Audi and BMW at Munich Airport

Our intrepid traveler lands at the airport in Munich, Germany and bumps into the unexpected...

Landed in the Munich airport and was greeted with this giant BMW image. They are investing heavily in the customs baggage area to advertise their EfficientDynamics concept. This apparently is blending advanced engine design with slippery body shapes to promote "sustainable motoring" in the BMW style.

BMW has to grab your attention right away because as soon as you walk out of Terminal 2 you are greeted by a monolithic ramp and about one hundred brand new Audi A6's. The ramp allows a driver to ascend the incline on the backside of a "mountain" (at about a 45 degree angle) and then a teeter-totter arrangement at the top tilts the car over the edge and it plummets, if the brakes are not applied, into the parking area below. Pretty impressive as the descent ramp is about 30 degrees.

Behind the "mountain" showing the ascent and descent skills of the A6 is the Audi Central Launch Training facility. Notice the whole building is designed to look like a mountain. Apparently Audi is holding their sales training right in the middle of the Munich airport! It is an impressive structure for a Spring training event but then Audi is making huge inroads to BMW and Mercedes market-share in Europe so the investment is paying off.

Here is the new A6 body style which should be in the showroom now. By the way I do not know what the repair bills would be but after looking at the NAV and Radio control system if that baby goes down I think a $5k repair bill would be optimistic. Maybe that German dream of customers only leasing cars will be a reality as who the heck could afford to repair one out of warranty!