Volkswagen Group Africa (VWGA) has reached a major production milestone with the build of the 500,000th unit of the current Polo for export markets at Plant Kariega.
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The milestone vehicle, a Crystal Ice Blue, right-hand-drive Polo, is destined for the United Kingdom, one of VWGA’s key export markets.
The current-generation Polo has been in production at Plant Kariega since 2021. On average, each vehicle takes three days to assemble and involves 1,985 sets of hands, with approximately 1,400 individual parts coming together on the production line.
Over the past three decades, four generations of the Polo have been produced at Kariega, reinforcing the plant’s long-standing role in global Polo manufacturing.
In 2024, Plant Kariega became the sole global exporter of the Polo to 38 international markets.
Earlier this year, the Polo was named “Best Small Car” in the 50th edition of the Auto Motor und Sport Best Cars reader poll, one of Europe’s largest automotive surveys. It was also recently recognised by CAR as the winner in the Small Cars segment in its 2026 Top 12 Best Buys.
The Polo remains a key model for both local and export markets. At the time of reaching the milestone, VWGA had produced 2,044,761 Polos at Kariega. Of these, 596,631 were sold locally, while 1,448,130 were exported.
The current facelifted Polo accounts for 51.2% of all Polos built for export since 1996.
Germany is currently the largest export market for the Polo, with 124,711 units shipped between 2020 and 2026, followed by the United Kingdom with 113,171 units.
2026 marks a significant year for VWGA, as the company celebrates 75 years of vehicle production in South Africa and 30 years of Polo production in Kariega.
Reaching the 500, 000-unit milestone for the current-generation Polo is a significant achievement for the production and logistics teams at Plant Kariega, according to VWGA.
“Reaching the milestone of producing the 500,000th current generation Polo is a proud moment for our production and logistics team,” said Ulrich Schwabe, production director at VWGA. “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 vehicle to customers around the world, and these teams are the reason the Polo continues to perform strongly both locally and internationally.”
