We will begin by admitting that we were not thrilled by the idea of adding a tour of the Volkswagen plant to our trip. After all, it is a car factory, right? Well, even after hearing that the Volkswagen philosophy combines great technology with fine art, we still were not convinced. Well, seeing is believing. This place is fantastic. When you enter the Autostadt, you see this huge aluminum globe, which is designed to symbolize the idea that Volkswagen is world-wide. Below the glass floor are several hundred small globes that each show various world statistics. Truly astounding. The Autostadt is marketing center where visitors can purchase a Volkswagen and come to pick up the vehicle and even enjoy a sort of pick-up ceremony.
The Autostadt includes a small track for visitors to test drive their vehicles under a variety of conditions, and the cost to do this is in the range of about $35. They also have a smaller track where they can teach children to drive in miniature Beetles, and the kids get little driver’s licenses with their pictures on them. There are two glass silos that about 200 feet tall, where they store newly purchased Volkswagens. It is here they keep the cars for buyers after they have been washed and polished so they can be kept clean and free from the outdoor elements until the buyer pick-up ceremony. We got to watch the robots lift cars up and move cars down in these silos. Our tour guide said that having the tall silos was more cost efficient than using all the land that would be required to park cars in parking lots. Makes sense. The Pavilions at the Autostadt include the product lines that under the Volkswagen umbrella. These include: Bentley, Skoda, Audi, and SEAT.
We then toured the actual factory. Wolfsburg is a small town that was founded in 1938 primarily to house the workers at Volkswagen. The plant and related facilities employ 48,000 people, which is about 8,000 more than the population of Cleveland, Tennessee. Wow. Much of the work in the factory is done by robots that have to be calibrated multiple times a day. When you think about the precision involved in making sure that each robot is perfectly calibrated and timed to coordinate with the other robots, it is stunning to think about the delicate balance of art and technology that are involved in this process, too. We cannot wait to see what the plant in Chattanooga will look like. Several people guiding our tour were excited to see Tony’s “Chattanooga Lookouts” shirt, and they would say, “You know we are coming to Chattanooga!” We would explain that was why we were here, and they were thrilled to know Chattanooga was excited to have them. One VW rep even asked, “Do you think we will start selling more cars in the US now?” We had to answer YES, because after our tour, we all wanted to buy Volkswagens. No kidding.
Anyway, we still need to tell you all more about our first day in Berlin yesterday and what we have done today, but we wanted to get something posted to keep you all up to date. Again, everyone is well even though it is very cold. Some colds are going around, but nothing serious, and we do have a doctor on the trip, so that is nice.
Will post again tonight.
Joanie and Tony
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