Volkwagen, from North to South to East.

2022 has been, to put it mildly, a pretty significant year for Volkswagen in the Eastern Cape. 
At the beginning of the year, the VW production plant in Kariega (formerly Uitenhage) celebrated the production of its 100,000th Polo Vivo. The remarkable milestone for this model, which is a bit of a local icon, was followed up another for the more internationally-distributed Polo model, the millionth unit of which rolled off the plant’s production line shortly thereafter.

Needless to say, numbers like these would be considered milestones for any manufacturing plant; but considering that they were achieved so shortly after a global pandemic that brought industries across the world to a grinding halt, and in the middle of a severe drop in the production of semiconductor chips, this is all the more cause for celebration at the Kariega plant.

Of course, it’s pretty clear that, even before these numbers were reached, the upper echelons of Volkswagen already had a good deal of faith in the plant. Early last year, production had begun on a new R235 million wax flooding facility at Kariega, which began operations only a few months after these recent milestones were achieved. The wax flooding process, which coats the cars with a layer of wax after the paint has been applied, is a key component of Volkswagen vehicles’ 12-year warranty against rust and corrosion.

The facility was also specifically designed to reduce the required energy for the process by 25%, and the CO2 emissions by 55%. This is part of the Kariega plant’s effort to reduce its environmental impact, which also included two other projects this year. One, a waste water recycling facility, will help the plant re-use waste water in its production efforts. Built in response to a major water crisis in the Eastern Cape that forced several towns in the province to implement water restrictions, the plant aims to reduce its freshwater consumption by around 26% with the help of the facility, thus simultaneously reducing its environmental impact and helping it weather any impact that future water shortages might have on its production process.

The plant’s other major environmental impact project is the 3136 photovoltaic solar panels it has installed. Generating power for the plant since April, these panels should, at full capacity, cover around 3% of the plant’s electricity requirements and reduce it CO2 emissions by around 2590 tons a year.

Naturally, all of this is a tremendous reflection of how Volkswagen’s local operations are adapting to some rather trying times. But perhaps most relevantly for us ordinary South African car lovers, these achievements serve as a reflection of what a prominent role that the Volkswagen production plant has played in making the Eastern Cape – and, by extension, the country as a whole – what it is today. First establishing itself in the town in 1947, the Kariega Volkswagen production plant grew into the largest car factory on the continent, and has been at the heart of the town’s thriving manufacturing industry for decades. And besides being a major part of the province’s economy, it’s also played something of a role in shaping everyday life in the country. The aforementioned Polo Vivo, much like the Citi Golf it was a successor to, is manufactured exclusively at the Kariega plant for the South African market, and now holds the position of one of the most widely popular cars in the country.

In many ways, these distinctive five-door hatchbacks, which will have long since impressed themselves into the memory of anyone who’s spent a significant amount of time on a South African highway, have ingrained themselves into, and served as a reflection of, the national identity. They’re small, they’re practical, they’re affordable, and they’re not flashy, but they’re full of personality – in brief, the quintessentially South African car.

Oh, incidentally, the Kariega plant also recently started up factory tours again for the first time since the pandemic, just in case that’s been on your bucket list. The Eastern Cape car manufacturing business, it’s pretty clear, really is coming out the other end of the outbreak.