Volkwagen's one-of-a-kind "glass house" Transparent Factory in Dresden is set to reopen and begin producing cars again. The company has announced that it will be converted to build the e-Golf electric car, signaling a new thrust in its production line and giving new life to its unique assembly line.
The glass-walled, open-plan designed Volkwagen Transparent Factory was built in 2002, solely to handle the production of Phaeton luxury sedans. VW Group's then-chairman Ferdinand Piech handled the Phaeton project, which was supposedly designed to compete against the Mercedes-Benz S-class and the BMW 7-series. However, the Phaeton was pulled out of the US in 2006; minimal sales and production for the European market ended early this year as well, according to Green Car Reports.
The Volkswagen Transparent Factory was designed by German architect Gunter Henn and its walls are made almost completely out of glass. It stands at the corner of Grober Garten Park; in the center of Dresden, Germany. Its visitor-friendly layout ensured there were no smokestacks, no loud noises, and no toxic byproducts. Volkswagen even planted up to 350 trees around the factory to compliment its green, environment-friendly approach.
Renovations are set to begin at the Transparent Factory after Volkswagen announced on Thursday last week that the e-Golf will enter production starting April 2017. As the demand for electric cars grow, the plant will manage the production of all electrified VW cars; including the e-Up, the plug-in hybrid Golf, and the Passat GTE, as reported by Motor Authority.
Before the announcement, the Transparent Factory has been used to exhibit displays that show off various technologies related to electric cars in what Volkswagen calls --- "digitalization". The company will invest up to 20 million Euros ($21 million) to prepare the factory for the e-Golf production in 2017.
An updated 2017 Volkwagen e-Golf was unveiled last week at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show.
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