The glass building behind us is actually a factory for assembling Volkswagen Phaeton. It only does that and the cars you can see are all spoken for – they’re just awaiting for the owner to pick it up. We went on a tour of the transparent assembly plant in Dresden as part of our trip and it was surprisingly interesting!
This is our English speaking guide – you must have a guide with you when you tour the VW transparent factory and no photos are allowed inside.
You can hear her speak a little here.
However, you can take photos outside of the assembly area. This entire factory assembles Volkswagen Phaetons only. It’s fully customizable in Dresden, Germany. This is where people come to buy a Phaeton – you’re guided to an area where you can choose everything from the color of the car to the interior features and get your own customized VW Phaeton.
I was rather astounded by the sheer cleanliness of the factory – it’s totally unlike any other factory I’ve ever been to before. The employees even have white overalls that are spotless! I don’t know how the Germans do it but we could learn a thing or two from them.
The interesting thing about this factory is that it’s one-of-a-kind. The buyer experience it offers and the tall glass building combined with the robots makes this unique. There are automated carts that follows a magnetic path (which can be changed) along the factory floor so parts will be available to the staff when needed.
You’ll probably be wondering how they get the cars out of the tall transparent building – it’s automated! There’s a car lift that goes up to the floor you want and rotates to the segment you want to extract a particular car (always a Phaeton since that’s what this factory produces). Very nifty.
There’s also a huge sphere where you can watch commercials, old ads and so forth – watch out for the latest one, it’s quite funny and targeted towards the Asian market since it’s the largest market now. The Volkswagen Phaeton transparent factory is worth a visit if you’re ever in Dresden. It’s a remarkable example of German efficiency and one of the attractions in Dresden – it’s the only transparent factory of this scale here.
I don’t think the Volkswagen Phaeton luxury sedan is coming to Malaysia in it’s current form e.g. infinitely customizable so purchasing the car is an experience in itself. However, it might be coming (don’t quote me on this) in several preset models – check out the Volkswagen Malaysia Facebook page and ask, they’re more qualified to speak about this than me. 🙂
dude i wake up and see this? you’re making me real jealous with this transparent factory visit. i own a volkswagen golf if the phaeton comes and it’s customisable i’ll change cars.
p/s kidding dude, thanks for sharing your visit its very interesting for car enthusiasts like me 🙂
Heh. It’s a very interesting factory not just for car enthusiasts but for everyone. 🙂
I believe it’s the largest transparent assembly factory in the world and an attraction in Dresden.
Glad you liked it, I’ve got more posts from Germany coming up, including car stuff. 😀
Hello,
I don’t know you but thank you for the information. I am actually planning to go on a car factory tour with my 12 years old son at the beginning of August. Have you looked into or visited other car factory/museum? There is BMW in Munich, Mercedes in Stuttgart and VW has also Automuseum in Wolfsburg. There are in different areas of Germany and we only have 7 days to visit in all. Any suggestions.
Hey there Yves!
I’ve been to the Volkswagen Autostadt in Wolfsburg – it’s great, if you have a 12 year old son, he’ll probably enjoy a section that’s meant for his age group. You actually learn the basics of driving in various numbered small replica VW Beetles with a large screen in front of it…
…and then you get to do the real thing by driving a miniaturized version of the VW outside, under proper adult supervision of course. It’s electric powered. 🙂
There’s also a lot of other interesting pavilions there – Lamborghini etc where they showcase their cars, some with very interactive displays.
Anyway, I haven’t been to the others – only the VW ones in Wolfsburg and Dresden, so I can’t comment on BMW and Mercedes.
Hope you had fun mate! 🙂
Their cars certainly don’t look like those beetles of theirs in the past any longer. Transparent? They have glass walls, I can see that. Glass floors too and you can see through at what they’re doing at the lower level? Eyewwwww…..!!!! No, thank you. I’ve a phobia for such things. LOL!!!
Yeah the Phaeton is a premium luxury sedan – this place only assembles that and it’s infinitely customizable – you can choose everything from color to features.
I’ve got a video of another transparent factory in Wolfsburg, now that would really induce vertigo coz I went up on the lift. Heh. 🙂
The phaeton is an absolute masterpiece but it’s found itself in a segment with the likes of Jaguar XJ, S Class, 7 Series and its own sister brand, the Audi A8. Most of the potential buyers can’t get over the brand value which is why I suspect bringing the Phaeton in won’t be a great idea after all.
That aside, we actually have cars on the Malaysian roads that share underpinnings with this Phaeton. It’s the Bentley Continental GT and Flying Spur. The price, however isn’t so friendly for common folks like me 🙁
I think there is already a couple of Phaetons here as Paul Tan mentioned.
