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Volkswagen Navarra celebrated a production anniversary when the six-millionth Polo to be built there rolled off the production line last month. The landmark car, a Candy White Polo BlueMotion 1.2 TDI was produced on 15 March. Yolanda Barcina, chief official of the northern Spanish region of Navarra; Hubert Waltl, Director of Production and Logistics of the Volkswagen brand; and Patrick Danau, Volkswagen Navarra plant manager, handed the keys to the new owner.

Waltl said: ‘The success story of the Polo is also a success story for Volkswagen Navarra. For nearly 30 years, the team at Pamplona has made this award-winning bestseller. It has set quality, comfort, and finally, sustainability standards for years in the small car segment.’ Danau thanked the staff: ‘Only a dedicated and highly qualified team can continuously produce excellent products. The six-millionth Polo produced from Navarra is a collaborative effort of all the 4700 employees at the site.’

Production of the Polo started at Pamplona in 1984 with the Series 2. The European best-seller has sold 11 million examples over the past 37 years, and is the number one small car in Europe. In Western Europe alone, more than 340,000 Polos were sold in 2011. The recent international popularity of the Polo is also reflected in its global production locations: the car is currently manufactured at Volkswagen plants in Africa, China, Europe, India, Russia, South America, as well as Spain. Its most popular markets are Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain.

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Motoring website www.honestjohn.co.uk has revealed the top 10 cheapest and most fuel-efficient new cars currently on sale in the UK. The latest of its Data Bank features, the economy-minded list includes the 80.7mpg Polo BlueMotion 1.2 TDI makes the chart at number seven, with its in-house cousins the 83.3mpg Skoda Fabia Greenline II and 80.7mpg SEAT Ibiza Ecomotive at numbers four and five respectively. The first-placed car is the Kia Rio Ecodynamics, which manages a quoted official fuel consumption figure of 88.3mpg.

All of the cars in the www.honestjohn.co.uk list are fitted with diesel engines and offer free VED and congestion charge exemption. All fuel economy figures quoted are the official manufacturers’ tallies, and the website states that drivers are reporting different economy figures in the Honest John Real Life Fuel Economy Register, which averages reader fuel economy submissions. The latest £14,860 Polo BlueMotion was launched in October 2009 and is powered by a 1.2-litre TDI engine developing 74bhp, and 91g/km of CO2. It also features Start/Stop and battery regeneration and various aerodynamic aids and low rolling resistance tyres.

The Honest John top 10 cheapest and most fuel-efficient new cars
1 Kia Rio Ecodynamics: 88.3mpg
2 Smart ForTwo CDI: 85.6mpg
3 Citroen C3 e-HDI Airdream: 83.1mpg
4 Skoda Fabia Greenline II: 83.1mpg
5 SEAT Ibiza Ecomotive: 80.7mpg
6 Vauxhall Corsa Ecoflex: 80.7mpg
7 Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion: 80.7mpg
8 Alfa Romeo MiTo JTDm-2: 78.5mpg
9 Citroen DS3 e-HDI Airdream: 78.5mpg
10 Ford Fiesta Econetic: 78.5mpg

[Source: www.honestjohn.co.uk]

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Volkswagen South Africa has announced a sponsorship of two vehicles to the Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT). A Polo BlueMotion and Touareg BlueMotion Technology will assist DICT with beach rescues, transporting researchers and volunteers, as well as the general running of the organisation. Dyer Island is a 20-hectare nature reserve in Gansbaai and is managed by CapeNature. It is a rich breeding ground for birds, most significantly the endangered African penguin, and is classified an important bird area by Birdlife International. Dyer Island’s surrounding waters are home to African penguins, great white sharks, seals, dolphins and whales – otherwise known as the ‘Marine Big 5’.

The Dyer Island Conservation Trust plays a pivotal role in the research and conservation of the animals in the Gansbaai area and has partnered with leading universities, the Department of Environmental Affairs and other Non-Governmental Organisations. One of their main efforts is focused on supporting education to the community. ‘Volkswagen’s vision is to become a company with meaning and impact in terms of environmental consciousness, and an industry leader in environmental responsibility. We believe our partnership and support of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust will play a critical role in assisting them to conserve the rich marine life in the Gansbaai area. Our sponsorship forms part of our “Think Blue” initiative by which we try to implement small changes that will make big differences in the future,’ said Mike Glendinning, Director, Sales and Marketing at Volkswagen Group South Africa.

