When we first saw these two photos of the Volkswagen's storage facility in Wolfsburg, Germany, we thought this was an artist's rendition for some sort of science fiction movie. It's not. This is an actual 20-story car tower that takes up just 20% of the space of a conventional parking garage handling the same number of vehicles. Volkswagen uses the facility in a showy delivery process for its new-car customers:

"In a fully automated procedure, your new car is brought down to you from one of the 20-story Car Towers. Large signboards in the Customer Center show you when your turn has come. Then, you're handed the keys, your picture is taken, the glass doors open and your brand-new car appears. You're all set to go."


Not only does it save space, but the storage facility's automated elevator system is able to retrieve cars much quicker than a potentially-careless human parking lot attendant.

Autostadt [via The Cool Hunter]

