vuduvida

I returned from a week in Germany yesterday. Some activities from the trip relevant to share here include visiting the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche factories/showrooms/museums in Stuttgart and the BMW facilities in Munich.

As my friend and I walked several blocks to the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen (a suburb of Stuttgart), we regularly saw factory fresh 911s and Boxsters covered with paint protectors being raced through the streets of the town as part of their final quality check. At their nearby showroom, there were some incredible vehicles for sale, many with options not available in the US. They had used vehicles also and most seemed like a relative steal with the current Euro conversion rate. The salesperson said none were US emissions compliant though. The Porsche museum had an odd display of vehicles that focused mostly on their race cars. The Mercedes museum was very comprehensive with everything from the "very first automobile" on display to airplane engines along with their latest auto lineup. The new SL 500 on display was my favorite .

We drove to Munich after Stuttgart where we visited the BMW headquarters the following day (this past Friday). It's an impressive building design that's shaped to represent four cylinders of an engine. We went through their museum and got on the waiting list for their factory tour. I was surprised but ecstatic to hear that there were two no-shows, which allowed us to join the 2 1/2 hour tour.

The tour is not an insulated and sugar-coated video tour; we were actually on the factory floor where the 3-series cars are built, standing next to rows of huge stamping presses that literally shook the floor and close enough to large robotic welding machines to get hit by sparks flying from them. It was actually a little intimidating being so close to such large fast-moving robots. I find it hard to believe that they even offer such a tour as there were several potential dangerous spots along the way and also because we were nothing but a nuisance to the line workers. Many just leered at us as we went from one area to another. It was obvious that they'd be happy for the company to stop the tours since we were distracting and even blocking their way at several points. We saw the entire production process from the start of the cars as a large roll of sheet-metal all the way to the final quality check were every car is tested at the equivalent of 140 mph on a dyno type device. The Final Check area is a very large room completely filled with fresh cars continually being zipped around from one section to another. I'm surprised they don't run into each other more often as hectic as things were in there but our tour guide said problems rarely happen. Each 3-series car takes 30 hours to be transformed from rolled sheet metal to a drivable car (last I read, Porsche takes 90 hours to assemble a 911 since it's a less automated process). Roughly 850 cars and 1200 engines a day are produced at the Munich plant during two nine-hour shifts. When the plant was built, it was in farmlands but since the city has grown around it and they needed more capacity, they built multiple layers to the factory. There were many automated lifts that moved pieces from floor to floor along the production line.

It was interesting to see that in the employee break areas, they had beer dispensing machines in addition to soda dispensing machines. I asked our tour guide about this and she confirmed that drinking on the job is acceptable(!). Afterwards, they took us to the employee lunchroom for free beverages and then to the employee store where we could buy trinkets and shirts. This tour made me realize how little human effort actually goes into piecing together the car. I'd imagine that the greatest amount of effort goes into R&D to design the specs for the cars and the programming for all the robotic machinery. Humans do much of the interior installation manually but a large portion of the other processes is automated.

I asked about their Euro Delivery program (where you buy your car directly from the factory and save a bundle) and the guide said they were building a new facility for the program that would be much more impressive than their current facility. It will be ready in mid-2003 for '04 cars.

We drove over 1000 miles on this trip and most of those were on the Autobahn. Their freeway system is an incredible display of disciplined driving. People take driving very seriously there. It was a weird feeling to be cruising at the equivalent of 120 mph and have no worries about police. My friend said that each attempt at completing the test to get a driver's license there costs a minimum of $2000 dollars. It costs more if you need more training. You get three attempts to pass in a year. She said her friend spent over $3000 dollars on training but failed the test. She gave up after that and was still out the $3000. Plus, they have very strict inspections on cars there to maintain high levels of safety. Out of the hundreds of cars I saw while driving, I remember seeing only about three Hondas. Japanese cars have a small fraction of a percentage of the market. Not surprisingly, I saw mostly Mercedes, BMWs and Audis. Clunkers don't exist there either. People have a sense of pride in their cars.

It was an interesting and fun trip. I posted a bunch of pics here: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=4292036797

Here's one of my favorite shots...

typeR

very cool...

mattg

Cool stuff, thanks for sharing.

Generationz

i spent a few hours touring their plant about 5 years ago , they did not allow our tour such a detailed glimpse into their production and assembly line ...i guess things have changed. Nonetheless i agree 100% as to the quality of the roads and driver attitude europe has ... its almost like a different world and as a matter of fact its against the law to drive a clunker there if your car is ugly u need a new one or you will be cited and booted until either repair is done or a new car is purchased. Holland is similar but not as strict however Europeans are very different when it comes to standards of their autos .Funny cause amsterdam is so damn crowded its almost impossible to drive everyone has a bike and even your bike needs to be maintained to code

God bless America

vuduvida

Was it the factory behind the headquarters that you visited? I think the plant was changed considerably when they introduced the new 3-series back in '99. Maybe they changed the tour in conjunction with that.

The only things we didn't get to see first-hand were the engine assembly area and the painting areas due to contamination concerns. They had a high-tech room where they spent about 10 minutes explaining the painting process. Other than that, we were so close to the line that the guide told us not to talk to the workers. Many places, you could reach out and touch the moving pieces (but probably get tossed off the tour in the process).

The nice thing about Amsterdam (and most other large European cities) is that the inner-city rail system is so efficient that that there really is no need to own a car there. And the bike is useful, as you said.

Sypher

What the hell kind of little orange car is that in the background?
I think I've found my project car.

Generationz

i think thats a renault twingo i could be wrong they look similar

bioyuki

Nope its a SMART car.

Chaptorial

Wow awesome post! My parents went to Germany a few years ago and also drove on the Autobahn. They said they were doing 110+ and were getting blown by.

Isn't their one lane (far left) only for passing, your not even allowed to cruise in it at any speed??

Sypher

Ah yes! Found another pic on their site. I think this would look great parked next to my CL.

Red Nj-s

Hot pictures, nice story to go along with it. I especially love the 911 rollin on black wheels with a chrome lip. That is smooth.

rise

looks like a hypermini to me

bioyuki

Mini is owned by BMW. SMART is owned by DaimlerChryslar.

vuduvida

That's the way it's supposed to work and many followed that rule obsessively, jumping over in the right lane even for the shortest distances between cars that were obviously going to be passed. On some of the longer stretches where we'd all be going roughly the same speed, sometimes you get lazy and cruise in the left lane for a ways. If the guy behind you quickly jumps over from the left lane, you'd better also do the same as that usually meant someone was coming up from behind at bullet speeds. Another rule that was strictly followed was never to pass on the right side. Flashing brights, using the horn aggressively and even making aggressive hand gestures at others are all illegal. Giving a dirty look is not a problem though and I got a couple of those while doing newbie things in city areas.

Yep, that one that caught my eye also. I took a shot of it’s spec sheet and you can see that the price on it was 79,900 Euros (roughly a bit less than $70,000) and had only 8,500 KM on the odometer.