PoloDriver

The ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup may have been usurped by the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup in Germany, but the Series 4 Polo is still enjoying a successful motorsport career in, among other places, South Africa. Last weekend, Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson took their Polo S2000 to victory in the 2010 Sasol Rally, the third round of the 2010 Sasol South African Rally Championship. Scoring the best time in six of the 16 special stages, the duo were 30 seconds ahead of second-placed Johnny Gemmell and his Toyota Auris S2000. Rounding off the 2010 Sasol Rally top three was the fellow Polo S2000 pair of Jan Habig and ex-Dakar co-driver Ralph Pitchford.

The Sasol victory is the latest in a line of podium places for the Polo S2000 in 2010. Kuun and Hodgson finished second in the 2010 Toyota Dealer Rally on 26-27 March, 5 seconds behind the Ford Fiesta S2000 of Conrad Rautenbach and Peter Marsh, while Habig and Pitchford’s car didn’t complete the event. In total, 12 Polos contested the rally, in the A6, A7 and S2000 classes. Meanwhile, in the first event of the season, the 2010 Total Tour Natal Rally on 6-7 March, the Polo S2000 of 2009 champions Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries took the top spot, with Kuun and Hodgson’s car very close behind. Habig and Pitchford’s Polo S2000 came in eighth.

The factory-backed 2010 Polo S2000s are competing in BP Ultimate livery until later in the season, when a squad of new shape Polos are rumoured to appear, possibly on the Volkswagen Rally in July. Although BP has ended its sponsorship of the official Volkswagen trio, it remains as fuel supplier. The next round of the 2010 Sasol South African Rally Championship is the Rally of South Africa on 28 and 29 May, which will be held in the Ermelo region of Mpumalanga.

[Images: QuickPic]

On 19 March, to spectacular fanfare, Volkswagen formally launched the new Polo Vivo at the Sun City Superbowl. The company gathered Volkswagen fans from all over South Africa and treated them to a concert to celebrate the new car’s arrival. Not only were there pyrotechnics a plenty, but also a ‘flying’ Polo Vivo precariously suspended from the 6000-seat Superbowl’s ceiling. Among the acts entertaining the ecstatic crowd were Big NUZ, Freshlyground, Kelly Clarkson, The Parlotones, TKZee and Westlife. Click here for more pictures.

[Images: CelebrateVW]

Now that the marketing machine has swung into action, Volkswagen South Africa has aired the first new TV commercial for the entry-level Polo Vivo. Created by Ogilvy Cape Town and with ‘So much to celebrate,’ the 60-second spot plays on the feelgood factor of the car that Volkswagen wants to use to capture potential Polo Vivo owners. The company will be hoping that, like the on-screen bystanders in the spot, prospective Vivo drivers will be carried along by a wave of euphoria for its new baby…

Volkswagen South Africa has finally updated its website to list the new Polo Vivo among its model range. The new entry level Series 4F Polo/Polo Playa-based Volkswagen will, the company says, ‘set new benchmarks in its category for affordability, quality, safety, space and comfort.’ The Polo Vivo’s mission is a very simple one: to make motoring accessible to more South Africans (notably first-time buyers and pensioners, who may well then graduate to the new Polo, natch).

The hatchback and sedan are on sale now with 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre engines, starting at R101,500 for the base-model 1.4. It’s a popular car, too, with demand outstripping supply; Volkswagen South Africa says that 71,500 have been ‘exported’ so far (from a 50,000 target), the highest ever recorded. ‘So much to celebrate’ is the marketing message, and with that in mind, we thought we’d let you know that both wallpapers and a screensaver for your computer desktop are available to herald the Polo Vivo’s arrival. Preview them below and grab them here (click on ‘Wallpapers’).

We don’t mind admitting that this was a surprise. For 25 years, the entry point into Volkswagen South Africa’s (VWSA) range was the Citi Golf, a heavily revised version of the Series 1 Golf. With the original Golf’s lifespan running from 1974 to 1983, VWSA decided to keep building the car it had been manufacturing locally since 1978, turning it into an inexpensive locally-made affordable base model. The Citi Golf did extremely well and in January 2010, more than a quarter of a century since it was first launched, the final car went on sale. Last week its successor was unveiled and, to be honest, it wasn’t what we were expecting.

The Polo Vivo is the company’s new entry-level car in the affordable A0 segment. Based on a heavily-revised and facelifted Series 4 (9N3) Polo, the newcomer gets a new slimline front grille and sculpted bumpers, all bearing more than a passing resemblance to those fitted to the new fifth-generation (6R) Polo launched in 2009. Other changes include the removal of the side rubbing strips and relocated side repeaters which now sit in the headlamps, moved down from the door mirrors.

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