Cameron

Volkswagen is just putting the finishing touches on a new facility next to its Wolfsburg headquarters. This multi-million-dollar campus contains sites for each of the VW brands: Audi, SEAT, Skoda, VW, Bugatti, Bentley, and Lamborghini.

In addition, two cylindrical buildings now flank the hold headquarters. These new buildings are glass and more than a dozen stories tall. Inside, a robot system brings palletized cars from the delivery caches inside these buildings down to the ground level for delivery. From the outside, the buildings are nearly transparent with various cars awaiting delivery (Bentleys, VW's, etc.) stored in small "pockets" within this two-building warehouse system.

Customers will still have a choice as to where delivery is taken to preserve the individual character of each brand.

Delivery sites (tenative list):

VW
* Wolfsburg

Bentley
* Wolfsburg
* Old Azure Manufacturing at Crewe
* Central Delivery at London

Bugatti
* Wolfsburg
* Molsheim

Audi
* Wolfsburg
* Ingolstadt

Lamborghini, SEAT, and Skoda will continue using their factory sites as primary delivery with Wolfsburg serving more as a "headquarters" than a branding site for these marques.

The displays and buildings for each brand were designed and constructed by two companies that worked with Disney World to build the present theme park update.

The campus will be open for full delivery use in May and be fully completed in June.

I was offered a chance to tour the facility in late May and if anyone (Jason Teller?) would be planning to do some investigative reporting I'm sure they would be welcome to come along. I thought this would interest the forum members as a strong first step in more aggressive brand management among the VW-owned marques.

Cameron

Nordschleife

Whatever happened to Neckarsulm?
Cameron, boy, you do take the biscuit for gall, you and half the world have been invited along. VW expect most Bentleys, Lambos, Bugattis and... to be picked up from major centres in Germany by Germans. Otherwise Italians will go to Sant' Agata for their Lambos and so on.
VW PR bull**** is no different from anybody else's. Who want's to pick up a $US250,000 car from a vending machine - well I guess anybody who goes to Disney World!

Cameron

Most Lamborghini owners are SCARED to see the methods by which Diablos are assembled (even worse would be to see VW/Audi Gyor assembly compared to the Lambo plant)...

The idea that there is some standardization into sporting and luxury brands is a powerful idea, and I think this delivery facility is probably the only way to bring that idea across to the average buyer.

E.G.:

Economy ----- Luxury ----- Sport
Seat ----- VW ------ Audi
Skoda ----- Bentley ----- Bugatti
?????? ----- ?????? ----- Lamborghini

Will a Spaniard buy a Seat over a Skoda? You bet. Will a Frenchman buy a Bugatti over a Lamborghini? You bet. Will a Briton buy a Bentley over a VW? You bet.

A central delivery facility with a skilled sales staff would allow VW to take advantage of nationalist prejudices and still bring a centralization to the brand - something it certainly needs...

Just my $0.02 on the propaganda,
Cameron