The day has finally come upon us, the last factory tour; I don’t think we could’ve ended on a much better note. We went through the regular routine: wake up, breakfast, sleep on the bus, and make our way off to Audi headquarters. We showed up a little bit early, so we took some time to shop around and see some of the cars they had on display, including a Lamborghini Huracan. It felt weird standing in front of a car more valuable than anything I own by a significant margin, but very cool nonetheless.
After getting over the shock and awe of just how cool the cars on the outside were, we got ready to head inside for the factory tour. The feeling with Audi was immediately different than the other companies we had experienced. We started off by receiving both an earpiece and a modified phone that played videos to give more context to the things that were being explained by our tour guide. There was a premium feel about everything Audi did, from the pleasantries to the actual production floor.
We began our tour by seeing how the metal was shaped into what would eventually become a luxury car. We were a bit late for our BMW tour, so we didn’t get the full experience there, and the metal pressing was one of the things that had to be sadly cut out. This, however, wasn’t all bad, as I got to experience something unique on this tour immediately, and it was really neat. The whole floor shook, and the metal was compressed down, and the KUKA robots moved each sheet seamlessly into place.
After taking in the metal pressing, we saw how Audi ensured each paint coat was perfect, a far more meticulous process than one would initially expect. After these small sections, we got to the meat and potatoes of the Audi factory, the actual car production.
The efficiency of this factory was absurd; from cars suspended on production lines above, to some being worked on right where we stood, we got to see how each car is made from start to finish. While similar in practice to BMW, the tour itself stood out from BMW, claiming the number one spot on my list of tours.
After we finished up seeing how the cars were made, we stopped for lunch in the Audi headquarters, which, shockingly, was both cheap and delicious. After finishing up our food, we headed into the museum, which, unlike the tour, was definitely not better than BMW’s.
Audi’s museum acted more like a time capsule for some of the company’s most prolific cars, but lacked a lot of context, which was given at BMW. The best way that I could put it would be: Audi’s museum is designed for people who have an existing interest in their cars, while BMW’s museum paints a picture of their history that any passerby would be able to see and appreciate.
After we finished up, we got back on the bus for the last time before our trip to the airport and got ready for our presentation the following day.