From September 2004 on, the automobile museum welcomes its visitors
in the refurbished facilities of the former Audi plant in Zwickau with a completely redesigned exhibition. The exhibition was supplemented by opening the former »Kontorgebäude« (office building) and the Horch villa in September 2005 and now features almost 3,000 square meters (32,300 square feet) of exhibition space. You may thus experience the automotive history of Zwickau live at the birthplace of great automobiles.
A great many ideas that have influenced the entire automotive industry of Germany, were born here. See, feel, hear, and smell the pioneer spirit and ingenuity of more than 100 years of automotive tradition. Experience the milestones, the history of the brand, and the spirit of the era.
It is not only August Horch who is honored on the two floors of the exhibition area. The visitors may familiarize themselves with the manifold developments made during more than a century of automobile production
in Zwickau.
The highlights of Saxony’s automotive art, such as the 1911 Horch Phaeton, will fascinate you just like the DKW F1 micro car with the first standard front wheel drive ever, a sensational vehicle in its time, the
elegant Horch luxury models or the Audi and Wanderer automobiles.
An interplay of object presentations and mises en scène characterizes our new exhibition. The reproduction of a historical street of houses and various scenarios from the 30ies and 50ies of the last century will take you to eras long gone by, putting the exhibits in their proper historical environment.
Cars and prototypes of the post-war period, above all the »legend on wheels«, the famous Trabant, will put you under their spell. The flair of
about 70 large exhibits will enthrall not only car and technology buffs. Informative displays, animated scenes and historical video material document interesting facts and connections.
The »Kontorgebäude« (office building), opened in September 2005,
allows the visitors to obtain an impression of the technology and mechanical production of the 20ies and 30ies of the last century. Fully operational machinery, propelled by transmission belts, together with an engine test rig of the 30ies will transfer the visitor into the production period of historical automobiles. The details of the art of »coachbuilding« may be marveled at when inspecting a »cut away« Audi. The cinema features a movie on the development of the Zwickau automotive industry from the early years to the fall of the Auto Union.
The Horch villa, also made accessible to the public in September 2005, returns the visitors to the time when one of the most famous German pioneers of the automotive industry lived and worked.
»Come and marvel. Allow yourselves to be surprised!«
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