First Oz look: Polo goes Classic
BY MARTON PETTENDY | 2nd Mar 2004
On sale here in April at a price of $23,990, the 280mm-longer sedan version of the popular German-built Polo hatch features a 74kW 1.6-litre engine and 432 litres of storage space – 182 litres more than the hatch. A generous 1127 litres is available with the rear seats folded.
Considered a practice run for Volkswagen China, export of the Shanghai-built Polo Classic has stirred so much interest in China that general manager press and PR for Volkswagen Group Australia, Brad Leach, could barely find time to present it between Chinese television interviews.
The historic new model, press material for which proudly bears the “Made in China” slogan, will come standard with semi-automatic air-conditioning, ABS with EBD, twin front and side airbags and an eight-speaker CD sound system.
This could be the first of many Volkswagen products imported from China - in addition to the Polo sedan, other Volkswagen Audi Group products manufactured in China include Passat, Bora, Golf, Touran and Audi’s A4 and A6 models.
“Australia is roughly the same time zone as China. We have a mature, international automotive market with complex local homologation procedures and geographically challenging remote capital cities, so it all came together very well for us to be the first export destination from the Shanghai plant – to provide a ‘trial run’ for future larger export programs both here and to other countries,” said Volkswagen Group Australia managing director Peter Nochar.
“When I first saw the Polo sedan in Germany I noticed it was a very good-looking car that would be an excellent supplement to our Polo hatchback range and then, when we were advised the car could be the historic first export from China, a ‘small car’ became a ‘big story’ in the Volkswagen world.” Compared to the Polo hatch, the sedan is completely restyled rear of the B-pillar, featuring a rising window line, a trademark VW roofline with coupe-like C-pillar and large, horizontally divided rear lighting. Of course, Polo’s distinctive four-headlight front-end remains.
“With our entry level model priced at just $19,990, Volkswagen Polo does represent outstanding value-for-money and now with a beautiful sedan model to complement the range, there is no doubt we have the best European compact car range on the market,” said Mr Nochar.
VGA expects to shift 250 Polo Classics annually.
* Volkswagen Group Australia announced on the eve of the Melbourne motor show that its new Golf flagship, the 177kW/320Nm AWD R32, is now on sale. Just 200 individually numbered examples of the world’s fastest and most powerful Golf ever will be made available, priced at $63,000.