First Drive: VW Eos

Before, during and after; with one-touch, eight motors move five panels in 25sec to transform from coupe to convertible

I have to admit, I wasn't sure how to react to the invite to visit the VW Eos manufacturing facility - it's another stupid car factory, except this one was near beautiful Lisbon, Portugal. "Oh, go on then!"

As it turns out, I'm glad we went. The factory is more like a dental surgery - very clean and white. We couldn't even wear jeans in case the rivets scratched the new bodywork. This is car manufacturing in the 21st century.

The Eos has been a long time coming. We saw the concept, learned about its five-piece metal folding roof, and have waited an eternity for it to arrive. Now that its here, the proud parents wanted to show off their new baby.

AutoeuropaThe Eos is born at VW's Autoeuropa plant in Palmela, Portugal. It covers 21.5 million sqft or about 215000 football fields, with over half dedicated to car production. The factory opened in 1995 as a joint venture between VW and Ford to build a shared MPV platform. By '99 VW assumed full ownership and began production of the Eos in '05. We also learnt the new Scirocco will be built here in '06 for '07 delivery, although there's no word on whether it's coming to the USA.

The factory employs 2790 people, with a further 6100 employed by the suppliers that encircle the plant. Companies like Webasto (roof), SAS (dash), SPPM and Peguform (front end), Continental (wheels) and PPG (paint) are all located on the same complex to ensure rapid delivery of parts.

Although the Eos is just arriving in the USA, Autoeuropa built almost 14000 in the first half of the year for Europe.

We were fortunate to see the entire assembly process (with the exception of the paint shop), starting from rolls of steel and ending with final inspection of the finished car.

The steel is unrolled and cut into sheets that are passed to the 51 new die sets that were needed for Eos production. The Eos has its own production line alongside the older Sharan MPV line and 114 robots are heavily involved in the first stages. In fact, 52% of the production process is automated, accounting for most of the 4613 welding points, 224 stud welds and 190" of laser welds that go into each car.

We witnessed each panel being stamped and then welded together to produce the bodyshell, even seeing the different trunk floors for European and US cars, with ours requiring space for a full-size spare wheel.

The shells then go through the paint shop, which is able to select any of the 13 exterior colors for an individual car - these aren't painted in batches, and you can order custom colors on request in Europe.

The painted bodies emerge out the other side onto a more conventional assembly line with 63 overhead conveyors. Here it's united with the dashboard - supplied from the SAS factory as a complete assembly and simply plugged into the car. Then it meets up with the drivetrain. This again is completely built - with engine, gearbox, brakes and suspension - on a separate conveyor. The body is lowered onto it and everything is bolted together.

After getting their wheels and trim pieces, the cars are ready for the roof. Again, Webasto supplies a complete, painted unit. It's assembled from five main sections, has eight separate motors and requires eight bolts to attach it. A special rig clamps around the roof and maneuvers it into the precise position, so that the workers only need gun the bolts tight.

Freshly stamped Eos side panels awaiting the floorpans

Eos production is 52% automated to guarantee precision.

Most welding stations are automated, but we actually found some human operators as well