Autostadt CarTower: A VW Vending Machine, Pretty Much

If you think vending machines are awesome...Wolfsburg, Germany, home to Volkswagen might be one of the coolest places on Earth...for mechanical and auto lovers. There are 2 glass high-rise garages which hold 400 new cars each before they are delivered to the showroom or customer.

The inside works like a vending machine. 2 fully automated mobile units move up and down a central lift picking up the cars that needs to be delivered or delivering new ones that need to be stored. The cool thing is, if you visit, you can actually ride in a panaoramic glass lift that takes you around the internal tower of cars.  You pretty much get a first hand experience and view of how the cars are being stowed and removed. 

There are tons of videos on Youtube of the inner workings of this genius parking and storage station. Here's a nice short clip...some of the others are quite long. 

I believe the Autostadt was built for the Expo 2000. Because of the unique architecture and gallery of Volkswagen, Bentley, Škoda, Audi and SEAT, they still get over 2 million visitors a year. However, I think the TurmFahrt, the CarTower Discovery, is one of the biggest draws. The Autostadt is definitely going on the places to visit list next time I venture to Germany.

Take a virtual tour of Autostadt here: Autostadt