Audi

Today we went to Ingostadt to pick up our new Audi. It was quite a production and they really went above and beyond to cater to our every whim. Even little details like a bottle of water were placed in the lone cup holder, and they took our photo with the new car and presented it to us minutes later.

We started with a tour of the museum, which housed a large range of cars. My favorites are always the concept cars where there is more attention paid to details and they are more unique.

We even saw the car from the Will Smith movie iRobot. It looked very sophisticated and high tech. I can't even imagine what people would think if they saw that driving down the street. According to our dealer it's not so sophisticated underneath.

Stefan was so excited to get our car that we chose to have lunch, then pick up our car, and finally go on the factory tour.

Our names came up on the screen and we were slightly surprised to also see Bayern Munich's own Lukas Podolski and Prof. Dr. Fritz Scherer - both from Bayern Munich. It appears they were also getting new cars today.

After being taught exactly how to work the car we were allowed to drive it out of the show room and park it among a sea of Audis that others had picked up. We commented on how well ours stood out among the rest and how beautiful it was. I figure it's similar to looking at babies in a nursery and knowing yours is the most precious.

What surprised me a little bit, after going on the Porsche tour in March, was that Audi does so much with machines. Stefan and I stood in awe and wonderment of how these machines work and who exactly designs them or puts them together. One was capable of creating as much pressure as 120,000 people jumping at once. This machine is what they use to press the steel / aluminum to create various parts. They said it's similar to an earth quake and had to be stabilized 60 meters underground. The Ingostadt factory is the same size as Monaco and has as many workers as Monaco has people.

Each machine strategically punched holes into things and lifted the various heavy car parts. I was quickly reminded why I hate sci-fi things... they scare me. It's intimidating to see what people are capable of creating. It makes sense that cars are expensive after the tell you about a multibillion Euro machine. They also said it takes 4 billion euros to research and develop a new car. I can't really comprehend that.


My favorite area is inevitably the color. Our guide even said a German singer had visited and asked them to match a shade of nail polish for her car color and they happily obliged. We went with the more traditional 'lava gray', which Stefan kindly allowed me to pick.

After a long Audi filled day the car dealer called and asked us to stop by to show him the car on the way home. He gave Stefan a nice pen set. I'm sure they are hoping to make life long Audi customers out of us.

I have to say the Porsche tour was more impressive because we could see people making the cars and the production wasn't as immense. I'm sure that would make my Dad proud. Regardless, we are very happy with the new addition to our family.

Porsche

My Dad is a Porsche enthusiast. He adores them. It was so nice to to have a special invitation to visit the factory and watch pieces go together of the 162 Porsches that are produced each day in Stuttgart. Only 162 are made daily, because their facilities are blocked in on all sides limiting their production. The factory is quite small and includes three floors through which the cars pass, as opposed to one enormous factory such as BMW's, that works on a direct line. The only other Porsche factories are in Finland and Leipzig, Germany.

I felt as if I was on a Sesame Street episode of 'how it's made', and in case there is anyone else that is interested I will try to give the tour justice. The workers spend 4 minutes 40 seconds at each of the 89 stations, the ninetieth station is a 1.5 million euro machine that lifts windshields to save worker's backs. I was surprised to only see a few woman in the entire plant.

Each car is custom made and there are different 'kits' that go with each car, designating all of the small options. One red dashboard was being made was for someone in Saudi Arabia, the next was tan for someone in Spain. He had even ordered leather vent louvers for his ventilation system. Each kit is able to be scanned and small things also designate where the car is headed. We were also told that in the US the dealers often order cars since Americans like immediate gratification.

There are also 1.6 billion variations including different leather colors and threads. What impressed me the most was the fact that 70% of Porsches ever made are still functioning. That's quite a comparison when the average in other brands, according to our guide, is 12%. They also custom make each and every single one on the same line. We saw Carrera's next to race cars and they are produced as the orders arrive, so they are mixed along the lines. That's quite impressive.


In the US, all cars must have yellow or orange reflectors on the sides behind the headlights. Our guide said that most people prefer the white and end up changing theirs after getting it registered. He also said the trendy colors are white and the new 'macadamia' (the chocolate brown above). We weren't able to take photos inside the plant and the only thing that we didn't see, was the painting, due to the fumes. The factory is spotless and the workers were enjoying the radio.


Loving color I was particularly drawn to those details. For example, when yellow is visible by the tires it has the most sophisticated ceramic calipers used in race cars. The red steel calipers are more common in the US, probably due to costs. The machines inside the factory are particularly sophisticated. One machine would transport parts by following a black line on the floor. If something was in it's way it would sense that and stop, which could in effect stop the factory line. Even being 5 minutes off will cost them 100,000€, however our guide assured us that the workers worked under conditions that were as stress free as possible. The lines did seem to move slowly, but I was on the spectator side.

One of my other favorite details was the leather cutter. A machine maps where the leather has flaws - even down to mosquito bite scars and then figures out how to lay out the items to be cut while creating the least amount of waste possible. What's more is that the leather is cut with water. They said this machine could easily cut off your fingers with 3,000 bars of pressure, compared to 100 bars of pressure at your typical car wash. The scraps they joked are then sent to the competitors. In actuality, the scraps are bought by wallet and small leather good manufacturers.


I'd say the highlights of their show room were the Speedster that looked really cute and vintage, and of course the Carrera GT. That will sent you back roughly 400,000€. Stefan's mom said she could see me in the Speedster and I would look like Audrey Hepburn with a little scarf around my head. I can dream.


My only complaint was that their museum is not so wonderful, however they are in the process of building something similar to BMW's, which I am sure will be more like a gallery. The new museum will be completed sometime in 2009, so I will pencil my Dad in for a visit around that time. By the looks of the construction, it will be quite a show room.


Our trip didn't end in Stuttgart. We were also happy to stop in Augsburg, and visit some of our familiar places. Especially Stefan's old apartment and a delicious little Italian restaurant called Il Porchino. It was slightly strange being back, but it was so nice that some things haven't changed such as Martkauf having the best ciabatta and Il Porchino serving up wonderful gnocci norma's (eggplant and mozzarella).

The history of Augsburg is really interesting since it was a major trade route. The ciabatta is a testament of that. I think the ingredients come straight from Italy.