VW Polo Crowned Best Car of the Half Century

The Volkswagen Polo has been voted ‘Best Car of the Half Century’ at the 2025 New Car World Championships.

Classic VW Polo front

Image: Volkswagen

In 2024, the Volkswagen Golf was crowned ‘Best Car of the Half Century’ at the Best Cars of the Year — The New Car World Championships. Now, at the 2025 instalment of this event, its smaller sibling has been awarded this accolade as it celebrates its 50th anniversary. Testament to the Polo’s popularity and success, over six generations, more than 20 million units of Volkswagen’s compact hatch has been sold.

Judges for the New Car World Championship included a variety of professionals across the automotive industry, including independent car designers, engineers, industry figureheads, motorsport personalities, and journalists.

2025 Volkswagen Polo front

Image: Volkswagen

Automotive journalist and founder of Best Cars of the Year – New Car World Championship Mike Rutherford said, “The 20 million motorists who have been buying Volkswagen Polos since 1975 cannot be wrong. It’s the most consistently credible supermini [compact hatchback] of the past 50 years and has repeatedly hit the sweet spot in terms of understated design, overall dimensions, build quality, competitive retail pricing, efficiency and low standing and running costs. It’s super strong on overall affordability, durability and longevity.”

As a reminder, the local Polo hatchback lineup comprises five variants, with the GTI, which is exclusively manufactured in South Africa and exported to overseas markets, spearheading the model lineup.

Click here to browse thousands of new and used vehicles here with CARmag!

Related

The post VW Polo Crowned Best Car of the Half Century appeared first on CAR Magazine.


The Car Guide

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Porsche’s Panamera Goes Bulletproof in SA

Image
A first for the South African market, Armoured Mobility has handed the Porsche Panamera a bulletproof package. Here’s what you can expect…  Image: Armoured Mobility Looking for your next new or used Porsche? Find it here with CARmag! Equipped with a B6 armouring package, Armoured Mobility has launched South Africa’s first-ever bulletproof Porsche Panamera. The Panamera model in question comes in the shape of the Turbo, which, seen here, has been “expertly” modified to withstand an array of ballistic threats. The Armoured Mobility-converted Panamera is bulletproof to rounds of rifles such as AK47s, and R1 and R5 rifles. According to the firm, the armouring kit it has handed to the German marque’s saloon sets a new standard for armoured vehicles on local shores, combining the safety provided by this package with luxury and without compromising the donor car’s style and performance. In fact, the company says the B6 protection-equipped Panamera represents the epitome of automoti...
Read more

Top 10 Best-Selling Automotive Brands Locally – April 2024

Image
Following eight consecutive months of sales decline, the milestone of celebrating a century of vehicle production locally saw a welcomed increase in the motor industry for April 2024. Have a look at the data below, which sees Toyota drop in sales but retain the top spot, with Suzuki moving into second and Nissan dropping to the bottom of the list without the NP200 rolling off of the production line. Image: Toyota Looking for your next new or used Porsche? Find it here with CARmag! South Africa is marking 2024 as a significant year for its automotive industry, celebrating 100 years of car manufacturing. Mikel Mabasa, CEO of naamsa , the country’s automotive business council, commented, “As the sun rises on a century of automotive innovation, South Africa proudly commemorates a century of automobile manufacturing excellence. This milestone reflects a journey of resilience, ingenuity, and passion that has shaped the nation’s automotive legacy.” Details on how the industry will commem...
Read more

BMW’s Plant Rosslyn Firing on All Cylinders to Keep Up With X3 Demand

Image
Despite being on offer for several weeks now, the all-new G45 X3 has officially been launched in South Africa and BMW has provided an exclusive tour of its retooled Plant Rosslyn facility that produces and exports this popular SUV.  Image: BMW Looking for a new or used BMW? Find it here with CARmag! When BMW says this is a popular model it continues to demonstrate the shift in consumer preference for high-riding SUVs. Depending on the market, the X3 has become BMW’s most commonly sold staple and since production commenced in October 2024, the new BMW X3 has been met with overwhelming demand from South African customers, with all available stock either sold or on order. Of this undisclosed figure, around 10% of sales comprise the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) BMW X3 30e xDrive, underscoring a growing interest in electrified vehicles and BMW’s leadership in the ‘New Energy Vehicles’ segment. The popularity of the X3 30e xDrive has driven a 45% surge in monthly retail r...
Read more