- Double world premiere on May 9 at Maria Wörth in Austria
- 12 women and 17 men develop and make unique Golf cars
- Kick-off event in Wolfsburg
First workshop visit on the way to the Wörthersee: Apprentices from Wolfsburg and Zwickau make show cars for the 2018 GTI meeting
In Zwickau and Wolfsburg, apprentices from Volkswagen are currently making two show cars for the 37th GTI meeting to be held at Lake Wörthersee. The double premiere is due to take place at Maria Wörth in Austria on May 9 and will be watched by many thousands of automobile fans. At the start of the project, the 30 or so young people discussed their ideas and concepts at a "Meeting before the GTI meeting". Discussions focused on technical implementation, especially using CAD and 3-D printer systems. The budding specialists were also interested in digitalization and networking within the vehicle, for example using app control systems they had programmed themselves and a mobile Internet connection.
The sporty GTI family, consisting of the Golf GTI, Polo GTI und up! GTI, has many fans throughout the world. Each year, tens of thousands of them come to Lake Wörthersee for the legendary GTI meeting. Volkswagen apprentices use this platform to present the unique Golf cars they have developed and made themselves to a wider public. For this project, Volkswagen selects a specially committed apprentices. They have a glimpse of the complexity of automobile production and learn from experienced employees from a variety of departments at an early stage.
This year, the budding production talents from Zwickau will present a sporty and elegant interpretation of the Golf Estate Alltrack, says project manager, Claudia Kittler. This will be the fifth appearance of Volkswagen Sachsen at the GTI meeting - the team has always presented a Golf Estate, which is produced at the Zwickau plant for Germany. With their 11th unique GTI show car, the Wolfsburg apprentices will show what they can make possible in terms of the digitalization of vehicles, says project manager Holger Schülke.
Statements by apprentices:
Denise Zeißler, vehicle paint technician, Zwickau: "In my opinion, it is a really good thing that we can already meet the Wolfsburg team in the project phase to discuss what each of us plans to do and what we have already achieved."
Tina Geißler, specialist in office management, Wolfsburg: "I am really thrilled about the Wörthersee project. We learn about new areas of work and cooperate with specialists from many different departments. Now, we already have good contacts to the Zwickau apprentices."
Maximilian Klar, team spokesperson and motor vehicle mechatronics technician, Wolfsburg: "When I started my apprenticeship in 2015 in the Volkswagen Arena, I saw the Wörthersee Golf GTI Dark Shine. Since then, I've dreamed of helping to develop an apprentice GTI myself. Now, I'm part of the team – it's just great, fantastic."
The Zwickau Golf Estate Wörthersee 2018 team headed by project manager Claudia Kittler includes five women and nine men aged between 18 and 22, training in seven different vocations – electronics technicians for automation: Benjamin Liebold (20) and Tobias Siebert (18), vehicle paint technicians: Simon Boguslawski (19) and Denise Zeißler (22), industrial mechanic: Dennis Leuthäuser (21), construction mechanics: Jonathan Hammig (19), Marius Neumeister (21), motor vehicle mechatronics technicians: Tom Dubielczyk (20), Hannes Flade (18), Tobias Kalbas (19), Laura Saller (18) and Elisabeth Trompelt (18), mechatronics technician: Laura Hofmann (19), process technician for coating technology: Laura Wagner (20).
The Wolfsburg Wörthersee GTI 2018 team headed by project manager Holger Schülke includes seven women and eight men aged between 19 and 22 training in eight different vocations motor vehicle mechatronics technicians: team spokesperson Maximilian Klar (21), Florian Dimt (21), Maximilian Purrucker (21), Vincent Siermann (20), electronics technicians for automation: Patrick Schilling (19) and Maurice-Christian Ziesmann (21), vehicle paint technicians: Anna-Katharina Heumann (22) and Marie-Kristin Schildwächter (20), vehicle interior fitters: Henny Stegmann (19) and Lena Volk (20), specialists in office management: Lina Bosse (20) and Tina Geißler (20), technical model maker: Sandra Dombrowski (21), technical product designer: Nico Sennhenn (21), process technician specializing in plastic and rubber engineering: Marc Fitzlaff (22).
Henny Stegmann is completing her apprenticeship with Sitech in Wolfsburg, all the others work at Volkswagen's Wolfsburg plant. Sitech is the Volkswagen Group company specializing in the development and production of vehicle seats.
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