Collision Course

Volkswagen spent several years rebuilding after the war and soon started producing the first generation of Beetles. The car came to America in 1949, and by 1972, Beetles surpassed Ford's Model T as the car with the longest production run. Throughout the 1960s, many American students traveling through Europe would stop in Wolfsburg, buy a Beetle, drive it around the Continent, and then have it shipped back to the United States; Jack Rouse did it before he started college. But as the Beetle fell from favor in the late 1970s, the tradition ended, and only Volkswagen employees could pick up their new cars at the factory.

In part, the Autostadt project was born of civic pride. Wolfsburg has always been regarded as a charmless industrial town--the only true landmark is a 14th-century castle on a hill--and Volkswagen, to coincide with the Expo 2000 World's Fair in nearby Hannover, wanted to create a draw for tourists. "The idea was born in late 1995, to make the region more attractive, as part of the reunification of Germany and the reinstatement of Berlin as the nation's capital," explains Otto Ferdinand Wachs, 42, the Volkswagen executive in charge of Autostadt. But the company is also seeking ways to "strengthen the relationship between the auto producer and the final customer," according to Wachs, a regal-looking former public- relations executive at the company who favors shirts with French cuffs. "It will be a unique mixture of communication, product information, and fun--fun is one of our biggest factors."

Inside the completed office building that will eventually serve as Autostadt's administration and support building, Rouse and Wachs stand over a seven-by-eight-foot architectural model of Autostadt, populated by tiny plastic people who cross bridges stretching over bright-turquoise water. "There's nothing magical about going to a car dealership," says Rouse, a Montana native who taught opera and musical theater before getting into the theme-park business in the early 1970s. "This will have a much more emotional context. This is Bethlehem. This is Mecca. This is where the cars come from."

Although those kinds of pronouncements may seem a tad overheated to the uninitiated, true Volkswagen fans have always regarded a visit to Wolfsburg as something of a pilgrimage. Wachs says that group tours of the factory are typically filled up six months ahead of time, and the pre-Autostadt Volkswagen museum is a popular stop. Autostadt will play to that audience while also seeking ways to recruit new Volkswagen enthusiasts.

The formal planning for Autostadt began in the spring of 1996, and construction started in May 1998. By the fall of last year, the pedestrian bridge from the Wolfsburg train station over the Mittelland Canal was nearly complete, leading to the Piazza, the main entrance to Autostadt. Workers were installing tall, transparent, winglike panels that would let the Piazza be open to the elements on temperate days and closed off from them otherwise. The high ceilings gave the Piazza a hangarlike feeling. "Everything's designed to be open and welcoming," Rouse explains.

Near the Piazza is the new home of the car museum, which will include Fords, bmws, and Mercedes-Benzes, in addition to vintage vehicles made by the Volkswagen Group. Between the museum and the delivery center, at the far end of the property--marked by those two glass cylinders--is a series of pavilions dedicated to the various Volkswagen brands. "These aren't car showrooms," Wachs says. "They're more like embassies, and they'll all be very different. The feeling of Skoda in Czechoslovakia is different from Bentley in Great Britain. When you go to the Bentley building, you'll be able to see, hear, and smell the British countryside."

Elsewhere, visitors will be able to try driving simulators; take part in interactive exhibits that, for example, reproduce the experience of cruising down California's oceanside Highway 1; and watch movies in Europe's first high-definition 360-degree cinema. Rouse says the average visitor will spend four to six hours at Autostadt. Wachs expects that about half of the visitors will come as casual guests, and the other half will take delivery of a new Volkswagen. (Other makes won't be available for pickup in Wolfsburg; Audi, though, has its own pickup center in Ingolstadt, Germany, designed by the same architects working on Autostadt.)

At the far eastern end of the park is the CustomerCenter. Even with raw concrete floors, the building has a palatial feel, with a wide, shallow set of stairs leading up to the main level. This is where Volkswagen buyers will pick up their fresh-from-the-factory cars, as many as a thousand a day. The cars will be stored, like gum balls, in two glass cylinders that will appear to float atop a pond nearby. A system of underground tunnels and conveyors will transport the cars from the glass towers to the CustomerCenter, where Volkswagen employees, trained in customer service through a partnership with the Ritz-Carlton, will orient the drivers to their vehicles. "There will be a lot of excitement surrounding it," says Wachs. "Like Christmas." Simulators at the CustomerCenter will offer drivers the chance to test their new vehicles in extreme conditions, such as ice, snow, hard rain, and a hot desert environment.