Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen Group (
DE0007664005) () is a
German automobile manufacturer.
Volkswagen's second-largest market is
China where its subsidiary,
Volkswagen Group China is the largest foreign automaker.
VW was founded in
1937 as a public concern by the then
Nazi government to sell the
Volkswagen Beetle. After the
Second World War in
1945, the British Army took control of the bomb-shattered factory and restarted Beetle production for the difficult post-war years which Germany had to face. In 1948, the British Government handed the company back over to the German state, where it was managed by ex-
Opel chief
Heinrich Nordhoff.
In
1960, upon the floatation of part of the German federal government's stake in the company on the German stock market, its name became
Volkswagenwerk
Aktien
gesellschaft (
Aktiengesellschaft, abbreviated
AG, being equivalent to the English
Corp[oration] or American
Inc[orporated]). The name was changed to
VOLKSWAGEN AG on
4th July 1985, to reflect the company's increasing global diversification from its headquarters and main plant, the
Volkswagenwerk in
Wolfsburg,
Germany. The corporation now goes by that name or occasionally 'Volkswagen Group' in non-German speaking markets, and is currently the fourth largest car-manufacturer in the world. In 2005 VW sold more than 5.2 million vehicles, which equals a 9.1 share of the world market.
In October 2005,
Porsche acquired an 18.53% stake in the business. And in July they increased their ownship to little over 25%. This was done to prevent a foreign takeover.
* 1945-1948 â€"
Ivan Hirst* 1948-1967 â€"
Heinrich Nordhoff* 1968-1971 â€"
Kurt Lotz* 1971-1975 â€"
Rudolf Leiding* 1975-1982 â€"
Toni Schmucker* 1982-1993 â€"
Carl Hahn* 1993-2002 â€"
Ferdinand Piëch*
April 16,
2002-present â€"
Bernd PischetsriederThe company owns seven brands, which are organized into two groups or branches.
The
Audi branch consists of
*
Audi (
D)
*
Lamborghini (
I)
*
SEAT (
ES)
The
Volkswagen branch consists of
*
Volkswagen (
D)
*
Bentley (
GB)
*
Å koda (
CZ)
*
Bugatti (
F)
*
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (
D)
These brands have been discontinued by VW:
*
Auto Union*
DKW*
Horch*
NSU*
WandererVolkswagen is also the largest shareholder in
Scania AB with a capital stake of 16.5% and a voting stake of 27.4%
*
List of automobile manufacturers*
Volkswagen Group China*
VWVortex*
VWVortex*
Volkswagen Corporate*
Audi USA*
Bentley English*
Bugatti English*
Lamborghini English*
SEAT Global (in English)*
Å koda Global (in English)*
Volkswagen USA*
French fans website on Volkswagen AG
