In its newest generation, the VW Polo has sold 7,976 units in South Africa in the six months between when it first went on sale in January, to the end of June 2022.
At an average of 1,329 models rolling out of dealership doors per month, the VW is undoubtedly one of the most popular cars in the country and it has been so for quite some time.
It regularly outperforms well-liked competitors including the Hyundai i20 and Suzuki Baleno, and it also holds its ground against other in-demand vehicles such as the Isuzu D-Max and Ford EcoSport.
Since the start of 2022, the VW Polo’s sales have tracked as follows, according to Naamsa’s new-vehicle sales figures:
- January – 1,455 units
- February – 1,186 units
- March – 1,430 units
- April – 1,320 units
- May – 1,124 units
- June – 1,461 units
Thanks to these impressive numbers, the hatchback has remained within the top 10 best-selling cars for the country this entire year, its worst placement yet being seventh.
South Africa’s love affair with the Polo
Since 1996, the Polo has been built in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape; to date this factory being one of only two in the entire world that produces this range of vehicles.
In the 26-odd years that it has been assembled in South Africa it has gone through four generations and by 7 July 2022, the plant had already put together over 4,202,260 vehicles.
This means the compact hatch accounts for roughly 12% of all the vehicles built by VW in South Africa since 1948, said the company.
According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s statistics, this VW also has the highest market share out of all the other cars on the roads, with 17% out of the total of over 11,546,000 vehicles in the country being a Polo-badged model.
It is quite the popular choice for global car buyers, too, as around 80% of the last 500,000 models that were assembled were sent to more than 38 overseas markets.
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