I took a day trip down to Wolfsburg from Berlin today with the others. It’s about an hour by train.
We had first class tickets thanks to Volkswagen Malaysia – it’s 76 Euros each way. The train travels quite fast though, the display says 135 km/h so I reckon it’s about 135 km away from Berlin. 😉
This is an interesting city primarily coz it won’t exist without the auto industry. The Autostadt (literally “auto city” in German) is the reason the city has prospered back in the day.
Interesting trivia: The roof area of the Autostadt is larger than the entire Principality of Monaco!
It was the bit of trivia that stuck the most to me. Heh.
I collect facts like this coz I’m a bit of a general knowledge freak. Aud is like that too, I guess we’re just one of those people who absorbs the most random facts like a sponge.
Unlike her, I usually get it wrong when I regurgitate the facts though. Haha.
Anyway, the Volkswagen group owns nine brands – Volkswagen, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Audi, Bentley and several others. I was quite surprised by this. I didn’t know Lamborghini was owned by them.
There are a lot of pavilions representing each car brand in Autostadt. The factory itself has its own doctors, restaurants, and stuff like that. There are several pavilions worth mentioning.
Bugatti. This beautiful and large (from the outside) pavilion only has one car. Yes, it’s the Bugatti Veyron.
Lamborghini also has a single car in their pavilion but what made it truly awesome is the intense hardstyle music playing with smoke and strobing lights. You gotta check out this video to experience what it feels like.
The car also flips to the outside, I didn’t know until after we went out and I took a photo of the car and asked Nigel to help take a photo of me with the car and the car flipped back inside, leaving a blank wall. Nifty.
Volkswagen has a pavilion that features two very interesting cars:
The new Beetle. No, not the Beetle from the Das Auto show in Malaysia last year, this is the latest one that hasn’t hit our shores yet.
[Edit: My mistake, it’s the same one that VW brought to Malaysia last year. It’s still not for sale in Malaysia though.]
A custom Up! electric car.
I reckon it looks a lot better than the stock version. 😀
Up! also isn’t available in Malaysia yet, so I got a 4GB USB drive for 13.30 Euros (about RM 52). I collect thumb drives and I also tend to buy souvenir t shirts when I travel. I usually don’t wear them, I have a Stonehenge t shirt that I haven’t even opened from my backpacking trip to London a couple of years back.
Anyway, the Volkswagen pavilion also has an interactive screen where you can put in your name, email address and make a music video out of it and send it to yourself. It’s part of their Think Blue initiative.
I intentionally didn’t use English even though that option was available. I used German to muddle my way though. Heh.
Posted: 8:32 am Wolfsburg time (GMT +2)
bro, it’s the same Beetle we saw in last year’s Das Auto event, but the 1 in Wolfsburg might be a different edition Beetle 🙂
My mistake, thanks for the correction bro. 🙂
It’s a custom new Beetle but the same as the one featured in last years Das Auto show. 😀
Unfortunately, it’s still not for sale in Malaysia though.
haha welcome 🙂 hope it will be in Malaysia soon!
Yeah, it’s coming soon, not sure when though but the VW Facebook page will announce it! 🙂
Any apple green mini-beetle? My daughter’s hoping to get one someday. I guess I would not be able to get in, I’m afraid…LOL!!!
Hello Arthur! 🙂
I’m not sure if they’re bringing in the apple green color to Malaysia…maybe they’ll post it on their FB page when it comes here.
Haha. I’m sure you can, it’s surprisingly roomy. 😀
Your daughter will have a very eye catching Beetle with that color. 🙂
Awesome cars in their own country, hope can get there one day 🙂
Yeah, it’s amazing to see the Wolfsburg Autostadt.
One in 5 cars sold in Europe is one of the 9 brands there.
I’m sure you can, enjoy the trip when you come here bro. 🙂
Oh my Goodness, I likey both of the white-colored cars! Looks so cutteee and sporty!
The first one was built ages ago. Heh.
The second one is the VW up! It hasn’t been confirmed whether it’s coming to Malaysia though coz it’s a fully electric car and Malaysia can’t support that yet.
I like it too, got the USB drive for that. 🙂
But never deny the possibility of it. =D Hopefully by then, we the interested parties will be able to afford the VW Beetle…
Yeah, it would be awesome! 🙂
…possibly in the near future when the infrastructure for electric cars is up for it. 😀
Never mind my lack of interest in cars, but being in another country, like Germany, is so cool! 😀
Heh! Yeah, it’s always fun to travel!
I like going to different places, have to miss one in about two weeks but will make up for it by going to Nepal and Philippines next month! 🙂
Dude, if our CM’s son had it his way, Pek Moh would have owned Bugatti.
Haha! Yeah, I bet he would have. 😉
HB, San Francisco now have charging posts all over the city for the electric cars. It very popular due gas price is high still. I will convert to electric car from my Benz I drive now turn it into electric. Why give up my car yet. Having it turn electric save it and recycle the my car to use again.
Hey, that’s great! 🙂
In Germany, I saw ratings for each Volkswagen car according to carbon emissions and environmental friendliness. Good concept! 😀
Cool its nice that u visited other smaller cities of Germany apart from the well trodden Munich,berlin
btw nice to be commenting on your blog again, its been a while =D
Hey there Brian! 🙂
Yeah, it’s fun to visit the nooks and crannies of every single country, not just the path well traveled. It’s thanks to VW Malaysia that I got to visit Wolfsburg. It’s a nice little town, totally based on car manufacturing and exports. 😀
Vickie is GRO in San Fran ah?