Shanghai VW upgrades New Polo for new youth

A view of New Polo in Chengdu. May 25, 2014. [Photo/Hao Yan]

Shanghai Volkswagen launched New Polo and Cross Polo on Saturday at an event dubbed "New Youth", a combination of Strawberry Music Festival and creative market aimed at encouraging the youth to create their own meaning.

"Polo products now have their own specific customers, and the customer base now covers a wider range of age," said Holger Santel, vice-president of SAIC - Volkswagen Sales Co, at the launch ceremony in Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan province.

"It provides innovative technologies from Germany to position the New Polo right in the heart of the Chinese Polo generation. These features and technologies will not be found in any other same segment competitors," said Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co's First Vice-president Alexander Seitz.

Both the New Polo and Cross Polo are equipped with the latest environment friendly all-aluminum engine EA211, meeting the most strict emission standard - National V standard. And the Sino-Germany joint venture car maker expects the new models, with more exquisite fashion design and considerate intelligent technology, to be among the most popular cars for the new youth.

Both models now have the indicators placed into the side view mirror. The other latest changes in the looks are that the bottom front grille and the trunk hood now have a silver lining. New colors are offered to illustrate the new youth's bold characters. The New Polo adds neon green, starry yellow, and galaxy blue to a total of eight choices, while the Cross Polo has six, adding vivid orange, moonlight gold, and galaxy blue.

The New Polo was upgraded to redefine the A0 class segments with the intelligent navigation, constant speed cruising control, auto sensing windshield wipers, delay-off headlights and other technical equipment. The climatronic auto air conditioning, front seats heating will bring the driving experience to the next level. The driving safety configurations, including ESP, front and rear radars, Adaptive Front-lighting System, are set to secure the younger car users' trips.

The Cross Polo's grey-color body kit, shiny luggage racks, new 15-inch wheel hub boast of its cross style, and show the dare and readiness to get off the road.

"We upgraded the New Polo and Cross Polo without increasing the price," said Jia Mingdi, SVW's executive vice-president of sales and marketing.

The New Polo is starts from 85,900 yuan with 1.4-liter engine and five-speed manual-shift gearbox, and goes up to 123,900 yuan for the top version with 1.6-liter and Tiptronic six-speed auto-shift. The Cross Polo has two versions both equipped with the 1.6-liter engine, and the only difference is in the gearbox. The one with five-speed manual-shift gearbox has a suggested retail price of 113,900 yuan. The top Cross Polo model at 125,900 yuan comes with a six-speed auto-shift gear box.

"The launch of these products for the new youth further strengthens Polo's leading position," said Seitz.

Volkswagen's Polo product line began in 1975 and entered China in 2002. The Polo products have an accumulated sales volume of more than 1.1 million in Chinese mainland, and cover 20 percent market share by volume in its segment.