Volkswagen AG

Volkswagen AG (VAG) is the largest car manufacturer in Europe and the fourth largest in the world. AG stands for what partnership means Aktiengesellschaft on shares.

VAG has 44 factories in 18 countries and a global sales and service network. The headquarters is located in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The company is also sometimes referred to as the Volkswagen Group.

Volkswagen AG produces vehicles under the brands Volkswagen , Audi , Seat and Skoda . In 2006 by the company were more than 5.7 million cars built. In the market for passenger cars VW AG had a market share of 9.1% worldwide, within Europe 18.9%.

Content

 * 1 History
 * 1.1 Nazi Period
 * 1.2 Reconstruction
 * 1.3 60 Years
 * 1.4 Years 1970-1995
 * 1.5 1995-present
 * 2 Company Structure
 * 2.1 Subsidiaries
 * 2.2 Shareholders
 * 2.3 Volkswagen chefs
 * 2.4 Models Encryption
 * 3 External link

[Nazi Period edit ]
When Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1933 seized power, he cherished the plan to fabricate allow an economical family car for up to 1,000 Reichsmarks. The carmakerFerdinand Porsche had before concrete proposals and could build a prototype of the car that would later be known as the Volkswagen Beetle . However, the German auto industry, with good reason, believe that the car could not be marketed for the desired price.

Hitler therefore gave the German Labor Front (DAF), the only authorized and state-dependent union commissioned to produce the car. In 1937 above the Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH founded in 1939 followed by the creation of Volkswagen GmbH, a private company whose government had owned all the shares.

For the production of the Kraft durch Freude-Wagen was near the village of Fallersleben in the middle of Germany, a gigantic factory built. Around the factory came KdF-stadt,renamed after the war in Wolfsburg . The factory, led by Porsche and Bodo Lafferentz, should produce on the conveyor belt 150,000 KdF-Wagen annually. Ahead of them was the late 30's car sold through a savings.

To serial production came in the Nazi period but no more. After the outbreak of war in 1939, the new factory for military production. While 20,000 forced laborers were used, partly housed since 1942 in the nearby camp Arbeitsdorf. In recognition of this past Volkswagen has established a fund in 1998, from which more than 2,000 former forced laborers were compensated.

[Reconstruction edit ]
By the Allied bombing partly destroyed factory in Wolfsburg (rebuilding would only be completed in 1950) came in 1945 under British military administration. The British occupation forces left there from 1946 rebuild cars, primarily for their own use. However, there were also plans to dismantle the company and the Beetle was to include Ford and the British Humber offered. However, these companies saw little commercial potential in the German concept.

Decommissioning was also the manager appointed by the occupation authorities, the British Major Ivan Hirst, not interested. Under his leadership came late 40s finally put the serial production of the Beetle started and became a service network on legs. End of 1948, the leadership of the company was taken over by the of Opel -derived technician Heinrich Nordhoff . A year later, the Allied occupation authorities helped the company to the Federal Government and the Land of Lower Saxony. Volkswagen remained as a state.

Volkswagen Beetle was his in the 50s the symbol of the German reconstruction, the economic miracle . In 1950, car number 100,000 produced in 1955 was the production of the millionth Volkswagen celebrated.Was little changed in those years on the design of the car. However, it was next to the Volkswagen Beetle from 1950 also the Transporter (known as the VW Bus) built. The bus was an equally revolutionary concept as the Beetle and was also a huge success. For the bus was taken a new manufacturing facility in Hanover in 1956.

The first Beetles were exported in 1947 by Pon's Automobielhandel to the Netherlands. From 1948 was also to other European countries, including Belgium, exported. In 1950 they began assembling the car in Ireland and Brazil. Outside Europe, Volkswagen built its own sales organizations in North America and assembly companies in Australia and South Africa. In 1953 a large factory built in Brazil.

60 [ edit ]
In 1960, Volkswagen was converted into a public company, Volkswagen AG. 60% of the shares sold to investors, but the so-called Volkswagen Law that regulated the privatization, given that no shareholder entitled to exercise more than 20% of the voting rights in the company. The Confederation and the Land of Lower Saxony each had 20% of the shares and retained as in fact controlled.

The proceeds from the 1960 sale of shares went to the Stiftung Volkswagenwerk, since 1989 the Volkswagen Foundation . The purpose of this organization, (2006) a capital of 2.4 billion, is the promotion of scientific research, which is made annually EUR 100 million.

