The VW Polo now comes from South Africa
Specifically, the small combustion-powered car will come from the Kariega plant in South Africa. It is not a major change for the plant in the town of Uitenhage, as the Polo is already being produced there for markets outside Europe. Soon, South Africa will also supply Europe with the sixth-generation Polo five-door – notchback variants of the Polo VI called Virtus will also be built in Brazil and India.
For VW production in Europe, however, it is a turning point to ‘lose’ a model that was once as important as the Polo. However, unit sales of the small car have fallen recently; around ten years ago, VW sold around twice as many Polos.
The freed-up capacity in Pamplona will be used for two small electric SUVs from 2026. These will be the SUV version of the VW ID.2, which may be called the ID.2 X. The second model will be built for Skoda as the Epiq. Both models are expected to start at around 25,000 euros and will utilise an adapted front-wheel drive version of the MEB electric modular system. However, Pamplona will not become a pure electric plant, but a pure SUV plant, The two small SUVs T-Cross and Taigo with combustion engines will continue to be built at the factory.
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