citi Vivo (South Africa)

2017 Volkswagen Citi Vivo (South Africa)

2017 Volkswagen Citi Vivo (South Africa)

Best-selling passenger car
The Polo Vivo was introduced in 2010, and has been the best-selling passenger car in South Africa for the past six years, with 229,300 hatchback and saloon models finding homes. In 2016 alone, 28,830 Polo Vivos were delivered to customers, and the car has the best resale value in its class. The Citi Golf’s popularity meanwhile was in part gained from the quirky and humorous television and print adverts that told a uniquely South Africa story.

‘There is no better way to celebrate the success of the Polo Vivo as the best-selling passenger car in South Africa than to pay homage to its iconic predecessor, Citi Golf. The three colours of Red, Yellow and Blue are synonymous with the Citi Golf and it was fitting for us to use them as the only colours for Citi Vivo,’ said Stefan Mecha, Director, Sales and Marketing at Volkswagen Group South Africa.

The Citi Vivo is available to order now and costs R177,300. For more information, visit the Volkswagen South Africa website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qypqTrWcpos

Hot on the heels of the announcement that second placed 2016 World Rallycross Championship driver Johan Kristoffersson and ex-World Rally Champion Petter Holberg are teaming up to contest the 2017 series in a pair of Polo RX Supercars, comes this week’s news that Britain’s Guy Wilks will also run a similar car.

Highly successful 2016 machine
Two-time British Rally Champion and ex-WRC driver Wilks will contest all 12 rounds of the 2017 FIA World Rally Championship in a Polo RX Supercar, which just happens to be ‘Elsa’, Kristoffersson’s highly successful 2016 machine. Wilks has previous rallycross form, too, having competed in selected 2015 and 2016 rounds of the series.

The Englishman will be entered as an independent, supported by energy drink LOCO, whose branding will mean Wilks’ Polo should be easy to spot both on and off the track when the first round of the 2017 World Rallycross Championship, the World RX of Barcelona, gets underway on 31 March at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

‘Something I’ve always wished for’
‘To get an opportunity to do a full World Championship is something I’ve always wished for,’ explained an elated Wilks. ‘To compete in a car that finished second last year adds pressure but it is the ingredient that can make it realistic for me mix it at the top, even though the bar in World RX is getting raised year on year.

‘I want to thank LOCO energy drink and Marc Blackburn for this opportunity – he saw me drive at Lydden and Loheac in 2015 and believed in me from the start. I’m going to give it absolutely everything and we want to put ourselves up against the best. There’s still a lot of work to do but 2017 is going to be an awesome journey!’ added the 36 year-old from County Durham.

‘A talent behind the wheel’
Paul Bellamy, World RX Managing Director for IMG, concluded: ‘Guy is very familiar with rallycross – he’s regularly commentated alongside Andrew Coley on our TV show. There’s no denying he’s a talent behind the wheel and proved this when he reached the final on his rallycross debut at Lydden Hill back in 2015.’

This one slipped past us rather unnoticed. The latest Polo GTI ‘6C’ has attracted largely favourable reviews from both the press and owners, the 1.8-litre TSI-engined version of Volkswagen’s smallest sports hatchback having first appeared in 2015. With a 0-62mph time of 6.7 seconds and 189bhp, it is the most powerful series production Polo GTI to date. Or at least, until yesterday, we thought it was.

Power boost to 227bhp
It turns out there is an even hotter version of the legendary-badged Polo. Say ‘hello’ to the Volkswagen Polo GTI 230, which, as its name suggested, receives a power boost to 227bhp (230 PS). More surprisingly, it is an officially-sanctioned Volkswagen production product. Launched in April 2016, it is limited to Switzerland only. And, as restricted as its market availability is the number available: only a paltry – but rather neat – 230 examples are available to buy.

German tuner ABT has been roped in to help with upping the power to liberate an extra 38bhp over the standard Polo GTI, which sees the special edition make 265lb ft/360Nm of torque and romp on to a top speed of 149mph. The 0-62mph dash is now 0.2 seconds quicker, too, and thankfully – enthusiasts rejoice! – a six-speed manual is available alongside the seven-speed DSG transmission. Sadly, choice is rather more limited when it comes to the looks: the Polo GTI 230 is only available with five doors.

2016 Volkswagen Polo GTI 230

2016 Volkswagen Polo GTI 230

2016 Volkswagen Polo GTI 230

‘GTI 230’ decal badges
As befits a special edition go-faster model, ‘unique’ graphics tell other hot hatch fans what you are driving, with the Polo GTI 230 featuring carbon fibre door mirror caps, as well as a ‘GTI 230’ decal badge on the tailgate, and ‘GTI 230’ red and carbon-coloured foils on the door bottoms, front bumper upright sections and the bonnet. While they are more on the tasteful side, if you’re really a restrained type of driver, they may still be a little too much.

Standard equipment is upped on the regular Polo GTI, too. The ‘Sport Select’ package (amplified cabin sound, enhanced accelerator and steering response, and adjustable suspension), ‘Composition Media’ (with Bluetooth/DAB+ and App-Connect) infotainment system, electrically-folding door mirrors, front and rear parking sensors, front central armrest, LED headlights, Volkswagen ‘Plug & Play’ subwoofer-fed 300W sound system, and a winter package all feature on the GTI 230.

2016 Volkswagen Polo GTI 230

2016 Volkswagen Polo GTI 230

2016 Volkswagen Polo GTI 230

‘Motorsport’ alloy rims
Perhaps more excitingly, although the Polo GTI 230 comes with the same 17-inch ‘Parabolica’ black and diamond-cut finish alloy wheels as the standard car, a set of black 10-spoke ‘Motorsport’ rims are also thrown in, complete with winter tyres and snow chains to deal with the sometimes harsh Swiss seasons. Optional kit on offer is the same as the regular Polo GTI, and includes a panoramic sunroof and leather or alcantara-trimmed seats.

How much for all this limited number, souped-up Polo GTI? CHF 29,100 to you sir or madam, around £23,251 at today’s exchange rates. A ‘customer benefit’ (yep, us too, no idea) of CHF 5,000 is available but with that not included, the Polo GTI 230 costs around £2,000 more than its standard 189bhp sister. Not that all that matters, as it’s all academic anyway: unless you’re in Switzerland, you can’t buy one.

Will the Polo GTI 230 sell? It still appears on the Volkswagen Switzerland website, so we’re guessing it hasn’t sold out already. The Swiss do have form, though, when it comes to special Polo GTI models: the 100-unit run GTI Carbon Edition of 2012 was even more limited. So it seems, in Switzerland at least, there is clearly a market for a slightly more obvious example of a not-usually-obvious German hot hatchback…

Want to find out more about the Volkswagen Polo GTI 230? Download a brochure here.