“Der See ruft …” (the lake is calling) is painted in yellow on the wing mirrors of the unique Golf GTI Performance*. Samuel Pili (21), apprentice automotive mechatronics technician with Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, has contributed to it. Samuel is part of the “Wörthersee GTI 2015” team headed by project manager Holger Schülke. The four young women and nine men are training in technical vocations with Volkswagen and group company Sitech Sitztechnik. The 17 to 25-year-olds were selected as team members on the basis of their outstanding performance. The official program was completed by a presentation to members of the Board of Management and the 13 young people can now continue with the voluntary part of their program by presenting their Golf GTI on Thursday, May 14 2015, at the Wörthersee meeting.
Taking a body in white, they developed and built a unique GTI in line with the taste of young people on the basis of their own ideas, demonstrating considerable creativity, skill and knowledge. The team members are training as vehicle interior fitters (4), vehicle paint technicians (2), automotive mechatronics technicians (4), media designers (1) and process technicians specializing in plastics and rubber engineering (2).
The budding specialists have covered up their car for shipment to Austria. They are now packing boxes with the care and cleaning materials required, information and presentation literature and spare parts, tools and cable drums for an external power supply (a high-power sound system in continuous operation is a must for the Wörthersee meeting).
The team is looking forward to presenting details of the optical and technical refinements of the suspension, engine, interior, seats and sound system at Lake Wörthersee. Project manager Holger Schülke and his young colleagues find the show car absolutely convincing: at the 34th Wörthersee GTI meeting (May 13 to 16, 2015), the apprentices’ dream GTI will make its debut before an audience of tens of thousands of car enthusiasts.
“The apprentices opted for an innovative color scheme and realized it with considerable skill and precision – both on the exterior and in the interior of the vehicle,” Schülke says. Most of the attachments were hand-crafted and painted, including the complete body kit. “In the case of attachments like sills and spoilers, absolute precision and fully matching colors are essential. Everything must harmonize with the body. Our budding specialists solved all these problems highly effectively – by working very accurately,” the project manager emphasizes.
The apprentices performed work like this themselves. They also inspected the components in stock, held discussions with experts within the company in fields such as design, plastic parts production and special painting and talked to specialist suppliers. In addition to conceptual design and work on the car, co-operation with other company departments is a key feature of this special vehicle project of Volkswagen’s vocational training at the Wolfsburg plant.
The members of the Wörthersee Team 2015 by training vocations:
Vehicle interior fitters: Alexander Giesbrecht (25), Kay-Vivian Erhardt (17) – both Volkswagen, Alexander Roser (19) and Jana Peil (20) – both Sitech Sitztechnik. Vehicle paint technicians: Celine Raditsch (20), Darius Pesel (19). Automotive mechatronics technicians: André Haase (23), Samuel Pili (21), Jan Quiring (19), Julian Lucht (21). Media designer: Hendryk Riedel (20). Process technicians specializing in plastics and rubber engineering: Melina Svoboda (19), Sebastian Del Giudice (22).
Sitech Sitztechnik is the Volkswagen group company specializing in the development and production of vehicle seats.
