A Photo Tour of the Transparent Factory in Dresden [TOC, Photos done]

[PanEuropean]

Quote, originally posted by 2002turboS »

If and when I win the lottery, will I be able to import one to me?

It would probably take all the money you won in the lottery to get a MY 2007 Phaeton accepted for registration in the USA, because VW themselves will not be doing the emissions approval for the MY 2007 Phaetons. In practice, this means you will have to content yourself with finding a nice 2004, 2005 or 2006 Phaeton that has already been imported into the USA by VW of America.

Michael

[bill1975]

I know this is an old thread, but I just now sat down and read through the whole thing.

Absolutely stunning. I would love to see this factory in person sometime. It resembles anything BUT a car manufacturing plant. Hopefully the attention to detail given to Phaeton production will, at some point, rub off on the rest of VW's products.

[culverwood]

The light fittings at the Transparent factory are by Siteco (a German lighting company owned by JP Morgan). I know this because one of their guys just showed me a publicity brochure with pictures of their floodlights aimed upwards and reflecting off mirrors above the Phaeton production line. He said he had never seen one since so I was able to prove they do exist.

William

[Vanatge]

That is an impressive car plant! Fantastic pics. When I visited the Geneva motorshow I left saying to myself, (like each year...) if I could drive off with one car from the show, what would it be? This year it was definetly the Phaeton. I never really had a propper look, but the W12 that was in the VW stand was most impressive. Definetly the nicest car in the show, and definetly a car I would buy if i needed a bigger car.

Sorry for posting in an old thread, Im new to the forum and Im just lurking arround...lots of great info!

best,
Danny

[JrodVW]

Was this ever a vortex feature story? It SHOULD be.....

[brilliantyellowg60]

I went to the factory today, and all i can say this this thread is amazing. They wont let you take pics, but these ones in this thread a great.

I remember seeing pictures of Corrados being built @ Karmann the same way. Doesn't say much for the process of hand-building.

The story of how i finally screwed over VW

So my collegue and I go to this place, everything I read on it online said free tours 7 days a week. So we get there and i walk by the greeter at the entrance, he finally gets my attention and tells me i have to pay 4 Euro to get in, no signs mind you saying any of this. We walk around the first floor checking out a couple displays and you can see alot of nearly finished cars through the glass. I see people on the upper floors.

So I ask a security guy how I get up there and he points to a tour group and says something else. I walk over and join the tour group in the back. I go through the whole tour, which was GREAT. Not the tour guide becuase I don't have a clue of anything he said i dont speak German, but the chance to see up close how these cars are built and every stage along the way. They build the Phaeton and Bently sedan there. Towards the end of the tour we go back down stairs and thats when the guy i am with (speaks german) says, " They are going to have brunch after this, I think this was a paid tour." I had seen enough so we just left and had lunch in dowtown Dresden. Apparently all those people had paid 90 Euro to take the tour and have lunch. I was wondering why the guide kept giving me dirty looks.

Oh well they owe me
I single-handedly created 6 VW owners in the last couple years.

If you are into mechanics, manufacturing, etc then this is a must see.
I have worked on machines my whole life and this place is amazing, I almost want to submit an application.

Then on the way back we stopped at this track the Eurospeedway in Lausitz

I was hoping to get a few hot laps in the Opel wagon TDI but they had motorcycle practice. They do let you out in your car for a few $$ a lap like the Ring. They also do a bunch of 1/4 mile drag racing there too, I got the schedule for future trips


Modified by brilliantyellowg60 at 12:45 PM 8-13-2006

[brilliantyellowg60]

Quote, originally posted by Darkdashing »

all that trouble for a car that is fading out? what is the plant going to be used for now?

fading out in the US maybe, not in Europe

Plus they build Bentley's there and i am sure Audi could find a use for it

[nods]

Michael, my company is doing an article on Volkswagen, would it be alright if I used a copy of one of your photos in it? Please let me know. Thanks!

Dave

[PanEuropean]

Hi Dave:

Most of the photos that I used in the original post were supplied to me by Volkswagen's media affairs department. My guess is that VW would be quite happy to grant you permission to reproduce the photos, however, the best way of going about getting a high-quality image, and getting the permission to reproduce it would be to contact VW Media Affairs directly.

For the US and Canada, you can visit their website at http://media.vw.com/digital_index.cfm, and click on the button marked 'contacts' to send an email requesting registration. Once you have registered, you can download high res images. Permission to reproduce the images is implicit in your registration.

Most of the Phaeton photos I used here can be found by clicking on the section entitled 'factories'.

Michael

[nods]

Thanks so much for the prompt response Michael!

