PoloDriver

It won’t come as a surprise to regular readers, but the Polo Vivo and Polo 6R were announced as 2012’s top-selling cars in South Africa today. Both locally produced, the Polo Vivo topped the sales charts, with 34,873 units sold, while 28,667 fifth-generation (current) Polos found new owners. The pair accounted for a staggering 14.4 per cent of the total South African passenger car market. Volkswagen Group South Africa ended 2012 as the market leader of the passenger car segment in the country for the fourth consecutive year with the total sales of 99,106 units (Volkswagen: 82,363, Audi: 16,743) and overall market share of 22.3 per cent. Continuing its massive success story, the Polo Vivo was once again the best-selling car in South Africa for last month, with 2307 units sold.

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, and is available as a three or five-door hatchback and four-door booted saloon with 74bhp/84bhp 1.4-litre and 103bhp 1.6-litre petrol engines. Costing from R108,300 for the base-model 1.4 hatchback to R154,700 for the top 1.6 Trendline Sedan, the 2012 Polo Vivo is based on the revised version of the Series 4 Polo (9N3). The fifth-generation Polo (6R) is available as a three and five-door hatchback, plus the more traditionally-styled four-door Polo Sedan.