From the Factory to the Street: A Tour of Shanghai Volkswagen

Yesterday afternoon, we took students to the Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Company in Jiading District for a tour. 

Shanghai Volkswagen is a joint venture company founded in October 1984. It began car production in 1985 and produced most of the vehicles that functioned as taxis and transportation for government officials and business elite. Today, it is still considered one of the most popular, reliable, and well-made car brands in China, producing more than 2 million cars per year at 10 different plants around China. 

After a video showing some of the car models that are produced in the Shanghai Automotive factory, we were driven onto the assembly line for a look at how Shanghai Volkswagen makes their cars. 

There, we got to watch huge machines transporting car parts around the factory and welding parts together. We also got to watch factory workers apply parts to the car bodies by hand. Towards the end, we went to the testing area where we watched employees performing tests on the finished vehicles to ensure their quality.

The students enjoyed the firsthand look into how Volkswagen cars are actually made. The tour made them appreciate the amount of time and manual work that goes into the creation of a single car. The tour sure made me appreciate my own vehicle and the process it went through to get to me much more!