Today we went to one of Audi’s manufacturing plants. I was so excited that I woke up before my alarm even went off. I had my usual breakfast and then we were off. I spent the entire bus ride thinking about what I was going to see and also by watching Breaking Bad (highly recommend). We then got to the factory and immediately had to put our cell phones in lockers since they wanted absolutely 0 photos being taken of the inside of the plant. We first went through the pressing stations, where we saw tons of sheet metal being pressed into different shapes like the hoods of cars and frames of doors. Every time the machine pressed a plate we could feel the vibrations in the ground. It was that powerful. We then took a tour through the rest of the plant, where we saw a highly automated production line that started with the basic engine and ended with an entirely finished car. The line itself was snakelike in structure where different parts were added to the engine, painted, screwed together, and finally released from the production line. However, we went at a very unfortunate time since the factory was taking their lunch break while we were touring, so we didn’t really see much of the line or the robots in action. Even though nothing was happening while we toured, I would still say this was my favorite production line of the trip due to the sheer scale and complexity of it. After the tour we were allowed to look at and enter some of the cars that they had at a showcase in one of their buildings. They had ICE, electric, and sports models that all had that new car smell and looked and felt great.

We were then let lose to walk around their automotive museum. The structure of the place was very interesting since the higher up you went in the museum, the farther back in time you went. Therefore we started at the very top of the museum, looking at all of the ancient cars and bikes that Audi used to make. Going down one floor took us to the late 20th century and early 2000’s. This section felt more familiar to me since I knew some of the models that they were showcasing. I couldn’t help but think about how my dad would be geeking out if he was there with me (he is a HUGE car guy, especially for old cars and luxury ones).

The level under (also the final level) showed the present and future of Audi cars. It had more futuristic looking cars and some of their sports cars. They also had a showcase on the history of car lights in this level, which showed the progression of Audi’s headlights and tail lights from their first car to present and future innovations. I took some pictures with these cars since luxury cars are my style (McLaren 570 is my dream car).

We ended our day at Audi by eating some German food at their cafeteria and listening to a presentation about Audi and their plans for the future. We talked about changes in the automotive market and the company’s plans for adapting to the increased demand in electric vehicles and decrease in demand for conventional combustion. We also discussed sustainability processes and their plan to become completely green by 2026. During this presentation I noticed that even though Audi is an OEM, they have similar processes in regards to adapting to changes in the automotive market. However, we were told to refrain from talking about company plans for legal reasons, so I can not go into too much depth about that.

After leaving Audi we arrived at the University of Augsburg, where we talked to an expert on the European automotive industry from Bloomberg. He talked to us about the major competition between VW, Stellantis, and other players. We talked about how political and societal changes in markets around the world like in China created a multitude effects on market shares and competition, and other very fascinating topics about business in the automotive sector. We ended our day by eating food at a Vietnamese restaurant and going to sleep early. We are touring Munich tomorrow and I am very excited!