Photo: Volkswagen
October 24 is a monumental day for one of the largest carmakers on the planet. Volkswagen is pulling the wraps off the new generation Golf, the eight of its name, and the industry’s knees are trembling in anticipation.
The Golf nameplate is a proud member of the Volkswagen Holy Trinity, alongside the now-defunct Beetle and the Passat. On its own, Golf sold over 35 million units since the first one rolled off the assembly lines in 1974, 26 million of which made in Wolfsburg.
But these are the boring numbers, the ones we come across every day. With one day left until the official unveiling, VW thought it’s time to let us in on the curious facts that hide behind the manufacturing of such a hit of a car.
First off, the sheer number of people working on making it. In Wolfsburg alone, nearly an army division's worth of workers, 8,400 people, are involved with the Golf production lines. Including for the new one, which (did you know?) has been in production since this summer, mostly for calibration and testing purposes.
The new car is made up of 2,700 individual components that have to be assembled by various means, like a giant puzzle. From the moment the first such component is produced and until the car rolls off the assembly line in perfect working order, a brand new Golf would already have covered 69 km on the production lines (42 miles).
There is a total of 962 wiring systems in the new Golf that, if spread head-to-head, would cover 1.34 km (0.83 miles).
For reference, explains Volkswagen, that’s 31 wiring systems and nearly 100 meters more (328 feet) than in the previous generation.
Why so much wiring, you ask? Well, it was only yesterday the carmaker explained how the new Golf is a truly digital and connected car, using a brand new operating concept and complicated systems like Car-2-X communication.
The next time we’ll say anything else about the new Golf will probably be on Thursday. So until then chew on the fun facts above or below, in the press release section.
But these are the boring numbers, the ones we come across every day. With one day left until the official unveiling, VW thought it’s time to let us in on the curious facts that hide behind the manufacturing of such a hit of a car.
First off, the sheer number of people working on making it. In Wolfsburg alone, nearly an army division's worth of workers, 8,400 people, are involved with the Golf production lines. Including for the new one, which (did you know?) has been in production since this summer, mostly for calibration and testing purposes.
The new car is made up of 2,700 individual components that have to be assembled by various means, like a giant puzzle. From the moment the first such component is produced and until the car rolls off the assembly line in perfect working order, a brand new Golf would already have covered 69 km on the production lines (42 miles).
There is a total of 962 wiring systems in the new Golf that, if spread head-to-head, would cover 1.34 km (0.83 miles).
For reference, explains Volkswagen, that’s 31 wiring systems and nearly 100 meters more (328 feet) than in the previous generation.
Why so much wiring, you ask? Well, it was only yesterday the carmaker explained how the new Golf is a truly digital and connected car, using a brand new operating concept and complicated systems like Car-2-X communication.
The next time we’ll say anything else about the new Golf will probably be on Thursday. So until then chew on the fun facts above or below, in the press release section.
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