Volkswagen celebrates production of 500,000th Polo at South Africa's Kariega Plant

With the South African motor manufacturing industry under increasing pressure as a result of the influx of cars from China and India, tariff wars, the change to New Energy Vehicles and steel challenges, to name a few, it’s heartening to see that the Volkswagen plant in Kariega has announced that the 500 000th unit of the Polo has rolled off the assembly line. 

The half-millionth facelift Polo, a Kings Red Polo, is bound for the brand’s home country of Germany.

Sole exporter

Plant Kariega has been building Polos since 1996, and the current facelift version since August 2021.

Since July 2024, the plant has also been the sole exporter of the Polo for the Europe and Asia-Pacific markets, exporting it to more than 30 countries in addition to its strong presence in the South African market.

It is also the exclusive manufacturer of the Polo GTI for global consumption.

At the point of achieving this milestone, a total of 452 207 current Polos had been built for export, and the remaining 47 793 vehicles were for South Africa. A total of 1 992 464 Polos have been built in Kariega in the past 29 years.

“The role of the Polo in the Volkswagen Group Africa success story has been a strong one, and the same can be said of its contribution to this country’s automotive exports,” said Ulrich Schwabe, production director at VWGA.

“I am proud to share in this milestone with the colleagues who build, sell and export this high-quality car to the world.”

Accolades

The Polo was also South Africa’s most exported car in 2024, and was recently named as both the Vehicle of the Year: Top Local Manufacturer and the Top Exported Vehicle of the Year at the Naamsa Accelerator Awards.

As a reminder, the Polo is powered by a turbo-charged 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine that delivers 70kW and 175Nm or 85kW and 200Nm, depending on the model and is coupled to either a five-speed manual transmission or seven-speed automatic gearbox.

The Polo GTI delivers 147kW and 320Nm from its turbo-charged  2.0-litre engine mated to a six-speed DSG transmission.

Pricing ranges from R373 300 to R585 800.