Fifteen minutes down the road from Neckarsulm is Audi’s Böllinger Höfe facility which will be the new birthplace of the 2014 Audi R8 (and possibly also the RS6 avant). Audi plan to offset their carbon footprint by using solar power for heal and collecting rain water. Hopefully this means we can expect more powerful eco-unfriendly cars as an output.
Franciscus van Meel (quattro GmbH Managing Director) is quoted as saying “All of our manufacturing expertise for the R8 will then be completely consolidated under one roof. This will enable us to optimize our production process and further expand our small-scale production expertise at the Neckarsulm site.”
According to Audi, around 250 existing employees will relocate from Neckarsulm to take on new roles at Böllinger Höfe.
Audi already has a history at Heilbronn where Karosserie Drauz, founded in 1900, manufactured carriages and then went on to build car bodies for NSU. Today the aluminium body of the Lamborghini Gallardo is manufactured there and taken to Neckarsulm for final assembly.