Polo Vivo and Polo dominate April 2012’s South African small car market
Volkswagen Group South Africa has once again seen its small car stars light up the market, with the Polo Vivo and Polo 6R dominating their segment last month. Continuing the market dominance shown in recent months, the Polo Vivo was once again the top-selling passenger car in South Africa with 2256 units sold, while the latest fifth-generation Polo shifted 1766 examples. Overall, Volkswagen Group South Africa has kept its top position in the passenger car market with total sales of 6461 units and a market share of 21.9 per cent.
‘Volkswagen Group South Africa maintained its top position in the passenger car market for the fourth consecutive month in 2012. Our two top-selling Brands, Polo Vivo and Polo continued their market dominance in their respective segments,’ said Mike Glendinning, Director, Sales and Marketing, Volkswagen Group South Africa. ‘In spite of the passenger car market decline, the encouraging fact is that the selling rate of the new cars per day in April decreased by only 10.5 per cent when compared to the selling rate in March, when the seasonal analysis of the selling rate would have indicated an expected 13 per cent decline,’ he added.
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 104bhp 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.
