Production of the Volkswagen Navarra logo ends this week in Pamplona.
The last one in line hasn’t left yet Volkswagen Navarra – it will happen this week – and Polo is already part of the sentimental history of a whole generation. Who more or less, in this country many people have loved ones who either had pole -they left Landaben 8.4 million cars in forty years–; or assembled Polo parts on a chain – the factory gives approx. 5,000 direct jobs–; or worked for a subsidiary company that supplied parts for the Polo – the supplier network borders on 10,000 jobs–; or visited the Polo Park as a child – which has been visited in almost 25 years 200,000 schoolchildren-.
It was the iconic Volkswagen Navarra. the model that put the plant on the mapthe one that helped us survive market crises and changes in mobility… and the one that is now about to be discontinued.
Make some space
The paradigm shift to electric forces us to free up space in Landaben, and the old Polo, the brand’s small bestseller that the German giant has already taken full advantage of, will be sacrificed. Landaben remains Taigo And T-Crossand from now on the remains of the Pole will be redirected to South Africa. Pamplona began supplying poles to the entire market in 1992.
It’s not so profitable anymore. But one day he became the king of Navarre, his kingdom. Polo was Volkswagen’s bet. to give impetus to the global car fleet, which was experiencing a period of prosperity in the 1980s. The car has already reached almost all families and brands have begun to compete in price and characteristics. A slightly smaller car belongs to segment B; For example, the Golf has a C- category, which means greater urban mobility, but with the guarantee of a German seal and a more affordable price than its direct competitor, the Audi 50.
On March 20, 1984, the first Polo of the second generation (A02) rolled off the production line at the Pamplona plant, then Seat. In the advertising of the time, it was promoted as “the youngest Volkswagen to meet current price requirements.technology, safety, power, performance and comfort.”
It was a bestseller from the start, and the A02 took a decade to develop. Since then, Pamplona has produced five of the model’s six variants. No more, and this week Landaben bids farewell to the Polo.
The first car for the House of Mercy
It was a different world. Spain was going through the years of the first felipism and the race for EU and NATO; the world was shocked Thriller by Michael Jackson; Iraq and Iran They were at war; Pope John Paul II he excommunicated Nicaraguan priests for following liberation theory; a virus called HIV began to spread throughout the world; and a trace from a bitten apple, Manzanalaunched the first mass-produced computer.
In the midst of this turmoil, Polo’s story in Navarre began: on Tuesday, March 20, he left the lines of Landaben. the first Polo made here, where all modifications of the model were made, with the exception of the initial A01 of 1975, up to the current A07. The final balance of polo shirts produced in Pamplona since then will exceed 8,421,932 units.
This first car was donated House of Mercy Pamplona, who returned it to the factory museum on March 15, 2002. This gesture was rewarded, and the factory gave them a Polo again, but a more modern one.
This car had four-cylinder engines with a volume of 1272 cm³, developing a maximum power of 55 hp at 5200 rpm, equipped with five-speed gearbox and reached a top speed of 154 km/h; Advertisements of the time suggested prices starting from 547,700 pesetas. At today’s exchange rate, that’s 3,291 euros.