PoloDriver

We’d like to extend season’s greetings to all the loyal readers of PoloDriver and thank you for your ongoing support. We hope you have a fun-filled and restful festive break and a healthy and prosperous new year. Join us next week when we’ll take a reflective look at the major Polo developments from 2010.

[Image: Matt Poolman]

Resurrecting a name from the Polo’s past, Volkswagen has asked legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld to be ‘campaign ambassador’ for the new Polo Style special edition model. Along with sister Golf Style variations, the latest special edition Polo includes many items of extra equipment for an all-inclusive price. Alloy wheels, fog lamps, and tinted rear windows are form part of just three of the extra kit packages available. A winter package, convenience package, and the electric ‘Light and Sight’ package can also be chosen. A new colour, Toffee Brown Metallic (we like it), distinctive ‘Style’ badging and 15-inch ‘Estrada’ alloy wheels also mark out the latest special edition Polo. The last Polo Style was based on the facelifted Series 2 coupé and hatchback models back in 1993.

Available from 23 December 2010, the Polo Style starts at €14.075 in Germany, saving €1885 over a similarly-equipped model if all the options were to be bought separately. A ‘Style-Plus’ package is also available which also adds a sunroof or panorama roof as well as new set of alloys, and the Polo Style is available with the mainstream model’s complete range of engines. Matthias Becker, Marketing Manager Germany, Volkswagen Cars stated that Lagerfeld was chosen as the spearhead of the campaign for his ‘style and humour’. VW has launched a large-scale advertising campaign for the special models with print ads, a TV spot, a nationwide poster campaign as well as online activities. Find out more about the special VW Style models here, and download a brochure here.

Following Hyundai and Suzuki, Volkswagen plans to turn its operations in India into a low-cost export hub. The Polo is central to this plan, with completely knocked-down kits and fully-built examples of the fifth-generation model to be exported from the second quarter of 2011. The Indian-export Polo will be sent to Africa, the Middle East, and South East Asia from Volkswagen’s Pune plant in Chakan. VW believes that the Indian-made Polo suits the markets of South East Asia and Africa well, as well as being pegged at a competitive price.

Earlier in the year, Volkswagen forecasted production of 50,000 Polos in India, with 35,000 of those for the domestic market. Exports made up the remainder of the production projections. Even the recently-launched fifth-generation Polo-based Vento saloon is said to be under export consideration. The Polo is in direct competition with cars such as the Ford Figo and Hyundai i20 both in India and also the export markets the company is targeting. The Indian-built Polo has just been launched in 1.6-litre, 104bhp form in addition to the 1.2-litre, 74bhp variants.

[Source: 9to6.com]

It might be winter, but here’s something to encourage the sun to shine. The Series 2F Polo built from 1990-1994 had arguably the most special editions than any other Polo generation, with over 17 at last count. But, ultimately the rarest and most bespoke of them all is the Treser ‘Open Air’, made by Treser in Ingolstadt, home of Audi. That’s not the only four-ringed connection; Walter Treser was an ex-Audi engineer, who after leaving the company, set up his own outfit making bespoke sports cars. So what was he doing turning Polos into two-seat cabriolets? Read on to find out at least some of the answers.

The Polo Treser ‘Open Air’ wasn’t cheap, with the conversion costing DM16,000 on top of the cost of the 55 and 75bhp basic Polo donor cars. All Polo Treser Cabrios were not only ordered from the Volkswagen dealer, but also received a full VAG-approved guarantee. The standard four-seat Polo coupé body was fitted with so many modified panels, it was almost as handbuilt as more luxurious prestige cars. Only the front wings, doors and bonnet remained as Volkswagen had intended, with the rear wings and tailgate modified to take the new rear deck. New colour-coded sportier bumpers were fitted front and rear, while a new ‘beak’-style front grille replaced the standard VW slatted item.

The new roof was similar to a targa in that the panel directly over the occupants’ heads could be removed completely, leaving a B-pillar type arrangement and glass rear window. This too could be taken off the car, leaving a smooth and sports car-like body. When the roof was in place, the Polo Treser ‘Open Air’ had something of a notchback appearance, an unfortunate by-product of leaving the body shell’s B-pillar support in situ. This could then be folded behind the seats, and whichever way you look at it, while not graceful, the Treser ‘Open Air’ did inject some style and glamour into the then-dated Polo range.

Most Tresers were based on Polo GTs, and while 10 of the 290 produced were produced at Treser itself, the remaining 280 were converted by a firm in Austria. All Treser Cabrios were built between 1991 and 1993. Nowadays you’ll be lucky to see one, but one other question remains. Were Volkswagen inspired by the Treser Polo ‘Open Air’ for their special-edition Series 3 Polo namesake from the mid-1990s which featured an electrically-operated rollback-style canvas roof? We suspect not, but as with other aspects of Volkswagen Polo history, the Treser ‘Open Air’ is just one small and interesting part.

[Source: Treser-Club.com. Special thanks to Carsten Nitzsche]

The fifth-generation Polo and its saloon counterpart the Vento, have proved popular in the emerging Indian car market, with both models currently experiencing 2-3 month waiting lists. Volkswagen plans to increase production to cope with the larger than expected demand for the cars, as Volkswagen Group Sales India (Passenger Cars) Director, Neeraj Garg explained: ‘Presently, we have at least two to three months of waiting period for the Polo and Vento. We are ramping-up capacity at our Chakan facility in Maharashtra to meet demand.

‘We have started a second shift to scale-up production to meet the high demand for the Polo and Vento. We are gradually ramping-up production, but not rapidly, as we do not want to compromise on quality,’ Garg continued. In November 2010 Volkswagen sold 4613 Polo and Vento vehicles and sales have already reached 26,000 total units for January to November 2010. The German company expects to achieve the full annual production capacity of 1.1 lakh units at the Chakan factory by the end of 2011, and currently has 61 retailers in India.