Volkswagen launches the sixth generation of its iconic Golf hatchback on 6 January, and with cars already in the dealerships, and largely favourable reports in the press, it looks to be another sure fire hit for the German company, carrying on the model’s 35-year success story.
But, will the car give its enemies a bloody nose and defeat them as thoroughly as the chief designer in this Volkswagen launch commercial for the car?
Update, 5 January 2009:The Guardian newspaper’s website reports that the Advertising Standards Authority has received over 100 complaints about the ‘Fight’ commercial, citing excessive violence and pre-watershed showings that may not be suitable for children. Full story here.
Car modifying can be an exact science. If you fit wheels that are too big they can scrape the wheelarches. If you fit suspension that is too low, you lose your teeth over every speed bump, and every pothole in the road becomes a crashy black hole. Some are so deep, your nicely modified car could quite feasibly get lost in them, never to return. So, before you alter anything, here’s a tool which can give you a little cosmetic idea of what those mods will look like. But only if you have a 1981 to 1994 Volkswagen Polo.
Made by the Polo-Land forum in France, Polo Selecta is based on a similar piece of kit for previewing modifications on old Beetles. First, you choose your steed (hatchback, coupe and saloon are all there, pre and post-facelift), then apply a colour, and you’re away. Wheels can be chosen next - 80s Ronal Turbos or classic ATS 15-inchers? Suspension can be slammed to the floor (but be wary of those violent sleeping policemen), and the rake of the car adjusted, too.
Accessories can be added, as can different sets of lights, side repeaters, aerials, and side mouldings and spoilers can be added or taken off. Great detail has been made to make every detail right. With the colour palette, there’s even a selection of decals from the varying Polo models that had them. The possible combinations are staggering. It’s great fun, can while away more than a few minutes, and I can see it becoming quite addictive. Your Polo can instantly become a Po-low, and the age-old ‘What flavour is yours?’ Polo mint gag can be taken to new heights.
It’s a while since I modified a car, as these days I prefer my 1994 Polo GT near-standard (on the outside at least), but I could quite easily catch the online modifying bug. Although not radical, how are these for starters?
Modern with a classic twist: lowered Polo Coupe 2F with ATS 15″ alloys
Old school: lowered Polo Coupe 2 with 14″ ‘Pirelli’ alloys and GT decals
Polo Selecta. Which flavours (or should that be flavas) will you create?
‘Our’ car to be precise. Well okay, not technically ‘ours’, but OY08 ZYF, the Polo BlueMotionwe had for 10 days in August, around a week earlier than the boys at Top Gear had it. If you missed Sunday’s programme, the three presenters did an economy run from Basel in Switzerland to Blackpool, where they were due to turn on the famous lights.
Only allowed one tank of fuel for the trip, Jeremy Clarkson and James May chose big-capacity diesels from Jaguar and Subaru respectively, while Richard Hammond flew the VW flag, and chose the economical Polo. Imagine our surprise when it turned out to be the exact same car we had driven around the Yorkshire Dales, and had cleaned almost every day for pictures.
Did it win the challenge? But of course, but not by as large a margin as you may think. It was nice to see the Polo being promoted in a prime time slot, though, but strange to think that we had sat where the short one had spent a day driving across Europe, striking a balance between trying to get the most miles from a tank of diesel, but also driving fast enough to win the race.
The recent ‘Polo Confidence’ advertising campaign for the Volkswagen Polo – also known as ‘Singing Dog’ – has been honoured at this year’s Autocar Awards, being named Car Ad of the Year 2008.
Voted for by the readers of Autocar online, the ‘Polo Confidence’ TV commercial features a Jack Russell dog which is shown to be nervous and timid in everyday situations, yet, while in the Polo, ‘sings’ happily and confidently along to the soundtrack of I’m A Man by the Spencer Davis Group.
On accepting the prestigious award, Chris Craft, Director of Volkswagen UK commented: ‘We’re delighted to receive this award from Autocar – and it’s really special because it’s voted for by the public.
‘We wanted to develop the advert to reinforce the key messages of the Polo – safety, security and therefore confidence. We are really proud to have produced such a memorable advertisement and one which has clearly captured the public’s imagination.’
The Polo ad had some formidable rivals for the award. ‘This is the new Jaguar’ spot for the XF; Honda’s live skydive advert for the Accord and Renault’s ‘4×4 spirit’ advert for the Koleos were all up for the gong, but the clear winner was the Polo campaign. Charles Hallett, Editor of Autocar agreed with the readers’ choice: ‘It’s funny, memorable and in keeping with some excellent Volkswagen adverts over the years.’
Conceived and produced by Volkswagen’s advertising agency, DDB London, the advert was filmed over three days in Los Angeles, USA. Two Jack Russells, Bear and Cody, were used during the filming. Though almost identical, the two male dogs are not siblings.
One of the trainers from the dogs’ agency, Worldwide Movie Animals, said: ‘On screen, Bear did all the happy, singing in the car stuff and Cody did all the scaredy cat, shaking stuff. Cody has a command called “head down” where he lowers his head as you see in the commercial and it makes him look very timid. As soon as you release the behaviour, he pops his head back up and looks super happy again. They love chicken, playing ball, frisbee and tug of war. Both are really good tempered, well trained dogs that are fun to be around.’
The advert has so far registered over one million hits on the internet video site, YouTube, while 36 fan groups were set up on social networking site FaceBook. The soundtrack, which was not re-released, also peaked at number six on the UK Rock Top 100 on iTunes.
Ford has recently launched the new daringly-styled Fiesta, and still nothing. Usually, when a big European manufacturer unveils a new model, there’s a frenzy of activity in that car’s segment in the marketplace. Rival models can be like buses; up to three or four competing models can all come at once, usually after a long drought of new metal. It happened in 2002. VW pulled the covers off the Series 3 Polo at the Frankfurt Motor Show, just as Ford did the same with its then-new Fiesta. Across the hall, Citroën unwrapped its challenger, too, the 2CV-inspired C3.
So, with a new Fiesta, Škoda Fabia, and SEAT Ibiza only months old, why haven’t we seen a newly-minted Polo? That could be an easy one to answer. Volkswagen has been very busy of late, pushing the new Scirocco into the world, and rushing through the sixth generation Golf, ready for an early 2009 launch. The Polo simply hasn’t been top of its agenda recently.
But, don’t let that fool you into thinking that it’s all quiet on the new Polo front. Barely a month goes by without some artist’s impression of a new version of VW’s small car in the motoring weeklies. And, if all the hype is to be believed, there’s much to look forward to.
Building on the thirty-four year success of its predecessors, the 2009 model will still be one of the most refined and well made cars in its class. All the sensible stuff hasn’t been engineered out either, with fuel economy and comfort still watch words for the fifth generation Polo. But, in addition to the bread and butter three and five-door hatchbacks, it has been reported that Volkswagen may bolster the Polo family by adding MPV and proper SUV variants.
Not only that, but a two-seater roadster is said to be under development, too, adding some pizazz to the flagship TSI 1.4-litre, 185bhp GTI. But, in the current economic climate, it will be interesting to see how many of these halo models have seen their development wings clipped. I’m hoping it’s not many.
Supposedly Golf 6-like in looks, the new car will take on VW’s new family face, distancing it yet further from its Czech and Spanish cousins, with which it shares its platform. Given the shared DNA, it’s surprising that some details haven’t leaked. I expect the car to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March. 2009 is certainly shaping up to be a classic Polo year.