However I’m not sure whe they’re doing it large scale though, gotta check with the VW Malaysia Facebook for that.
The value is there – the buying experience in itself is quite interesting in Dresden.
Thanks for the info. Let’s see how it pans out in Malaysia when the Phaeton comes in. 🙂
Toyota of Japan and BMW of Germany have recently expanded their alliance, and the Axis powers shall arise once again….
Heh. That’s an interesting way to put it.
Axis powers, it’s a long time ago bro and the Germans are really confronting it heads on instead of denying it ever happened – a very good thing to move forward. 🙂
damn that last shot is uber cool.
Thanks Xinxian!
I thought the shot was pretty cool too – one of the good shots I took due to a combination of nice weather and the camera. 🙂
I want to visit dresden too!
Yeah you should, it’s a very interesting small town steeped with history for the Allied bombings.
It’s still a bit of a sensitive topic, a lot of older Germans feel aggrieved coz the bombing happened after and in a civilian populated area. 😡
what an eye-opening experience eh!
Yeah it is!
I love the efficiency of the Germans and everything is so clean and there’s a lot of cool stuff like robots which moves part in a box that runs on invisible magnetic rails and the entire factory itself is über cool, love the transparent facade. 🙂
that car park thingy looks like a vending machine for men!
Indeed!
All guys would love the factory, and females too. It’s very interesting and the buying experince for th Phaeton is extremely well done. 🙂
I’ve seen a Phaeton in Malaysia.
http://paultan.org/2012/01/21/2011-volkswagen-phaeton-facelift-spied-on-trailer-in-malaysia/
Nice! 🙂
Thanks for sharing bro – I’ve heard there are a couple of Phaetons on Malaysia, but it’s not available for mass distribution yet.
Anything customizable is tempting cos everyone wants something that suits their needs 😀
Yeah, and you really get a unique buying experince at the transparent VW Phaeton factory in Dresden.
We were shown the process and it’s very cool concept. The sedan is luxurious too with lots of nifty features you can opt for if you want it. 🙂
This has to be one of the worst written articles I have seen in a long, long time.
The idea that Volkswagen sponsored SixthSeal to go all the way to Germany is insane. I’m beginning to question their PR and Marketing departments’ ability to do their jobs, because I can throw a stick in the air and it’ll land on someone more capable of writing than this plonker.
Unless, of course, their intention was to get someone like this on their team, as if to say ‘Yes, any idiot can do it.’ In which case, it is apparent to me that ANY idiot can get sponsored by a multi-billion dollar international automotive company.
Despite mentioning FOUR TIMES that the factory is in Dresden, the writer did not ONCE elaborate on the towns’ 800-year-old history, or its heritage in arts and craftsmanship. The writer also failed to touch on the other, more interesting aspects of the factory, such as the manner in which the cars are built, the fully-adjustable work stations, and the limitless timeframe in which Phaetons are made.
I would also like to point out that while the moronic writer mentions repetitively the “unique buying experience,” but only goes as far as to say you can choose the exterior colour, interior trim, and features. Uh, I’m quite certain that you can choose the colour of an Alza, the interior trim (be it cloth or leather or that new stuff, Luxvelvet), and I can specify whether I’d like things like GPS, interior mood lighting, etc.
It seems to me that Volkswagen has wasted a great deal of money on this idiot, which is an absolute shame. I’m fairly certain that if I were bothered enough to dig, I could find some connection between the writer and VW Malaysia’s marketing and PR team. Because no one this dumb gets an opportunity this elaborate without some strings being pulled.
This is ridiculous. Please shoot yourself in the foot before you start writing again. Because this is simply a defiling of the English language.
That will be in an upcoming post. 🙂
I’ve yet to write about that part of the Volkswagen visit – there’s more to be told – the factory visit was very enlightening, and the bits of Dresden – well, let’s just say that that alone would make a lot of posts! I love Dresden, the historical bombings and how it affected the city as a whole, these are all separate posts.
I believe that people’s attention spans in this social media era is short – have you heard of the term TL,DR? 😉
Too long, didn’t read.
Anyway, I find your comment to be rather interesting, why do you feel so much angst and disdain? Unless it was to showcase your knowledge about the cars, it almost makes me feel that you have a personal issue with me.
You gotta admit, your comments are very personal in nature – I usually don’t reply trolls and personal attacks like this, but I feel that the problem lies with you, my friend, not the post. 🙂
Wow! This is really an amazing trip!~
Yeah, it’s a lot of fun! 🙂
Dresden is a beautiful place! I love it!