I’ve had a new car on order for a few months and apparently they’ve started building it, should be in the UK for the end of the month 😀

Got me thinking though, how long does it take a big car brand (VW in this case) to actually build a car leaving aside what ever tests are carried out post build. I honestly have no idea but I would assume fairly quickly. Anyone in the know?

Hours.

I recall a number of years ago it took Toyota and VW about 37 hours to build a car. It then took VW about the same amount of time to QA the car and sort out all the issues, still to have a car less reliable than Toyota. Toyota had QA and the TQM, Lean etc principles sorted.

These figures are quite old ie several years and VW has no doubt moved on a lot more than Toyota in the intervening period. Bastid Germans (ie Checks) still managed to build me the wrong car just over a year ago, so they have so still have some basic sales order to manufacturing comms to be sorted.

Will be very interested to here from those with more up to date info.

Do you mean assemble the already assembled parts or the whole process of building each part then assembling?

how often they come off the line – at Halewood they were making 90 escorts an hour…

leaving aside what ever tests are carried out post build.

oh I think you may be massively disappointed at the amount of testing your car doesn’t get before you’re handed the key!

what would you think if your brand new car had 45 miles on it? or 75? or more?

90 per hour equates to 750,000 per annum assuming 24×7 x 50’weeks (2 weeks shut down)?

they told me that was the most they ever made. im not sure it they did 3 shifts or not. presumably they kept the volume down by going on strike every other week.

when I was there they made an x type every 2 odd minutes

porter_jamie – Member
what would you think if your brand new car had 45 miles on it? or 75? or more?

Am I being supplied with a full set of test results showing why it has those miles on it? It’s not the way the industry works, but if every car came like that nobody would bat an eyelid (obviously)

That sounds like a long time to wait for a car. Did you time it so it’d have new, late 2013, plates on it?

Ford focus sales jan to June 2012 were 489,616 (world wide figures). Not sure what this tells us?

oh I think you may be massively disappointed at the amount of testing your car doesn’t get before you’re handed the key!

This may be my first (brand) new car but I’m pretty realistic about the odds of having a load of problems, fingers crossed it’ll not happen but best be prepared hey… Still doesn’t dampen the excitement!

what would you think if your brand new car had 45 miles on it? or 75? or more?

Wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.

That sounds like a long time to wait for a car. Did you time it so it’d have new, late 2013, plates on it?

Nope, didn’t even cross my mind. I was quoted 9-12 weeks and we’re around ten now, when do the plates change?

This may be my first (brand) new car but I’m pretty realistic about the odds of having a load of problems, fingers crossed it’ll not happen but best be prepared hey… Still doesn’t dampen the excitement!

That’s not what I meant. The quality (or lack thereof depending on the brand) is controlled by the process, not by testing and fault finding. Therefore you should still get a quality product at the end, which has been closely controlled throughout the supply chain.

On the other hand, the industry I work in builds highly complex kit in very low numbers (compared to the motor industry, and most other industries for that matter). So tests things to the hilt before letting the customer get their hands on it.

I thought they could reset the clock to wipe off some miles. Up to a point. On some piston heads thread is where I read about it.

When I’ve bought new cars or when my parents got them when we were kids, they usually had 4 to 7 miles on the clock. This would be from them moving around the factory, dock, ferry, dock, distribution centre, dealership etc.

The Lion V6 Diesel (For Jaguar / Landrover) engine line at Dagenham, had a complete engine coming off the line every 44 seconds when I was there a few years ago.
That’s complete and hot tested.
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