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A team of 13 apprentices at Volkswagen is working on the latest special car for the annual GTI festival at Maria Worth on Worthersee in Germany. The latest creation will be unveiled next week but Volkswagen has revealed a little about the process behind the the company's tenth special show vehicle.
The project makes full use of the latest design and manufacturing technology including 3D printing. As for the car, it features custom paint and graphics, special wheels plus a 'high-tech' sound system.
In the rear of the car eleven loudspeakers and sub-woofers have been installed, with a total output of 1,960 Watts. Four apprentices worked on the various components right down to the mounts, cable ducts and clips, producing parts using 3D printing. All the trim pieces were coated with special grained foils to blend in with the GTI interior.
"Our apprentices are benefiting from their earlier decision to forge ahead with the design of their Worthersee GTI using digital technologies," said project manager Holger Schulke. Eric Miguel Lehrach (21), apprentice motor vehicle mechatronics technician and team spokesperson explained; "This way, we were able to take fast and efficient decisions concerning the design of wheel rims, paintwork and foils. In addition, we kept the design and production process for the special components needed for the sound system and rear-end equipment in our own hands."