Dave

[vwbrandojavw]

im plannign on going to germany this summer... just wondering if there is any other VW factories around there... if you could send me any other info about...the locations, anything i might need to know, that would be great. thanks

[superkrischi]

Quote »

im plannign on going to germany this summer... just wondering if there is any other VW factories around there... if you could send me any other info about...the locations, anything i might need to know, that would be great. thanks

Hello,
i´ve got the luck to live in Dresden.
If you want to see some interesting factory´s on your summertrip to germany, i can advise the "Autostadt" in Wolfsburg. It is very interesting, especially to see brandnew Corrado´s, Scirocco´s or Golf MK1 GTI´s!
Also the Porsche-factory in Leipzig is very nice.
But the "Gläserne Manufaktur" for the Phaeton is the absolute coronation of german automobile manufacture, even if not everybody of the german people is fascinated from the buliding of luxuriest automobiles by VW in our contry.

@ michael

a very nice memorandum!! Respect!

[thomas b.]

@ vwbrandojavw: Don't miss the AUTOSTADT in Wolfsburg:

http://www.autostadt.de/portal...=PAGE

[snowdog650]

I think this is the greatest post I have seen in my 5 years at the Vortex.

[mrAW11]

i doubt they actually let anyone see the real nitty gritty work of building cars. lots of welding and grungy mechanic types(such as myself) monkeying around with stuff.

up until a few years ago, there was a ford ranger plant about a half hour from where i live. after taking the tour, i would have to say that a real high volume car assembly plant isn't exactly a glamorous place.

[PhaetonChix]

The Transparent Factory is an assembly plant. The major components arrive via a nifty rail system for final hand assembly.

The employees are considered the cream of the crop. It is not a fully automated plant nor is it staffed by Ompa Lumpa's.

The area around the Transparent Factory is filled with museums, nicer apartments and the zoological gardens. Trust me, this facility looks nothing like Wixom or OK City or the Cadillac Poletown plant.

PC

Modified by PhaetonChix at 10:11 AM 9-24-2007


Modified by PhaetonChix at 3:22 PM 9-24-2007

[EOSinthesun]

Michael,

What a wonderful photo tour! I'm still in awe of the Phaeton and was disappointed that I couldn't visit Dresden during my Prague visit last April. Perhaps the next time I'm in that neck of the woods.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying my little EOS as our weather now approaches the "top-down" season.

One quick question re: the Phaeton - as I understand it, they don't make sunroofs for them. Is that correct?
Thanks,
Inge

[SVESSA]

Inge,

As far as I know, all the North America Phaetons come standard with sunroof.

Scott

[PanEuropean]

Quote, originally posted by mrAW11 »

i doubt they actually let anyone see the real nitty gritty work of building cars. lots of welding and grungy mechanic types(such as myself) monkeying around with stuff.

No, that is not correct. The bodyshells are made in Zwickau, about an hour's drive down the road from Dresden, and all of the owners that attended the 2007 GTG in Dresden were given a tour of Zwickau this past summer. It is not quite as nice looking as Dresden (no Maple flooring), but it is equally clean and is quite a pleasant working environment.

Michael

[PhirstVW]

Please re-host.

Jim

[PanEuropean]

Photos re-hosted.

Michael

[ttvick]

Does anyone have an idea of the cost to make a Phaeton? Knowing about the $4 million-ish loss VW takes on every Veyron makes me curious about this.

[passatgirl9]

can you just go there and take a tour? im going there in a couple weeks and was thinking about it that would be so neat!

[PanEuropean]

Quote, originally posted by passatgirl9 »

can you just go there and take a tour?

Yes. Visit their website for details - GLÄSERNE MANUFAKTUR DRESDEN

[bobm]

Or go on a virtual tour:

[M1LUM]

I was fortunate enough to take the tour today, I gate-crashed a pre-arranged group for one of my company's resellers.

Photo's do not do the place justice, and the staff there really are excellent, answering just about any question thrown at them.

Not sure I like that new 810 centre display though, too much like the rest of the VW range.

[SEO123]

No words for so beautiful composition!!!
These photos are so...
"F A B U L O U S !"

that kinda looks like an ikea for cars. you know, but it and put it together yourself, i wouldnt mike a revolving floor or the tilt o jack.

too bad they threw in the costs of the factory into the cars tag

[l1t43]

Beautiful factory, it's like a work of art. Do they still make the Phaeton in europe or what is the main use of that factory now?

[BenMSki]

Quote, originally posted by l1t43 »

Beautiful factory, it's like a work of art. Do they still make the Phaeton in europe or what is the main use of that factory now?

wondering the same thing... what an amazing place

[Itzmann]

I only e-mailed the factory three days before our visit last week... they were closed for business, but since I am an owner, they most graciously offered to give us the tour anyway.

