Polo Vivo’s South African sales reign continues through March 2011
The Polo Vivo’s reign as the best-selling car in South Africa continues. Figures released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) reveal that 2768 Polo Vivos found buyers, well over a third of Volkswagen’s total sales figures of 7292 units for March 2011. The latest fifth-generation Polo 6R – recently announced as the 2011 South African Car of the Year – did well, too, selling 1823 units. And all this Volkswagen success in a market which increased by 3.3% when compared to February 2011. Figures faired even better than in March 2010 – 35,167 new passenger cars took to South African roads in the same month this year, up 23.6%. Year-to-date sales of new passenger cars in 2011 are 25.5% above the same first quarter sales period in 2010. With both valuable Polo brands posting such impressive sales figures, Volkswagen South Africa is a truly dominant force in the local small car market.
‘Volkswagen Group South Africa captured 20.7% of the passenger market in March. Polo Vivo was once again the top seller. Polo, sold 1823 units during March, giving the VW brand a dominant share of the small car, entry segment,’ said Mike Glendinning, Director of Sales and Marketing, Volkswagen Group South Africa. The Polo Vivo was launched in March 2010 as an entry-level model for the South African market, replacing the Series 1 Golf-based CitiGolf. Available as both a three or five-door hatchback and four-door booted saloon with 74bhp/84bhp 1.4-litre and 103bhp 1.6-litre petrol engines, two trim levels are available: base and Trendline. Costing from R104,065 for the 1.4 hatchback to R156,220 for the 1.6 Trendline Sedan, the 2011 Polo Vivo is based on the revised version of the Series 4 Polo, built from 2005 to 2009.
