My 9th day in Germany started off with another bus ride, this time to the Audi headquarters in Ingolstadt. This was a bit of a longer ride, so I took the opportunity to take a nap on the way there. To anyone going on this trip next year, a neck pillow is your best friend!
When we arrived at Audi, I was surprised by the sheer size of the campus. It seemed like we drove through the campus for a solid 5 minutes before reaching the building with the factory tour and the museum. Due to a limited number of spots on the factory tour, we split our group into two. The first group would be touring the factory while the other toured the museum, and then we’d switch. I was in the group that toured the museum first.
The museum had a bunch of different cars, ranging from Audi F1 cars to cars you’d see in the Great Gatsby. It was interesting to see how the designs developed over the years.
Before going on our tour, we of course had to stop at the gift shop. I got my dad an Audi TT book because he’s a big card nerd. When we did go on the tour, we had to lock our phones up so we didn’t take pictures or record anything, so no pictures from there! But on the tour, we got the opportunity to see cars being assembled from just the frame to a fully completed car. The sheer size of the assembly line was impressive, as well as the combination of automation and human labor.
After the factory tour, we had lunch at their cafeteria and it was very fancy. I would be breaking the bank if I ate here everyday! My friend and I shared a plate of currywurst, which was very good. After eating lunch, we headed back to the University of Augsburg for a talk from a business writer at Bloomberg. It was cool to see those insights about the automotive industry from an expert. After that, we headed back to the hotel and the program ended for the day.
After all of these factory tour, we’re always asked if we’d work for that company. I would definitely work for Audi. They seem like they have a good company culture, and this a company that has come a long way in the past 20 years.