Massive milestone cause for celebration
The Volkswagen plant in Kariega has been producing vehicles for the local market and export since the late 70's. Building mainly small passenger cars, the plant has rolled everything from the Beetle to the venerable Mk1 Golf off of its line. Back in 2009, Golf Mk1 model was ushered into retirement and full-scale concentration was placed on the Polo and Polo Vivo nameplates.
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Since its introduction way back in 1996, the Polo has replaced the Beetle and Golf as the people's car in South Africa, very often being the first port of call for new drivers and being the aspirational car that most teens want to get once they receive their driver's license. This has meant that demand for the Polo and its entry-level sibling the Vivo has remained high year on year and why VW can now celebrate building 2 million Polo units in Gqbherha.
6 December 2022 saw the 2 millionth unit of Polo, an Ascot Grey left-hand drive model destined for export, roll out the door. Volkswagen South Africa can be proud of the achievement as at the time Kariega had manufactured 1 626 816 Polos (1 065 718 for export and 561 098 for the local market) and 373 184 Polo Vivos.
Production manager, Ulrich Schwabe said " This is an excellent milestone with which to end off the year and my gratitude goes out to every employee because we would not be able to celebrate this milestone, and many others we’ve had this year, if not for their consistent hard work and dedication. This achievement belongs to all the members of the VWSA family.”
VWSA currently exports the Polo, built in Kariega, to 38 countries, building this vehicle for all right-hand-drive markets and supplementing production for left-hand-drive markets. The Kariega plant is also the sole manufacturer worldwide of the Polo GTI, and builds the popular Polo Vivo for the local market.
