Currently reading: A tour of Volkswagen's car museum – picture special
The town of Wolfsburg in Germany is home to the Volkswagen brand and its fascinating, diverse celebration of automotive culture

For car lovers, the town of Wolfsburg in Germany is synonymous with one brand: Volkswagen. The history of the automotive brand is intertwined with that of the town, which was known as Stadt des Kdf-Wagens until May 1945.

The location, near Fallersleben in Lower Saxony, was specifically chosen as the site of a new car plant in the 1930s. The four chimneys of the factory’s original power station remain one of the town’s distinctive landmarks and still provide power for the area.

Now, adjacent to the Volkswagen production facility and the Mittelcanal upon which bargeloads of VW products were transported to markets before a bespoke rail track was built, is the massive Autostadt visitor attraction.

Autostadt is a celebration of the Volkswagen Group, housing pavilions that showcase all of the main brands. Its open spaces, lakes, exhibitions, art and architecture offer a contrast to the starkly industrial ambience that otherwise pervades Wolfsburg.

Outside, near the lakes rendered solid by the bracing sub-zero Arctic wind, enormous glass car silos house freshly made Volkswagens of all shapes, sizes and colours. European VW buyers can choose to collect their car from the Autostadt if they wish, making a day of it by combining key collection of their new vehicle with a visit to the exhibits.

In the restaurant shop you can buy Volkswagen-branded tomato ketchup or, if the mood takes you, wurst sausage that has its own serial number in Volkswagen’s parts catalogue.

For car nuts, the main attraction is the ZeitHaus. Now, you might be convinced to give Volkswagen’s automobile museum a swerve through concern that you’ll be presented by endless iterations of Golfs, Polos and Passats.

Not a bit of it: those cars are represented, but the ZeitHaus is a fascinating celebration of the history of the automobile with an emphasis of the design and technological perspectives, and disparate brands both current and dormant are represented.

See our picture gallery above this story for a taste of what the ZeitHaus has to offer.

Advertisement

Read our review

Car review

Can the hottest Volkswagen Golf GTI ignite the passion and reclaim its crown now lost to the Ford Focus ST?

Join the debate

Comments
6
Add a comment…
evo 6 4 February 2014

Don't mention the war! I did once but I think I got away with it

Come on nimmler and marj. Or are you both just trying to be provocative?!! The article is about CARS like the magazine and website you must have read. It was an English army officer who rescued the Volkswagen brand and motor industrial giant it has now become after we bombed the factory. Yes, he was acting upon orders and yes there are/is politics in everything. But you cannot deny that VW group make some very good products and employ many thousands of people around the globe. I do not know when the Zeithaus opened but I wish I had known about it last summer if it was open then, as I stayed in Wolfsburg one night. Had a fanatstic steak in the Argentinian steak house. This is completely unrelated to VW too! But then nimmler and marj (Simpson?!!) are probably vegetarian!! Thanks Matt for the info. Keep up the good work!
pauld101 4 February 2014

Germans at Bentley too...

Unhappily, the Battle of Britain memorial window, in the 'Y' of the main staircase at Crewe, has "disappeared". It was boarded up for a decade, but was still there. Then Bentley's reception was remodelled and the window was gone. Never mind, though, there's another one just like it in Westminster Abbey...
sabamehrm 2 February 2014

Confused!!

Isn't it VW museum? Why are there cars from other companies?