PoloDriver

The second TV commercial promoting Volkswagen UK’s ‘Volkswagen Value’ finance offers takes the same ‘shopping’ theme as the first spot, which features the Golf. While the first ad was set on a bustling outside market stall, the latest Polo-based 30-second commercial takes place in supermarket, where a young trolley-pushing couple are seen getting their groceries. There is one item, though, that’s just too large to go in the trolley and has to go on it instead…

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Volkswagen Group South Africa is celebrating once more, as the Polo Vivo was again named the top-selling car in South Africa. With 3499 units sold in July 2012, the Polo Vivo led the market – a familiar story. The latest Polo 6R was also popular, with 2459 examples sold. The Volkswagen Group South Africa also maintained its top position in the new passenger car market, reporting total sales of 8689 units last month. During July 2012, a total of 37,844 new passenger cars were sold in South Africa.

‘Volkswagen Group South Africa is pleased to start the second half of 2012 in a top position in the passenger car market. Polo Vivo continues to be our top performer and in July it was once again the best-selling brand in South. Polo was the second best-seller in the passenger car market. Both brands have been market leaders in the A0 segment for the past seven months in spite of the introduction of many new models in the most competitive car sales segment in the country,’ said Mike Glendinning, Director, Sales and Marketing, Volkswagen Group South Africa. The Polo Vivo was the top-selling brand in the South African passenger car market from January to June 2012 with 16,139 units.

In related news, Volkswagen South Africa’s engine plant in Uitenhage has received an export order for 12,000 engines from China. The factory is scheduled to produce 107,200 engines in 2012, of which 50,200 engines are for the locally-built Polo 6R and Polo Vivo models. Of the remainder, 57,000 engines will be produced for three export markets, namely India, Mexico and China – Volkswagen Group South Africa’s biggest engine export market.

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, and is available as a three or five-door hatchback and four-door booted saloon with 74bhp/84bhp 1.4-litre and 103bhp 1.6-litre petrol engines. Costing from R106,100 for the base-model 1.4 hatchback to R153,200 for the top 1.6 Trendline Sedan, the 2012 Polo Vivo is based on the revised version of the Series 4 Polo (9N3), built from 2005 to 2009. The fifth-generation Polo (6R) is available as both a three and five-door hatchback, in addition to the traditionally-styled four-door Polo Sedan.

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The Polo has been a small car market staple for 37 years, and through that time it’s combined the space-efficient virtues of smaller cars with the refinement of much larger ones. And the latest GTI has certainly added some zip to the fifth-generation range. But the Polo has never been seen as an emergency vehicle (and therefore using some of that added zip) – until now, that is. Volkswagen South Africa’s latest 40-second TV commercial sees the Polo take on the role of fire truck, when a young fireman is left to oversee the arrival of a new tender, with unsurprisingly humourous results.

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News is coming in that the Polo R WRC rally car is to get a firebreathing extra-hot Global Rallycross Championship (GRC) sister. With 600bhp (twice that of the WRC car), erc24.com reports that Volkswagen Motorsport is interested in committing to both the 2013 series and the proposed European X Games events, which take place in Barcelona and Munich in May and June respectively. With door-to-door racing as opposed to timed stages, the Polo ‘R GRC’ could propel the model to further international motorsport recognition, arriving a few months after the start of the 2013 World Rally Championship calendar in which the ‘lower-powered’ WRC car will compete.

[Source: erc24.com]

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Both Ameya Walavalkar and Donovan Vaz took victories during the second Volkswagen Polo R Cup India race weekend at the Kari Motor Speedtrack, Coimbatore on 27-29 July. Pole-sitter Walavalkar won the first race convincingly ahead of Rahil Noorani and Mihir Dharkar. In the second race, winner Vaz led the pack. The remaining podium positions went to Sandeep Kumar and Walavalkar. Volkswagen India Motorsport runs the Polo R Cup India 2012 series in conjunction with JK Tyres. The field of 20 young racers drives identical and centrally prepared 1.4-litre TSI-engined, 178bhp Polo R Cup cars, new to the 2012 series.

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