The Volkswagen Group Africa announced that it has celebrated a milestone of its 1.5-millionth vehicle built for export at the company’s Kariega plant in the Eastern Cape.
The Kariega plant has been building vehicles for export since 1992.
The milestone vehicle was a Polo GTI destined for the UK.
VW said that the milestone also marked the 21 165th vehicle built for export this year.
The Kariega plant built 101 557 Polos for export last year.
The plant’s record for export units in one year was in 2019, when the team built 108 422 vehicles for export markets.
Currently, the Kariega plant is the sole manufacturer of the Volkswagen Polo, exporting this vehicle to 38 markets worldwide.
The plant has been building the current Polo since January 2018 and began production of the facelifted Polo in August 2021; it also produces the popular Polo Vivo for the South African market.
“Celebrating another production milestone this early in the year sets the tone for a successful 2024,” said Ulrich Schwabe, Volkswagen Group Africa production director.
“Volkswagen Group Africa remains a strong player in the export space and I am proud of the team behind milestones such as these. As the home of Polo we intend to continue building and delivering our high-quality vehicles to customers around the world – and hopefully achieve many more milestones along the way,” Schwabe said.
BUSINESS REPORT