Volkswagen commercial vehicles expands into Polo Vivo Xpress hatch panel van

Volkswagen Polo Vivo Xpress hatch panel van

What do you get if you cross a Polo Vivo hatch and a panel van?  A Polo Vivo Xpress. 

This hatch panel van is a smart way to use a delivery vehicle which looks like, drives like and costs like an affordable budget hatch.  Starting with the Vivo hatch (exclusive to South Africa, this refreshed version of the previous generation Polo is SA’s best-selling passenger car) and converting the rear into a friendly panel van is the Vivo Xpress – a hatch panel van.

Great business plan

This new product is a way for Volkswagen to extend the Vivo success across to the Volkswagen Commercial vehicles division, and giving VW Commercial a new entry-point model, fitting in below the fresh Caddy panel van launched in SA a few months ago.

As we know, if a business buyer is happy with the service received from a specific brand of vehicle, the owner / fleet buyer will likely keep replacing and extending the commercial vehicles within the same brand.

This is a great business plan from VWSA Commercial – currently there are 3 VW commercial vehicle panel van products, namely VW Caddy panel van, VW Transporter panel van and Volkswagen Crafter panel van – if you already operate any of these, you are likely to buy down to get the smallest, nippiest, cheapest VW panel van too, and that’s where the Vivo Xpress delivers.

Also, if you are a start-up business or any size enterprise looking for a small panel van, the Vivo Xpress is ready to do the job.

The conversion

VW kept it pure and simple – take a base-spec Vivo hatch 1.4 Conceptline, and replace the rear seat with rich brown hard wooden flooring to line the load bay, just as you can option on bigger VW vans.  Fit a protective vertical grid to prevent cargo entering the driver / front passenger area, and raise the suspension by 15mm (as per the Vivo Maxx) to allow for 519kg payload and 1060 litre volume capacity.

The 55kW engine is not lazy, and does a good job around town, and quiet and competent to do inter-city deliveriess, too.  Consumption from the 1.4 petrol engine is claimed 8.1 in urban cycle, 5.1 on the open road, and 6.2 combined.  It is a delivery van, so expect 8-9 l/100 km during express deliveries.

The rear windows stay as is, with no conversion to panels, so it does not have the usual metal canvas space for panel van branding.

Standard features are retained from the Vivo, including ABS brakes, dual airbags, remote central locking with alarm immobiliser, and air conditioning.  The steel wheels are without covers, which is what you need to avoid untidy-looking scuff marks which happen to alloy wheels – the steel wheels are practical and business-like.  A 3-year / 120 000 km warranty is standard.

Optional features include cruise control, CD/radio, 14-inch alloy wheels, and a rough road package which consists of a front underbody guard and heavy duty shocks.  Service and maintenance plans are available.

The other hatch panel van on the market is the Chevrolet Spark Pronto, which costs less, but is much smaller and not of the same interior quality nor driving comfort as the VW Xpress.

Sign on the dotted line

A business owner has a set of good news:  the Volkswagen Polo Vivo Xpress retails for R 168 100, but because it is homologated as a commercial vehicle, VAT-registered businesses can claim back the VAT tax, so effectively it costs R 147 456.  There’s more – being a panel van, it is also exempt from the R 3078 emissions tax its passenger counterpart needs paid.

This low purchase cost and VW commercial know-how make the Vivo Xpress ideal for those (even more) express deliveries.  Sign on the dotted line.