Vehicle production of the Polo and Polo Vivo at Volkswagen South Africa's (VWSA) Kariega plant will be halted from 14 April to 12 May to install and upgrade facilities throughout the factory's production areas, the local arm of the German vehicle manufacturer said. The upgrades are in preparation for the manufacturing of the third vehicle by VWSA.
The areas on the production line where upgrades will take place include places like the body shop, paint shop and final assembly.
"The planned work builds on the foundation of the installations performed in December 2024 during the plant’s annual shutdown.
"Approximately 60% of the required changes were effected over the 25 days of shutdown, including the installation of 38 new fixtures and seven new robots, along with other modifications.
"Making up the remaining 40%, the work planned for the coming four weeks includes finalising all installations completed in the body shop, station modifications and the programming of robots in paint shop, and modifying conveyors in final assembly, among other tasks.
"The completion of this work will also mark the start of the commissioning phase of the A0 SUV Entry project," VWSA said.
The preparations for the third model – which was announced alongside a R4bn investment at the VW Indaba event in February 2024 – extend beyond production as well.
The procurement team has completed the nominations of suppliers, in line with the localisation targets set for the new model’s parts.
Meanwhile, the product development team is collaborating with colleagues at Volkswagen do Brasil to develop the vehicle, with a VWGA employee stationed at the VW plant in São Bernardo do Campo as technical project leader. The production team is also collaborating with their Brazilian counterparts for the launch of this model.