[Source: Volkswagen South Africa]

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On 5 August, Volkswagen launched the latest take on its ‘Think Blue’ campaign, highlighting the benefits of sustainable mobility. Featuring media for print, online and TV, the latest initiatives follow the company’s ‘Think Blue’ website launch back in May. As well as promoting VW’s latest efficient vehicles and ranges, the site also gives tips on saving fuel, and information on the various global ‘Think Blue’ projects. The Australian 1-litre Challenge for example sets out to see which drivers can extract the most miles from a Polo TDI.

‘We have set ourselves the ambitious target of becoming the greenest automaker. Our products and the “Think Blue” campaign demonstrate we have what it takes to achieve that,’ Luca de Meo, Director of Marketing, Volkswagen Group and the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, explained. With ‘Think Blue’, Volkswagen is addressing how individual mobility and sustainable action can be harmonised, including eco-friendly products as well as resource-efficient production methods. The TV commercial (above) creates a symphony on sustainability using the unusual presentation technique of ‘music painting’. The 60-second spot tells the story of fuel efficiency at Volkswagen, from ‘Think Small’ to ‘Think Blue.’

Volkswagen states that the name ‘Think Blue’ picks up the thread of the legendary ‘Think Small’ advertising slogan of the famous 1960s campaign which highlighted the way the Volkswagen Beetle democratised mobility, most notably in the US. Going forward, Volkswagen intends to maintain its pioneering role of making efficient and sustainable mobility accessible to everyone. That includes environmental developments such as the fuel-saving BlueMotion Technologies and electro-mobility as well as new mobility concepts. Above all, though, the German company says that the ‘Think Blue’ campaign is primarily about joining up with customers and everyone else interested in a change of mindset towards sustainable mobility.

[Source: Volkswagen]

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The Polo BlueMotion 1.2 TDI won its class at the 2011 Total Economy Run in South Africa last weekend. Competing in the diesel engines up to 1400cc class, driver Natie Ferreira and his co-driver Christo Ferreira achieved a winning fuel consumption figure of 4.44 litres/100km. The duo were also placed second overall in the diesel category. The official quoted imperial fuel consumption figure for the Polo BlueMotion is 80.7mpg. The 35th running of the 2011 Total Economy Run took place in and around the Thaba ‘Nchu, Free State. A Volkswagen won the event overall, too – the winning team of Eddie Bielfeld and Brian Page squeezing 4.39 litres/km from their 1.6 TDI-powered Golf BlueMotion.

The Polo BlueMotion was launched in South Africa in December 2010, and features a state of the art 1.2-litre, 74bhp/55kW TDI engine with 133lb ft/180Nm of torque at 4200rpm, a top speed of 107mph (173km/h) and emissions of 91g/km. It has many aerodynamic body styling modifications which differ from the standard fifth-generation Polo hatchback and help cut fuel consumption including a larger rear spoiler, side skirts, blanked-off front grille, front and rear skirts, 5.5J x 15 ‘Greenland’ alloy wheels with low-rolling resistance tyres and special ‘BlueMotion’ badging. The Polo BlueMotion is available in South Africa from R178,100 and was first launched in Europe in 2007, in fourth-generation Polo guise.

In other news, Volkswagen’s BlueMotion range has won the inaugural Green Award from UK magazine Auto Express. A range of innovations that help to cut the cost of motoring by making every drop of fuel take you further, Auto Express stated that, ‘Simplicity is the key to the BlueMotion line-up, as clever technology such as stop-start and brake regeneration combines with measures like low-rolling-resistance tyres and optimised aerodynamics to bring fuel-sipping economy and low emissions to the mass market. The best thing about BlueMotion is how few compromises it demands. Sealing the deal is the fact it delivers genuine gains for business users and private buyers, as well as the environment.’

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