Volkswagen will start selling the redesigned Brazilian-made Polo at the end of May, the culmination of a $US700 million investment to launch the new car, writes Rogério Louro.
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Volkswagen expects the new Polo will help it to recover the car sales leadership it lost last year to Fiat.
The latest Polo went into production in February at Volkswagen’s main Anchieta plant, in São Bernardo do Campo city, São Paulo state.
To make the new car, the car maker rebuilt and modernised the plant originally opened in 1957 to build the Kombi van and, later, the original rear-engine Beetle.
The Anchieta plant now has a modular production system with seven suppliers using their own equipment and staff to supply and fit items such as the fuel system and pedal box on the assembly line itself.
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By GlobalDataAnother large supplier is established directly beside the plant giving a total of eight each responsible for a specific complete set of components installed at stations along the line.
Volkswagen do Brasil expects to produce about 50,000 new Polos by the end of the year for both Brazilian sale and export.
The company expects to ship about 25 percent of production to other Latin America markets such as Argentina and Mexico.
The Brazilian-made Polo is essentially the same as the European-built model and will initially sell in Brazil with two petrol engines: either a 1.6-litre, 101bhp unit or a 116bhp two-litre. A one-litre model exclusive to Brazil will cater for the country’s “popular car” segment from the end of the year.
The launch of the new Polo in Brazil does not however mean the end of Brazil’s unique Volkswagen Gol. That model, the best selling vehicle for 15 years, will be repositioned in the compact car segment.
Volkswagen will however gradually stop building 1.8- and 2.0-litre Gols and keep only one-litre versions in production.
This will reposition the Gol as VW’s entry level compact car and launch the new Polo as the company’s top offering in the segment.
Volkswagen will also face-lift the Gol, currently in third-generation form, at the end of the year and will gradually transfer production of the range and its pick-up Saveiro derivative to the Taubaté plant that already produces some versions.
Anchieta will then be home to all versions of the new Polo plus the veteran Santana sedan and Kombi van models.
Though they’re now long in the tooth, Volkswagen says the Santana and Kombi will continue to be built in Brazil as long as there is demand.
Anchieta is also preparing to make a unique Polo sedan which will be launched in Brazil at the end of the year. VW’s move parallels rival GM do Brasil which recently launched its own sedan derivative of the latest Opel-designed Chevrolet Corsa.
Such small sedans are shunned by hatchback-loving northern European buyers (VW Germany has not planned its own replacement for the old Polo sedan which was actually a re-badged Seat Ibiza) but are popular in southern Europe and South America.
VW Brazil is also evaluating a project to develop a minivan derivative of the new Polo.
