The third-last Volkswagen Citi Golf to roll off the assembly line in Uitenhage – in fact, in the world – has found a home.

Auctioned off on the Bid or Buy website, with the proceeds to go to charity, Dolf Jonker, the owner of Auto Trust Body Repairers, in Port Elizabeth, posted the highest bid for the Mk1 model.

Jonker’s bid of R300 100 was nearly three times the listed retail price of the limited edition hatchback.

“My main motives for the highest bid were to own a piece of history associated with the Volkswagen Citi, as well as to support the local charity organisa-tion, Ubuntu Education Fund. I am delighted with the outcome,” he explains.

The Ubuntu Education Fund is a community organisation based in Zwide, Port Elizabeth.

Volkswagen of South Africa (VWSA) has discontinued the Citi Golf range, 25 years after production first started at the Eastern Cape plant.

To celebrate the end of the urban runabout, which far outgunned Beetle production at Uitenhage, VWSA branded the last thousand Citi Golfs as Mk1 models, or Mark 1, harking back to its introduction to the local motoring scene in the 1980s.

Each car is individually numbered.

Two of the last produced Citi Mk1 units will join other Volkswagen Classic cars that are on permanent display at the Autostadt, the Volkswagen Group Museum and Brand Expo, in Wolfsburg, Germany, and at the Volkswagen AutoPavillion Brand heritage centre, in Uitenhage.

The Mk1 comes with a 1,6 ℓ engine, sports seats with partial leather, a golf ball gear knob, a radio and CD player, an airbag, red stitching detail, lowered suspension, twin exhausts and tinted glass all around.

The local arm of the German vehicle manufacturer says it will launch a comprehensive range of products in 2010 to compete in all major segments of the market – including a new entry-level vehicle to replace the Citi Golf.

However, this car will be more expensive than the Citi’s pre- runout price tag of R87 000.

The Citi Golf’s replacement, set for production in Uitenhage, will be announced in the first quarter of 2010.

The Uitenhage plant already produces the new Polo, exporting it to all right-hand-drive markets worldwide.

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