VW has an impressive facility right here in South Africa, producing the fan-favourite Polo and Polo Vivo hatchbacks.
Based in the town of Kariega (formerly Uitenhage) in the Eastern Cape, the factory pumps out thousands of cars every month which are shipped to markets all around the world.
The carmaker recently held a launch event for the updated Polo Vivo on its home turf, where we were given a brief glimpse into the painstaking process that goes into each and every model that rolls off the factory floor.
A sight to behold
Driving from Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) to Kariega, the first thing you’ll see upon cresting the final hill is Volkswagen’s massive assembly plant, which towers over the rest of the town with several large buildings adorned with blue-and-white VW logos.
Our day visit for the Polo Vivo launch brought us to the AutoPavilion, the welcome centre where the public is free to visit the company’s facility for guided tours showing how the Polo is built.
Sadly, the tight schedule of the day’s events meant that we didn’t have time to go on a full tour of the grounds, but we did have a chance to sample the AutoPavilion’s impressive collection of VW models throughout the ages.
One of the first exhibits is “Jan,” the oldest Beetle in the country dating all the way back to 1949, which the automaker took ownership of in 1971 and eventually restored to full working condition according to its original standard specifications.
Extensive information boards around the displays detail the company’s history in South Africa dating back several decades, highlighting the work done on iconic models like the Beetle, Kombi, and Type 3 sedan.
It’s not all VW history however, as the carmaker’s relationship with Audi goes all the way back to 1964, and so you can expect all manner of trinkets in the AutoPavilion that bear the Four Rings logo as well as that of the People’s Car.
Of course, it was in the 1980s that the legendary Citi Golf was born, which was built right here in Mzansi and went on to sell a staggering 370,000 units over the span of 25 years.
Naturally, a few Citi Golfs were on display, including a MK1 Golf GTI, which as VW proudly claims on an adjacent mural, helped to define the genre of hot hatchbacks as we know them today.
Included in the gallery was a one-off Citi Golf experiment with access to 200kW, which is more than what the eighth-generation Golf GTI has under the hood today.
Of course, after the Citi Golf came the Polo and Polo Vivo, which brings us to where the factory is today.
Moving on from the AutoPavilion, we travelled to the site’s new airbag deployment centre, which was constructed between June 2022 and February 2024.
The manufacturer invested R20 million towards its airbag assessment wing, which now runs 72 tests per week (60 seats, 10 dashboards, and 2 curtain airbags).
We were given a live demonstration of the Vivo’s new front-side airbags in action as one exploded from its seat and expanded upwards in less than a second.
The idea is that these can be quickly deployed to shield a front occupant from damage coming from the side, similar to the curtain airbags used on larger vehicles.
Front-side airbag seconds after deploying in VW’s new testing centre
Employees also took us on an in-depth walkthrough of all the work that’s been put into the latest iteration of the Polo Vivo, using a pre-assembled model to illustrate every component in detail.
This time around, the hatchback has new “boomerang” black inserts around the lower grille fog lights, which is a trait that will henceforth be unique to the Vivo.
To create the new bumper, the crew meticulously rendered a 3D illustration using a heat map that can reveal minute deviations in the shape of just 0.2mm.
When the design was complete, they then had to 3D print the bumper in stages to create a proof-of-concept mould that shows all of the pieces fit together nicely before production could begin in earnest.
The tour also highlighted the Vivo’s new “Ubomi” alloy wheels (named after the Xhosa word for “Life”), a tailgate displaying all of the car’s colour options, and the four different seats used in each of the Polo’s trim levels.
We also had a quick glance at one of the facility’s production floors, which featured Polos in varying stages of assembly.
Volkswagen Group South Africa Production Plant
Loading ...
