Kariega (Uitenhage) – Less than five years since the launch of the current Polo model,
Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) celebrated the half-million mark of this vehicle being built in
Kariega.
The 500 000th unit of the current
Polo recently rolled off the production line at the
Kariega plant. This milestone follows about four and a half years after the launch of the current
Polo in January 2018, and a few months after the facelifted
Polo was introduced to the local market at the start of 2022.
This special vehicle, a white left-hand-drive
GTI which will be exported to France, also marked the 4 202 260th vehicle built at the
Kariega plant to date – which means the current
Polo model accounts for almost 12% of all vehicles built here since 1948.
Of the 500 000
Polo units, 90 004 were built for the local market and 409 996 were destined for export markets. Included in this is 77 397 units of the facelifted
Polo.
This milestone follows on the heels of
VWSA celebrating the 1-millionth Polo built for export in May this year.
VWSA currently exports the
Polo built in
Kariega to 38 countries, building this vehicle for all right-hand-drive markets and supplementing production for left-hand-drive markets. The
Kariega plant is also the sole manufacturer worldwide of the
Polo GTI.
“As
VWSA and one of only two plants worldwide building this vehicle, we are proud to achieve the half-million mark,” said Ulrich Schwabe, Production Director at
VWSA. “Despite difficult circumstances in the industry and the global community, the
VWSA family has persevered to bring us this milestone. Just as we faced the challenges as a team, we will celebrate this achievement – and many more to follow - as a team.”
