New Wimby champion Murray still seen driving his trusty VW Polo around

Andy Murray

Wimbledon champion Andy Murray ended the 77-year wait for a British win in the Wimbledon Championship as Murray walked out on to Centre Court giving a successor to Fred Perry, the last British man to win the men’s singles at Wimbledon.

Off-court, one would expect the 26-year-old British tennis hero to sport an exotic car as the US Open and now Wimbledon champion had already amassed some £17.4 million (around $25.94 million) in career earnings, excluding commercial deals and product endorsements plus his latest £1.6-million ($2.38 million) purse from his Wimbledon win.

On the contrary, according to UK’s Mirror, he still uses his trusty five-year-old Volkswagen Polo. “It’s a good car to pick people up from the station and those sort of things,” said Murray. The ever modest Scot was said to have once sold his red Ferrari because he felt like “a prat.”

He also revealed that he sold his Aston Martin, and his girlfriend still drives around town in their Porsche Cayenne.

Murray bought this VW Polo when he first passed his driving test at age 21. “I need to get myself a new car,” the Mirror quoted the world’s No. 2 player as saying.

“We had a Ranger Rover Sport which I used to drive and an Aston Martin. I sold the Aston Martin and we changed the Ranger Rover for a Porsche Cayenne, I don’t really drive that much—my girlfriend drives that. The only other car I have got is a Volkswagen Polo, which is my first car which I have still got. I had it when I passed my test at 21. I drove that to Wimbledon last year. It is still the car I drive most in. Are people surprised when they see me get out of it?”

“I don’t think many people look to be honest if it’s a Volkswagen Polo. Is it sentimentality? It’s not something I’ve thought much about. The reason I kept it is because if people come to stay, it’s a good car to pick people up from the station and those sort of things. Because it is my first car, I have kept it—it’s done about 30,000 miles now,” he added.

After his Wimby quest, the next question Murray is bound to answer is the new car he’s going to drive.

VW back into our shores

The German auto giant Volkswagen had also formally signed the appointment of Automobile Central Enterprise Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ayala Corp., as its Philippine distributor in a simple ceremony held at Ritz Carlton Hotel, Hong Kong, last May 27.

Volkswagen cars were commonly seen roaming around the streets of Manila in the ’60s and ’70s with the ever popular and iconic Beetle and the Kombi vans.

For a short time, the VW Polo was also sold and distributed in the Philippine market in the 1990s.

The Volkswagen Group is Europe’s biggest and the world’s third-largest with global sales of 9.3 million units in 2012, up 11 percent from the previous year. As of 2012, its global market share for passenger cars accounted for 12.8 percent.

The group operates 100 production plants in 27 countries and employs more than 550,000 people worldwide. The Volkswagen Group sells its vehicles in 153 countries.

Ayala Auto has been a key player in the local automotive industry for over 20 years, operating dealerships of Honda and Isuzu in Metro Manila and the Visayas islands. It has minority interest in the distributor companies of both brands.—With wire reports