An update, the current Mk VI's second and first since 2021, is reportedly on the cards, possibly in 2026.
Volkswagen’s former South Africa boss has confirmed that the current combustion engine sixth generation Polo will remain in production at the Kariega plant in the Eastern Cape well into the next decade despite the arrival of the all-electric ID. Polo next year.
Update looming
Reported last year as being set for discontinuation in 2025 in preparation for the ID. Polo, then still known as the concept ID.2all, the latest admission comes after the European Union’s relaxing of certain emissions regulations on the back of slowing EV sales.
ALSO READ: Volkswagen Polo now made exclusively in South Africa
In a statement to Britain’s Autocar at the time, now Volkswagen Passenger Vehicle Head, Thomas Schäfer, said the Polo will be updated by means of a series of updates that will take it into the next decade.
“We will keep it fresh. The car runs well. It’s a good entry into the brand,” the publication quoted him as saying.
Until 2033
Made exclusively at the mentioned plant in the town formerly known as Uitenhage since September last year, apart from the market specific models in Brazil and China, the Polo will now remain, seemingly, in its current guise till 2033.
Known internally as AW, this will make it 16 years old, becoming the Polo with the longest lifecycle in the nameplate’s 50-year history since the Mark II that latest 13 years from 1981 to 1994.
“While they still play Boney M at Christmas in South Africa, this market will have Polo,” Schäfer told CAR Magazine at the recent IAA in Munich.
Record setter
Set to be joined by the Tengo in 2027 as one of three models to be made at the Kariega Plant, the other being the Polo Vivo, the Polo, along with the Polo GTI, broke its own single year production record at the end 2024 after the 167 084th unit left the facility.
Bettering the record of 161 954 in 2019, the plant has so far export exported close-on two-million vehicles after the 1.5-millionth departed in February last year.
Two years before, the brand celebrated production of the two-millionth Polo since assembly started in 1996.
As is stands, no details about the updated Polo are unknown, though previous speculation points to it debuting sometime next year five years after its current refresh.
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