A centralized orders registerThis is not everythingWomen make their entry in the AfepMedef codeIt does not endanger economic recovery remains fragileYesterday the Allianz title progressed from 0Filmmaker directed a film either complaisant or load50 Biffle has been up and down this yearFor one Gaborik missed all but 17 games last seasonHold onto him and hope he gets back on the field soon2 and at Loudon Kevin Harvick will be drivingJudge Chalfant denied their motion on a technicalityMost come here by train. A one-way in Pocket, they wear only luggage a backpack which exceed two new number plates. Couples with a young child travel, them, with a baby seat. They stop all there, on the docks without end of the station without charm of Wolfsburg, which has a view of the immense Volkswagen factory. Wolfsburg ought to be renamed "Volksburg", both the fate of this sad industrial city is linked to the main European automobile manufacturer. This is that VW has decided to build in 1938 assembly lines similar to those that Henry Ford had installed in his complex of River Rouge, Michigan. When expansion, this plant in Brown brick became a city in the city. An area of 6.5 square kilometres, it is as great as Gibraltar. And its roof could house the Principality of Monaco... Every day, 3,000 to 3,500 Golf, Tiguan and Touran out of its assembly lines employing nearly 48.000 people.
For decades, visitors were still rare in this lost part of Lower Saxony. The place is, it is true, away from everything and everyone. The first interesting city, Hanover, lies 85 kilometres. But, in ten years, Wolfsburg has become the second main tourist destination in Germany, just behind the theme park Europa Park. It hosts more than 6,000 visitors each day. On weekends, the crowd often reaches 55,000 people. Most of the curious even not be pass through downtown. They all cross the bridge which passes over the tracks and the longest canal of Germany, the Mittelandkanal, to join the huge lobby of the Autostadt.
Communication tool
The city of the automobile is the culmination of the somewhat crazy dream of Ferdinand Piëch. The grandson of Ferdinand Porsche took the idea, in 1994, to transform an area of 25 hectares, until then occupied by a parking lot and a coal Depot, in a sort of "Volks-wagenland". "The Autostadt should both be a communication tool for all brands of the Group and become the largest centre of distribution of automobiles in the world", summarizes Beate Harris, who worked there for ten years.
After two years of work and sunk EUR 430 million, the Autostadt was inaugurated June 1 2000, day of the opening of the world exhibition in Hanover. "Everything had been planned to accommodate one million visitors per year, recalls Bart Weymaere, a Belgian who guide visitors on the site. But the journalists said that we could ourselves lucky with 500,000 people. All these estimates proved to be much too conservative. The first twelve months, we received 2.3 million of curious. "In a decade, more than 20 million automotive enthusiasts travelled to Wolfsburg. Almost a quarter of these visitors came to find their new car.
Every day, about 550 cars are collected by their owners. "38 of VW sold in Germany are distributed here," says Bart Weymaere. ". Last year, more than 200,000 vehicles and were assigned to their buyers. "Several reasons drivers to travel in Lower Saxony. "Coming here, we do not pay shipping costs charged by our dealer, says Felix Hartmann, a Berliner at the wheel of his new Passat." This allows us to save nearly 1,000 euros. ""With this money, we can offer two beautiful days at the Autostadt, said Filip Bodengesser. And then retrieve his car here is a beautiful experience.
Daycare and concerts
The constructor has a cons-destroyed two towers glass of 48 metres in height, each containing 400 cars. Giant lifts come retrieve new cars before descending into a tunnel where an automatic carpet leads them to the distribution centre. There, owners are guided for 30 minutes by an employee cravaté to discover their new vehicle. Customers with a little time before they can spend a night in the Ritz Carlton, built on the site. "It is 5 stars in the filled chain in the world," says Beate Harris.
The Autostadt is also a marketing tool for Volkswagen. The brands Audi, Lamborghini, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen, Bugatti and VW utility vehicles have each a thematic Pavilion. The idea is to lure the barge, because market research showed that 20 of visitors to the city of the car quickly wanted to buy a new car. The site also houses a museum which includes 200 models of 50 different brands. To fill the small blond heads (62 of visitors come with their children), the constructor offers to spend their first licence in a drop-in Centre. A festival of music and dance is also organized every year. Sting will be moving in May.
Within a decade, the Autostadt has become one of the most popular tourist centres in Germany. The last bet to win for VW is to attract foreigners, who represent only 9 of the visitors. Do move a Parisien or a Roman in the tristounette Wolfsburg, however, is not a simple matter...
The Autostadt in pictures on lesechos.fr/diaporamalesechos.fr/diaporama
