Volkswagen Group Africa’s latest milestone is no mean feat with the globe’s solo exporter of the current Polo managing to manufacture half-a-million units from humble Kariega for markets across the world.
The 500,000th unit was a Crystal Ice Blue, right‑hand‑drive Polo destined for the UK, which is one of VWGA’s main export markets.
The current Polo has been in production at Plant Kariega since 2021 with an average turnaround time of three days and 1,985 sets of hands to build one Polo, with around 1,400 individual parts coming together to create the vehicle.
Over the past three decades, four generations of the Polo have been produced in Kariega, with the plant becoming the sole global exporter of the Polo to 38 international markets in 2024.
Germany is now the biggest export market for the Polo, with 124,711 vehicles shipped between 2020 and 2026, followed closely by the UK at 113,171 units.
The current facelift Polo accounts for 51.2% of all Polos built for export since 1996.
Our people have dedicated three decades to building and delivering this beloved vehicle to our customers, and these teams are the reason the Polo continues to shine, both here at home and across the world
— Ulrich Schwabe, VWGA production director
VWGA production director Ulrich Schwabe said 2026 is a special year for VWGA as it was not only celebrating 75 years of building vehicles in SA but also marking 30 years of Polo production in Kariega.
“Reaching the milestone of producing the 500,000th current generation Polo is a proud moment for our production and logistics team,” he said. “This milestone shows the hard work, skill and dedication of every employee at Plant Kariega.
“Our people have dedicated three decades to building and delivering this beloved vehicle to our customers, and these teams are the reason the Polo continues to shine, both here at home and across the world.”
Earlier this year the Polo was voted “Best Small Car” in the 50th edition of Auto Motor and Sports Best Cars readers poll, which is the largest car reader survey in Europe.
Additionally, the Polo was recently announced by CAR as the winner in the Small Cars segment in its 2026 Top 12 Best Buys.
At the point of achieving its latest milestone, VWGA had produced 2,044,761 Polos in Kariega. Of these, 596,631 were sold in the local market, while 1,448,130 were exported.
The Herald
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