Volkswagen is an automobile company established in Germany by the National Socialist German Workers' Party to the German Automotive Association in 1937 for the production of a single model public car. The name of the company means people's car in German.
Volkswagen Group is a German automobile manufacturing company headquartered in Wolsfburg, Lower Saxony. The company, which produces both commercial and passenger vehicles, sells its commercial vehicles under the names Scania, MAN, Neoplan and Volkswagen. The passenger car brands of the company are Audi, Skoda, Bentley, Porsche, Lamborghini and Volkswagen.
Volkswagen produced its first car in 1938. Launched as the Beetle (Typ 60), the vehicle was completed after 4 years of work by Ferdinand Porsche and 24 designers.
The company, originally called Gesellschaft Zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagen (German People's Automobile Production Group), was founded in 1937. A year later, the company was renamed Volkswagenwerk.
Ferdinand Porsche is considered the legendary founder of Volkswagen. It took only ten months for the German inventor to develop a prototype with all the desired features. Although the new car is called Volkswagen Type 1, it will be referred to as the Beetle.
The main purpose of the company was to manufacture automobiles. However, shortly after the construction of the company's production facilities was completed, World War II broke out. For this reason, the company started to manufacture military vehicles.
Volkswagen was renamed Volkswagen-Finanzierung-Gesellschaft in 1949, after the war was over. The owner of the company at that time, the Military Government of Great Britain, transferred the company to the Government of Germany. The company gained a global character when it opened a branch in Toronto, Ontario in 1953.
Following this success, the company also opened branches in Brazil and the USA in 1955. Growing in a short time, Volkswagen started to open branches all over the world, including South Africa, Sweden and China. The name of the company was changed to Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft in 1960.
The first resounding venture outside Germany followed a collaboration with the Spanish auto company SEAT. The company took over SEAT completely in 1990, making it the owner of the first non-German subsidiary. Thus, Volkswagen began to be recognized globally. In 2003, the company completely took Skoda under its own protection.
Volkswagen is the third largest vehicle manufacturer in the world today. The company, which has the second largest market share in Europe, is the ninth largest company in the world according to 2013 data. Employing more than 300,000 people worldwide, the company sold 9.7 million vehicles per year, making it the top-selling company in a year. This goal of the company, which wants to sell 10 million vehicles a year, does not seem impossible at all.
World giant Volkswagen operates in 153 countries. The main subsidiaries of the company are as follows: AUDI AG, Bentley Motors Ltd, Automobili Almborghini S.p.A, Bugatti Automobiles, Suzuki Motor Corporations and Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. Volkswagen AG, whose shares are mostly on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, also has shares in the London, New York and Swiss stock exchanges.
In addition to vehicle production, the company also invests in sports sponsorships. The company invests in major sporting events/organizations such as the 2008 Summer Olympics, the 2014 Winter Olympics and the David Beckham Academy. Volkswagen also owns VfL Wolfsburg, a German football team competing in the Bundesliga.