Museum Visit: Autostadt Wolfsburg

Autostadt is a major visitor attraction with a prime focus on automobiles located in Wolfsburg, Germany. This forum for mobility built by Volkswagen features a museum, pavilions for the principal automobile brands in the VW Group, a delivery center where customers can pick up new cars, and many more attractions.

Volkswagen and Wolfsburg are inseparably linked. The town of Wolfsburg in Lower Saxony was founded on 1 July 1938, as a model industrial town to house the new Volkswagen plant and its workers. To boost the company’s profile and the regional economy, the Volkswagen Group decided in the mid-90s to transform the city by building an automobile theme park. Construction of Autostadt, which is German for ‘Car City’ started in 1998 and the complex opened its doors in May 2000.

The automotive theme park is located next to the Volkswagen’s main factory and headquarters and attracts around 2 million visitors a year. According to visitor statistics, it is Germany’s second most popular experiential park. Autostadt is also regarded by the German National Tourism Board as one of Germany’s top ten tourism destinations.

Bugatti Veyron Autostadt Wolfsburg

Twenty-five hectares of rolling hills and lakes, together with some impressive architecture and design, form the background to the different attractions. One of these attractions is the ZeitHaus, which according to VW is the most frequently visited car museum in the world. Over 50 cars from all kind of manufacturers are on display to provide an overview of the most important eras in the development of the car.

Two transparent cylindrical buildings rising 48 meters or 150 feet above the grounds serves as landmarks for the Autostadt area. Each tower holds up to 400 cars on 20 levels and can process a car every 45 seconds during peak times. The cars are transported to their handover in the customer center, where an average of 550 vehicles are handed over each day which equals almost 200,000 cars each year, making it the largest car distribution center in the world.

Scattered around the area are seven pavilions dedicated to the automobile brands of the VW Group. The largest of these pavilions is the Volkswagen pavilion. Audi, Seat and Skoda are represented as well in their own pavilion. In these buildings it is possible to open and enter the cars, like the Audi R8 in which visitors can sit. Additionally there are some conceptual models on display.

The Lamborghini pavilion features a yellow Lamborghini Murciélago attached to the wall and rotates from the inside to the outside of the building. The pavilion for Bentley was built into a small hill and reassigned in 2008. Renamed the Premium Clubhouse, it represents the Volkswagen Group’s premium segment. Currently this building is home to a mirror finish Bugatti Veyron which featured on the frontpage before.

Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 35 Autostadt Wolfsburg

Furthermore Autostadt organizes driver trainings, an off-road driving entertainment, a boat trip around the area, many activities for children, exhibitions and festivals around the year. The automotive park is also home to the five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel, nine restaurants, two cinema’s and four shops.

Autostadt is not only interesting for those who like automobiles or the Volkswagen brand, but for almost every man or woman, from young to old. The different kind of attractions and displays, the architecture and landscape, the wide variety of events and activities, it all makes Autostadt to one of Germany’s greatest and most popular leisure destinations.

For more information visit the website of Autostadt.

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