The number of production sites was gradually expanded into the 60s. In 1964, Volkswagen opened for the US market a factory in Mexico. In Belgium, in 1971 Volkswagen Bruxelles SA founded. Volkswagen's policy was aimed at the international distribution of its products as much as possible to obtain under its own control. In the Netherlands, the representation of the brand remained in the hands of Pon.

In 1965, Volkswagen Auto Union over by Daimler-Benz . Auto-Union remained within the Volkswagen Group a fairly independent subsidiary. However, the brand name was previously used DKW replaced by the historic Audi . In 1969 the company was merged with the also taken over by Volkswagen NSU to Audi NSU Auto Union AG, Audi AG since 1985 shortly.

Both acquisitions were for Volkswagen even more important since the company under Nordhoff, who was governor until 1967, froze. It clung too long now technically and commercially obsolete concepts as the air-cooled engine and rear wheel drive. In 1972 broke the Beetle with over 15 million copies produced the old production record of the Ford Model T, but now Volkswagen has been overtaken by the competition.

Years 1970-1995 [ edit ]
The introduction in 1970 of the Volkswagen K70, even by NSU developed model with front-wheel drive and water cooling, marked a break with the previous policy. The model not to hit, but put on the market in 1973 and much more successful Passat was designed according to the same principles. The Passat and especially the Gulf (from 1974) brought the company new achievements, but never Volkswagen would risk such a drastic change model. Despite all the technological changes since the early 70s called the most successful types of Volkswagen Golf and Passat still.

Another innovation of the '70s was that the models of the group, Volkswagens and Audis so composed more and more as a modular system were out of usable parts for several types. Critics were the cars of both brands therefore increasingly resemble one another. In other respects both brands grew towards each other. Thus was created a common sales and service in 1978 for Volkswagen and Audi (until 1992) under the acronym VAG (Volkswagen abbreviation (work) AG, however, in the eyes of many VW Audi group) with a light blue corporate color.

Gradually expanded the group itself internationally. Thus opened a factory in 1973 in Lagos, Nigeria.Van important was the agreement signed in 1982 with the Chinese SAIC about the production of the modelSantana in China. Thereby laying the foundation for the successful expansion of Volkswagen in the Chinese market. Later Volkswagen also went with FAW in China a joint venture to.

In 1985, the group's name was changed from Volkswagen AG in the internationally better sounding Volkswagen AG. A year later, in order to increase the scale of the company, the Spanish SEAT taken that as an Audi was under his own name producing subsidiary of the group. The same applied to the acquired in 1991 Czech Skoda .

Faster than before there were new models on the market. In 1980, the Passat II and in 1983 the Golf II, in 1991, respectively. 1997 followed by the Golf III and IV. The Volkswagen Golf II in 1983 went on to production by using robots.

1995-present [ edit ]
In 1993, Ferdinand Piëch, a grandson of Porsche, head of the Volkswagen group. Under Piëch did Volkswagen attempts to through in the top of the car push. In 1998, for this purpose the brands Bugatti andLamborghini acquired. The sale of Rolls-Royce in the same year led after much wrangling with BMW to a distribution in which the Volkswagen brand Bentley retained.

The brands were divided into two groups, the Volkswagen Group and the Audi group, the latter (with Seat) had to profiling with sporting luxury and advanced technology, while Volkswagen (with Škoda) focused on the market for decent family cars. Even niche markets were, often with some delay, operated with an increasingly wide range of products. Examples of vehicles for such smaller markets in the VW New Beetle (1998) and the Phaeton (2002).

Volkswagen, however, had to contend with problems. After halving in profits in 2003, a major restructuring was announced to reduce costs. According to Volkswagen wage costs were 11% above the average of the other German carmakers. But critics have also highlighted the high dividends and management fees. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the investment in the market for luxury cars were economically rational. And Volkswagen had not responded adequately to the enormous growth of the SUV -Market.

The company was also since the 90s plagued with quality problems (including at Golf IV) which would be caused by drastic cuts in production. And the last straw came in 2005 a serious corruption scandal. Top managers were members of the works council and politicians bribed and have themselves been paid by suppliers. The profits of the group have incidentally restored in 2006.

The German government has, in contrast to the state of Lower Saxony, meanwhile withdrawn completely from the company. However, the EU has put in motion a process to set the special arrangements from the privatization of 1960 around the control at Volkswagen inoperative. Opposition from Lower Saxony comes primarily from concerns about maintaining jobs.