We were immediately escorted to their lounge, a large room with panoramic windows with a view of the Dresden skyline. There are several sitting areas in there. Ours featured several Dynaudio speakers playing Corelli's Concerto Grosso, Op.6 No.8 at a very low volume, but since it was coming from numerous speakers, it was very agreeable (Dynaudio speakers are now the upgrade choice for Phaeton). After some conversation, we were advised we couldn't take pictures outside of the lounge, so we adhered to the rules for the rest of the visit.

Our first stop was an overview of the factory's building sections from an inside terrace. It was striking to see the factory's workstations all loaded with work in process, just as if the staff was on a lunch break! We were offered a visit of the manufacturing floors downstairs. For this, we were issued white overcoats. My most vivid recollections of the visit are:

• Each workstation stop in the Phaeton assembly line takes 18 minutes to perform its job. By comparison, a Golf workstation at other VW plants may take around 1.5 minutes.

• The wire loom weighs 60 kilos or over 100 lbs. There are a lot of wires on this car.

• Just before the "marriage" section, there was a W12 powertrain featuring its massive ceramic brakes, which are now standard on W12. Those looked just about the size of tires on a regular car, and were definitively über-cool looking.

• It takes longer to test the car after assembly than it does to build it; this is why they put in 8 gallons of fuel —30 l.— at the fluids-filling workstation. Car testing includes their subterranean torture (rattle) track and a drive in the actual Dresden roads!

• The fluids-filling workstation parquet floor is just as spotless as the rest of the assembly line.

• Over half of the Manufaktur's production goes to China. Easy to spot on the assembly line: the VIN plate on the frame of the right-hand side front passenger door is not in our Roman alphabet. Most of these cars are gasoline V6, whereas in the European market the TDI V6 predominates. Many of the China-bound car are four seaters, as apparently Phaeton owners are driven, instead of drivers.

• The leather dashes with contrasting-color sewing, the black wood accents, the saddle and chocolate brown leathers, the piping on the seats, the Alcantara... wow. Stunning. My beige/brown interior looks positively pedestrian. There is something to be said about 90% of German owners being willing to come to the Manufaktur to pick their car. The US market, with its take-whatever-is-on-the-dealer's tradition dumbs down design selection to beige and grey, basically. Minimum common denominator.

• The office space right in the middle of the moving assembly loops. Excellent!

• Sensitive leather still comes from Poltrona Frau in Italy. The other type of leather comes from a company in Austria, if I recall correctly.

• The drivetrain of the car before the marriage includes one part that can be seen from inside the cabin: the gearbox shifter... I had forgotten the shifter, which feels so solid and powerful... is just a computer interface. A joystick. There is just a wire loom running from the shifter box to the gearbox.

Since the factory was closed, I was unable to purchase a replacement LED lamp accessory for the cigarette holder at the souvenir store. €16! These things in Phaeton silver cost like 80 bucks stateside! We were offered a courtesy 6-inch black Phaeton model, instead, for free, because I think our extremely nice and courteous hosts were a somewhat embarrased about the factory being closed.

I was a happy camper. If you visit Dresden, I also highly recommend Glashütte 30 kms south. The German Clock Museum and Glashütte Original guided factory tour are can't misses if you like watches. And one can buy a Nomos watch.

Modified by Itzmann at 12:19 PM 1-12-2010

[trondsv8]

So, you also got that model, he , he

I got that from our guide at the end of the visit. fantastic tour, exellent service for us also. I guess you also used the doctors clothes on the assebly.

Nice pictures, thanks

Trond

[airportparking]

Nice post...Greatly appreciated!!!

[Szy_szka]

Found on Autoblog.com

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/11/09/v...-factory-in-d/

Just incredible; this factory is really something!

[R4DEK1]

Cześć

Twój nick mówi mi, że jesteśmy z tego samego kraju, a więc pozwolę sobie pisać po polsku. Fabryka Phaetona w Dreźnie jest rzeczywiście impoująca. Od dłuższego czasu mam ochotę się tam wybrać w celu zwiedzenia, ciągle zachęcany przez mojego kumpla który tam był. Podobno wejście kosztuje kilka euro ale warto objerzeć fabryczkę, w której powstało cudeńko, którym poruszam sie na codzień. Mam nadzieję, że moje plany się niedługo ziszczą.

pzdr

RADEK

[barrier12]

R4DEK1,

Could you translate your post in English as well? It is sounds definitely Polish(po Polsku), but I do not undertsand some words.

Dzenkuju bardzo!

I was in Warsaw couple of times.