POTD: Mirror Finish Bugatti Veyron
Wolfsburg, Germany is the home to corporate giant Volkswagen. In the year 2000 they created the Autostadt, an automotive-themed recreation park that features exhibits for each of the manufacturers in the Volkswagen Group. Lamborghini, Audi, VW, Bentley, Skoda and Seat all have displays with their products and histories. You may not have known, however, that the exotic manufacturer Bugatti is also owned by Volkswagen, and the Veyron project was only made possible by the funding and technical prowess of Volkswagen Group engineers. When the Autostadt re-opened in October it featured the “Premium Clubhouse,” the centerpiece of which was a mirror-finish Bugatti Veyron. Not chromed — mirror finished. The reflections of the visitors literally become part of the artwork. The picture below shows the rear view, and the reflective floor provides the clearest picture we’ve found of the Veyron’s two ‘hidden’ additional exhausts. Read more about the Bugatti and other car’s exhausts HERE.
The modern architecture and extensive use of water and vegetation have made Autostadt hugely successful, some 2 million visitors pass through the front gates every year. One of the most unique features is the two 60 meter glass silos used as storage for new Volkswagens. The towers are connected to the Volkswagen factory by a 700 metre underground tunnel. When purchasing a car from Volkswagen in certain European countries, the customer selects whether he or she wants it delivered to the dealership where it was bought or would rather travel to Autostadt to pick it up. If the latter is chosen, the Autostadt supplies the customer with free entrance, meal tickets and a variety of events building up to the point where the customer can follow on screen as the automatic elevator picks up the selected car and lowers it down at 1.5 meters per second. The car is then transported out to the customer without having driven a single meter, and the odometer is thus on “0″. See a gallery of the towers and storage/retrieval system below.
March 16th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
on a similar note, someone gave his mercedes-benz a gold-mirror-finish. In my opinion it looks ridiculous but, it was displayed in Dubai, which is a bit more understandable.