Polo Vivo and Polo continue South African dominance for sixth month
Once again the Polo Vivo and new Polo have dominated the South African new passenger car market, in sales figures released for June 2012. The sixth consecutive month of doing so, the entry-level Polo Vivo sold 2633 units, while 2326 Polo 6Rs managed to find homes. In addition, Volkswagen Group South Africa reported total sales of 7754 units, equating to a market share of 21.6 per cent. During June 2012, a total of 35,918 new passenger cars were sold in South Africa, an increase of 3.2 per cent when compared to the reported sales in May 2012 and a growth of 14 per cent when compared to the same monthly period in 2011.
‘Volkswagen Group South Africa ended the first half of 2012 in a top position in the new passenger car market. In June, Polo Vivo was again the best-selling brand, and Polo was the second best-seller. Both brands maintained their leadership positions in the A0 segment in spite of introduction of new models in the most competitive segment in the country,’ said Mike Glendinning, Director, 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, 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 R106,100 for the base-model 1.4 hatchback to R153,200 for the top 1.6 Trendline Sedan, the 2012 Polo Vivo is based on the revised version of the Series 4 Polo (9N3), built from 2005 to 2009. The fifth-generation Polo (6R) is available as both a three and five-door hatchback, in addition to the traditionally-styled four-door Polo Sedan.
