Against the backdrop of the fourth SA Auto Week, Volkswagen Group Africa (VWGA) walked away with top honours for their locally-built vehicles at the Naamsa Accelerator Awards on Friday 3 October.
The awards, which closed the Auto Week event – held in Gqeberha for the first time – on a high note, honoured automotive manufacturers for performance relating to sales, exports, manufacturing and transformation and empowerment.
VWGA was announced as the winner of two awards within the Manufacturing category – Vehicle of the Year: Top Local Manufacturer, and the Top Exported Vehicle of the Year, both titles awarded to the Polo. VWGA’s Plant Kariega is the sole manufacturer of the Polo for the Europe and Asia Pacific regions, exporting this vehicle to over 30 countries in addition to its presence in the local market. This iconic vehicle has been built in Kariega since 1996, and in 2024 the Polo was the most exported car in South Africa, with 131 485 Polos built for export at Plant Kariega.
In the New Vehicle Sales category, the Polo Vivo was also crowned as the Passenger Car of the Year. The Vivo has been built in Kariega for the local market since 2010, and is the best-selling car in South Africa for 2025 (year-to-date).
The Polo and Polo Vivo were not only winners this past weekend; in 2024 the two models received the same accolades at the Naamsa Accelerator Awards as well.
“To win these titles for our vehicles once is proof we’re doing something right; to win the same titles two years in a row shows we’re doing things right consistently,” said Ulrich Schwabe, Production Director at VWGA. “I was so proud to represent this company at SA Auto Week and the awards, and grateful to the teams behind the scenes at VWGA, whose dedication is the secret ingredient to the success of our vehicles.”