Spent the better part of yesterday in the central Bavarian city of Ingolstadt with my friend and fellow gearhead M checking out the Audi facility, and all I've got to say is "wow." It was amazing, and I strongly recommend visiting this place even if you don't give two monkeys about cars. We took the English language tour of the manufacturing facility (M-F, 11:30am; a mere 7 Euros), and we were blown away-- it was like science fiction watching steel come in one end and cars coming out the other. My lone experience with a car plant occurred decades ago as my family toured the Ford River Rouge facility, and that did little to prepare me for this tour. Almost silent production, 3 manufacturing lines going simultaneously, robots everywhere, and the place was so very clean, and right on "campus"-- as in next to the office buildings. Compare that to the Ford tour with deafening noise, disinterested workers with ciggies dangling from their lips and soot everywhere in a location far, far away from the offices and city. I wish I could have taken some photos at the plant, but cameras and camera phones were expressively verboten. Afterwards, we went to the tidy Audi Museum which was also a treat. The photo is of a very famous race car, the stunning 1937 Auto Union (a precursor to Audi) V16 Type C Streamline. This car captured many speed records in its day, and was the first to truly use aerodynamics to such an extent.
4 comments:
Almost silent production
Makes sense from a company originally named "Horch," German for "listen!" doesn't it?
I have never been to Audi in Ingolstadt (though my company has a plant nearby, thanks to them), but I can recommend the BMW factory tour at Dingolfing (if they still do it...my last visit was in 1994, but it was cool then).
Cliff: By all means, check out the Audi plant-- the tour is maybe 2 hours long, and you can visit the museum afterwards. Interesting story about the Horch-- the last Horch ever made is now back in Ingolstadt after having been in the USA since about 1953-- much of it in a farmer's field in Texas. Here are a pair of videos-- the first one is a bit staged and corny in the first minute, but stick with it-- it's a pretty amazing story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJq76WzSExs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chSwsY24z8s
G,
1.Did they have the first Rally Quattro on display?
2. Have you gone to the Nurburgring yet?
Peter:
They had a small but comprehensive selection of Audi race cars there-- if not the first Rally Quattro, then at least one of significance, win-wise. It's a neat little museum.
When I first came here, I must admit I mistakenly thought (more correctly-- I hoped) that the Nürburgring was here in town. No dice. The city of Nürburg, home of the 'Ring, is some 4 hours west of here, the city of Nürnburg-- one consonant off, darn the luck. FWIW, we do have a decent street course here, The Norisring, home to F3 and DTM racing. It is in an unusual location though... the old Nazi rally grounds. Gotta do something with the place, I guess.
http://www.etracksonline.co.uk/Europe/Germany/norisring.html
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