500,000 Polo’s out of SA factory

Volkswagen Group South Africa celebrated a major milestone when they rolled the 500,000th Volkswagen Polo off the assembly line in their renowned factory in Uitenhage near Port Elizabeth in South Africa. The car, a Flash Red Cross Polo is on its way to its first owner in Austria.
A Flash Red, Cross Polo destined for a customer in Austria was the 500 000th Volkswagen Polo to be manufactured at the Uitenhage plant, in South Africa.
A delegation comprising 60 German business people, politicians and academics were in the Eastern Cape to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the twinning of Lower Saxony and the Eastern Cape and took the opportunity to visit Volkswagen’s manufacturing facility in Uitenhage.
The Uitenhage factory supplies the Polo hatchback to all four-door, right-hand-drive markets, including Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Britain, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.
“We have also exported over 390,000 vehicles since 2009, with the Uitenhage plant being the worldwide sole supplier of the Cross Polo derivative which coincidentally is the 500,000th vehicle to be manufactured today,” said the Managing Director of Volkswagen Group South Africa, Thomas Schaefer.
“Since being launched in the African market in January 2010, the Polo has consistently been the second best-selling passenger model after Polo Vivo,” he added.
The Volkswagen Polo built at the Uitenhage manufacturing factory has received the 2011 South African Car of the Year award. The first Polo was manufactured in Germany 40 years ago.