Bragging rights for the manufacturer with the largest and brightest display at this year’s 2013 IAA Frankfurt Motor Show are bound to be claimed by a German manufacturer seeing as they’re on home turf. Volkswagen have taken things to new levels with an enormous 53 car display.
At the centre of their display will be the unveiling of the much anticipated e-up! electric city car, which will feature alongside VW’s e-Golf electric car and the fabulously eccentric XL1 hybrid.
Interestingly enough, Volkswagen has published some heady figures about their stand, which state that 150 tonnes of steel were used in the construction of the near 9000 square metre exhibition stand that took more than 24 days to complete and 11 months to plan. Over 2300 lamps and 90 kilometres of cabling have been installed while a 61-square metre LED wall will greet visitors as they arrive.
Volkswagen have also gone to the trouble of commissioning Dutch innovation design artist Anouk Wipprecht to create a fashion tech collection exclusively for the motor show.
VW’s central theme for the event will be “Electrifying” which is exactly what will be needed to power all those lamps. As a matter of interest, we wonder just how much electricity the stand will consume over the ten days of the Frankfurt show – we hope VW have seen fit to plant a forest or similar at the same time as it is slightly ironic to try selling economical cars while underneath a monstrous amount of lighting rigs consuming huge amounts of power. Volkswagen say in their own words,
“The stand architecture, films, show elements and giveaways also take up the “electrifying” theme and are designed to create an emotional impact on visitors – apart from e-mobility, this includes the link between car, man and technology, connectivity or Volkswagen’s approach to other forward-looking drivetrain technologies over and above e-mobility.”
Whatever the anti-green credentials the VW stand may have, the fact is it’s great to see a powerhouse such as VW leading their stand with innovative electric technology at the centre. Aside from Volkswagen’s e-mobility focus, the new Golf R, 4MOTION and WRC themes will feature too.
The IAA Frankfurt motor show takes place between the 12th and 22nd of September. Volkswagen’s stand is located in Hall 3.0
Source; Volkswagen
