It was a bit of a drive until we finally reached the Audi plant and museum in Ingolstadt! I was really looking forward to this day, as I was especially interested to see the final production of luxury cars. We split off in to 2 groups: one did the museum first then the site visit and vice versa. My group went to the museum first.
The museum had so many cool features, like the elevator taking you to the top floor, which was to mark Audi’s beginnings. As you worked your way down, the cars got increasingly more modern. The top floor had cars from what must’ve been the early-mid 1900s. This floor was probably my favorite, as all the cars were so old but so classic.
The next floor was a few decades after, and the same for the last floor. But what was interesting about the last floor is that the cars were extremely futuristic, despite being made around the 1970s. They were very intiguing to see, and not at all what I pictured Audi to have ever manufactured. After the museum tour, we made a stop at the gift shop and waited to go on our site visit.
We began our sit visit by seeing some really cool new Audi models, one in which I sat in! We then got a short presentation on some warehouse basics and began our tour throughout the factory. I loved seeing the road system they had throughout, in which you’d see all kinds of vehicles driving on. We saw different steps in the assembly process. One thing I learned about in the process was arguably the most important step, known as the “marriage.” This is when vital mechanical components, like the engine, are put into the car. This was such a cool thing to witness! I also loved seeing their display on what goes into making the car pigments, and how they make some of their signature colors.
After our site visit, we all had lunch at the Audi cafeteria. They had a surprising amount of so many different options, all of which we unique and not at all what I expected from a workplace cafeteria! It was absolutely delicious. Soon after, we headed back to the hotel.
My favorite car I saw in the museum!
One of the very futuristic Audi models
The outside of Audi. Their motto translates to “advantage through technology.” This is a big theme so far on our trip!
Me in a brand new Audi EV model!