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The second round of the South African National Rally Championship took place last weekend (21-22 April) in Mpumalanga, and after two days of hard competition, the BP Volkswagen rally team took its first podium of the season. The Sasol Rally saw Hans Weijs Jnr and Bjorn Degandt take their new Polo S2000 to third place – on their second ever event in South Africa. ‘We were pushing at maximum on Friday,’ said Weijs. ‘We did lose a bit of time with one or two issues, but that was fixed and and we got a good result. The team did excellent work on the car and we pushed very hard for our first podium.’

Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries claimed seventh in the S2000 class, a reward for surviving a tough weekend. The pair were robbed several minutes with two punctures, and despite claiming a number of second and third place stage finishes during the two days of competition, there wasn’t enough distance for them to close the gap. Teammates Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson fought their way into 11th place by the second last stage of the event, also having lost time due to punctures. The pair were unable to make the start line of the final stage of the rally and were sadly unable to complete the event.

The S2000 Challenge, a new category in the championship for the 2012 season, saw Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin claim the class victory in their BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000 – finishing sixth overall, just four minutes and 32 seconds behind the overall event leaders. Zulu and Peskin were ninth at the end of stage one, climbing to seventh by the end of the first day and moving into sixth just three stages from the finish. The pair produced a consistently strong performance throughout the event to finish 20 seconds ahead of their nearest class rivals. Meanwhile, BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600 pair Megan Verlaque and Hilton Auffray finished the Sasol Rally in second place in the S1600 class.

‘It has been a very satisfying result after a week of hard work,’ said Mike Rowe, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport. ‘A podium result is very rewarding at this point in the development of the new BP Volkswagen Polo S2000, as is having five Volkswagen cars finish in the top 10. Add an S2000 Challenge victory and three podium places in the S1600 class, and it has been a good rally weekend for Volkswagen Motorsport.’

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Launched in March 2010, the Polo Vivo continues to dominate the South African passenger car market. Selling over 56,000 units in two years, it is the only locally-produced entry-level model on the market, and has been the top-selling car in South Africa for the past 18 months. Replacing the hugely popular Mk 1 Golf-based Citi Golf, the A0 segment Polo Vivo has both created jobs and a new supplier park near the Uitenhage factory in which it is built. Nearly 70% of Polo Vivo parts are sourced from local suppliers.

Government fleet buyers as well as rental companies list the Polo Vivo as their car of choice, due, in large part, to its ‘South Africaness’. ‘The success of Polo Vivo in the past two years has been overwhelming. Polo Vivo is a unique offering that we introduced two years ago with the aim of providing our customers with an affordable and a reliable product,’ said Mike Glendinning, Director, Sales and Marketing, Volkswagen Group South Africa.

‘The cornerstones of the Polo Vivo Brand are affordability, proven German product quality, safety, space and comfort. It represents excellent value for money without compromising on core product essentials that customers expect from Volkswagen. In short, Polo Vivo customers are getting an A-class car for the price of an A0 car, a difficult proposition to ignore in this heavily contested segment of the market. As if that were not enough, Polo Vivo also has the class-leading residual value in its segment in the used car market. This ensures that the cost of ownership over a three-year cycle makes Polo Vivo one of the cheapest cars on the South African market to currently own,’ added Glendinning.

The Polo Vivo 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 Polo Vivo is based on the revised version of the Series 4 Polo (9N3), built from 2005 to 2009. In the past year, Volkswagen South Africa has introduced additional exciting derivatives to the Polo Vivo range to broaden its appeal, including the sporty 3-door Polo Vivo GT (above).

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The Polo is among the most secure vehicle winners announced by Australia’s National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC) last week. Volkswagen took top honours in four of the six classes, the Polo, Golf and Tiguan taking the first prize in their respective categories, while the Passat came joint first in the medium car group. NMVTRC chairman, David Morgan, said: ‘While there are some luxury vehicles amongst the winners, the inclusion of the many affordable cars, with the Polo starting at around $20,000 clearly demonstrates that good security is within reach of everyday motorists and that other manufacturers should be aspiring to matching these levels of design.’

Tough vehicle security tests included expert competitor analysis, and credits for entry system security, engine immobiliser effectiveness, and vehicle identification. Alarms, body stamping, boot access, doors, glazing, ignition locks, and micro dotting were considerations which helped the Volkswagens distinguish themselves as the most secure cars in their class. Volkswagen Australia Managing Director, Ms Anke Koeckler, commented: ‘We’re delighted to accept not one, but four awards for the most secure cars in Australia. These awards further demonstrate our commitment to offer vehicles with class-leading security as well as unparalleled drivability, at a price to suit every motorist.’

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We thought we’d heard the end of the story, but the Polo R rumour book has opened again, although once more, it’s not good news. Recent reports state that the road-going Polo R was to be based on the limited edition, 252bhp left-hand drive-only Audi A1 quattro. That car costs £41,020, which would certainly price a similarly-expensive Polo out of the market. Volkswagen has reportedly realised this, admitting that the number of potential buyers for the car would be very limited. The Polo GTI only makes up 1 per cent of Polo sales in the UK.

‘Producing a Polo R road car is one possibility, but we need customers for such a car. Maybe it is easier for Audi than VW to market a powerful, all-wheel-drive city car,’ Volkswagen’s board member for development, Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, has reportedly stated. ‘If we make a Polo for WRC homologation, then that makes sense. But in the basic Polo, we don’t have the customers to make a R version of the car,’ he continued. A Polo R road car would make sense from a WRC marketing point of view, but for now it appears as unlikely as ever.

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Following success in India, Russia and South Africa, the latest market to launch a traditional booted version of the fifth-generation Polo is Malaysia. On sale yesterday at RM99,888 (excluding registration and insurance charges), the notchback is taking the lead from the Russian and South African markets and is named Polo Sedan. Made in India and exported to Malaysia, only one version is available, ‘Polo Sedan’, with a 1.6-litre, 104bhp petrol engine, once again borrowed from other markets. A six-speed Tiptronic traditional torque-converter gearbox is the only transmission available.

Marked out from the Polo hatchback by chrome external trim finishes and of course that elegantly-styled luggage boot, the Polo Sedan comes in six colours and with 15-inch alloy wheels. Leather-trimmed interior fixtures help the luxury feel, while equipment includes four electric windows, multifunction display, music system, four airbags and an ‘Intelligent Crash Response System’, which automatically unlocks the doors and switches on the hazard lights when an accident is detected. Local CKD (complete knock-down) production would depend on the new Polo Sedan’s success in Malaysia.

[Source: Indian Autos Blog and Paul Tan]

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