Word: wolfsburger
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...European Union countries have now adopted as their official currency since it was first launched on Jan. 1, 2002. From Madrid to Maastricht, it has become conventional wisdom that the introduction of the single currency jacked up prices. At the entrance gate of Volkswagen's main plant in Wolfsburg, Germany, Ulf Meinecke, 38, shoves his hands into his jacket pockets and says he can no longer afford annual vacations to Italy with his family. "We just go every other year," he says. "Everything is getting more expensive, and the euro was the blow that broke our necks...
...according to Hallmark. The idea is to produce cars that can compete more effectively in the midmarket. Designing cars for the local competitive landscape is precisely what the Japanese have done for decades, of course. But, Hallmark says, "it's a huge change in perspective" at VW headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany...
What no one in Wolfsburg wants to admit is that VW may have a broken business model in the U.S. Unlike BMW or Mercedes-Benz, VW can't charge the rich prices necessary to offset the cost of exporting from Germany. And unlike its German rivals, VW doesn't make cars in the U.S.--its one American plant shut in 1988--a problem given the dollar's slump versus the euro...
...work was not normative." Normative? "Well, ordinary, everyday stuff." Bilbao has helped. "Clients see it's possible to do something extraordinary that is not repetition." Hadid's extraordinary designs are now on order in Barcelona (the Arts Plaza in the city center); Leipzig (a car plant); another German city, Wolfsburg (a science center); Rome (a museum of modern art); Salerno, Italy (a ferry terminal); Cincinnati, Ohio (an arts center); Innsbruck, Austria (a café-topped ski jump, which opened last month); Abu Dhabi (a sinuous bridge); and, biggest of all, Singapore, where her team drew up the master plan...
Just down the autobahn in Wolfsburg, however, Volkswagen has built a theme park that is drawing twice as many visitors as expected, along with rave reviews. Autostadt, or Auto City, is the brainchild of VW chairman Ferdinand Piech. Conceived as a place for VW customers to pick up their new cars, the center quickly grew into the EuroDisney of the automobile. Unlike other theme-park planners, Piech never intended Autostadt to become profitable. The $400 million cost was written off as a marketing expense. Piech hopes Autostadt's revenues will cover its operating expenses next year...