PHOTOS: Volkswagen's awesome CarTowers

Volkswagen's Car Towers -- at the theme park Autostadt next to the carmaker's plant in Wolfsburg in Germany -- are transparent cylindrical buildings that rise 150 feet to 490 feet above the ground.

. . . 

These buildings are linked by a fully automated delivery system to the Volkswagen factory and the KundenCenter where VW customers pick up their new cars.

. . . 

The car tower works like a giant vending machine. When a new car from the Volkswagen plant arrives, it is transported by a robot to an empty storage slot in one of the towers.

. . . 

When the buyer comes to collect his car, the same robotic picking system fetches the vehicle that is required and brings it to the ground level.

. . . 

The car is then sent to the KundenCenter in the next building.

. . . 

Each tower can hold about 400 cars on 20 levels and can process a car every 45 seconds during peak time.

. . . 

CarTowers have now become a tourist attraction. Earlier, tourists were not allowed inside the tower, but now for a nominal charge one can get to see how they operate from inside for 15-odd minutes.

. . . 

Visitors enter a glass box -- that can accommodate 6 people -- and are carried to the top storey of a car tower by the same robotic lift used for automobiles.

. . . 

Germans commonly order customised vehicles through their local car dealers but collect the cars at the factory.

. . . 

Volkswagen's KundenCenter (customer centre) in Wolfsburg delivers about 550 new cars everyday.