Home of VW Polo

From our host and Caddy-driver we heard about the VW Factory in Uitenhage and that you can visit the oldest VW factory outside of Germany. So we went there to visit.
After opening in 1948 on August 31, 1951 the first VW was built - a Beetle of course. The factory was of great importance and has built models from VW, Audi and Studebaker over the past 75+ years.
Worth mentioning is the Golf MK1, which can currently be found on the streets. It was still built there as Citigolf until 2009. Golf 1 on the outside and Golf 4 on the inside. They used the MK1 factory facility until the bitter end 😃
We visited first the Auto Pavilion museum to learn about the history of the factory and there were a few beautiful vehicles there too...Beetles, Ghia Karmann, Audis, Golfs, Bulli's and some prototypes.
Today they only focus on the Polo. The New Polo and the Polo Vivo. The Vivo is again a continuation of an old Polo model (MK5) with very spartan equipment! Ventilation still has rotary switches and only the window regulators are electric. Nothing else is needed. You can see the Polo Vivo on every corner here. Options such as aluminum rims or sports versions can also be ordered.
Of course, we seized the opportunity and took a free factory tour (as usual, without photos). You can see everything, from ancient, gloomy brick workshops to the very modern paint factory. Older robots work hand in hand with around 5,600 employees. Polos are produced here for the world market- mainly all right-hand drive ones as well as GTIs and all these Vivo's - every 2 minutes a Polo like rolls off the assembly line ready to drive...Very impressive!
By the way, depending on the model, a Polo Vivo costs between 12-15,000 CHF😮💪Read more