Simultaneously expanded Porsche the end of 2005 took an interest in his Volkswagen participation systematically further. In May 2008 it had a share of 35% already de facto control over the company in September had risen to 42% and announced Porsche to exercise of options for a further 30% to a total interest of 75% in mid-2009. spindle in this acquisition is Ferdinand Piëch, both (since 2002) Chairman of the Aufsichtsrat(Supervisory Board) of Volkswagen AG as a 13% shareholder of Porsche. [1] Its objective is both groups, which have strong historical ties, again within bring a family [2] . Furthermore, the company would be given a range in all segments of the automotive industry, as evidenced by the acquisition by Volkswagen of Scania in March.

Piëchs intention led to a power struggle within the Volkswagen Group; end of 2006 Bernd Pischetsrieder unexpectedly as group chief replaced by Martin Winterkorn . Between Porsche and Volkswagen also burned a separate battle, which went mainly to Porsche participation rights that purely numerical fact would be eclipsed by Volkswagen. However, both families put this dispute at the end of October 2008 [3] . Following the takeover plan, the share price of the company was so pushed that Volkswagen was briefly the world's largest company by market capitalization [4]

In July 2009, the chief executive of Porsche was Wendelin Wiedeking fired along with the chief financial officer, rumors of a takeover by VW were thus stronger. [5] On 13 August 2009 it was announced that Volkswagen and Porsche will integrate into a single group in 2011, that group probably will be named Auto-Union . At the end of 2009, VW will have its share of Porsche expanded to 42%, while conversely Porsche owns 51% of the shares in Volkswagen AG .. [6] [7] Qatar gets in return for 7 billion eventually an interest of 17% in the new group. [8] A few days later, however, leaked out that the merger might already in 2010 can be completed. [9]

Operating companies [ edit ]
The different brands within the group since 2002, divided into two groups: The Volkswagen group: The Audi group with: Then there is the division for commercial vehicles, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, which builds especially smaller transport material as the Caddy, Transporter, Crafter and Amarok. In Brazil, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles also builds trucks. Volkswagen also has a minority stake in the Swedish truck manufacturer Scania AB (16.5% of the shares and 33.4% of voting rights) and a 20% interest in the German MAN AG .
 * Volkswagen -Personenkraftwagen
 * Volkswagen -Lastkraftwagen
 * Škoda
 * Bugatti
 * Bentley
 * Porsche
 * Scania
 * Audi
 * Seat
 * Lamborghini
 * Ducati

All financial services provided by the company are administered by Volkswagen Financial Services AG and operates in the Netherlands under the name Volkswagen Bank and Volkswagen Pon Financial Services.

Locally consolidated participations occupy a special place in the structure. That includes the Chinese joint ventures in which control is in Chinese hands. [source?]

In 2000, Volkswagen opened in Wolfsburg theme park Autostadt, where different brands of the group is to present themselves and to see a car museum.

Shareholders [ edit ]
Volkswagen AG is listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange and several other stock exchanges. On October 27, 2008 Porsche owned 42.6% of the shares with options for another 31.5%; Lower Saxony held 20.2%. [10]On January 7, 2009 Porsche owns 50.76 percent of Volkswagen shares, a controlling interest. [11]

Volkswagen chefs [ edit ]

 * 1945-1948 - Ivan Hirst
 * 1948-1967 - Heinrich Nordhoff
 * 1968-1971 - Kurt Lotz
 * 1971-1975 - Rudolf Leadership
 * 1975-1982 - Toni Schmucker
 * 1982-1993 - Carl Hahn
 * 1993-2002 - Ferdinand Piëch
 * 2002-2006 - Bernd Pischetsrieder
 * 2007 - Martin Winterkorn

[Models Encryption edit ]
Volkswagen has an internal encoding for its models within the group. It consists of two letters and three numbers. The two letters indicate what brand it goes: Then the first digit indicates to which class it goes: The second number indicates the ( platform ) generation. A new car does not necessarily begin with but one gets the figure of the platform on which it is built.
 * Volkswagen VW =
 * AU = Audi
 * SK = Škoda
 * SE = Seat
 * BY = Bentley
 * LA = Lamborghini
 * BU = Bugatti
 * 1 = Sample Class
 * 2 = Economy Class
 * 3 = Compact middle class
 * 4 = Intermediate
 * 5 = Upper middle class
 * 6 = Top class
 * 7 = Terrain Car / SUV

The third and last digit indicates the model: Example: Type SK352 is a Skoda Octavia Combi into the fifth generation compact class platform (also called Golf platform).
 * 0 = Hatchback
 * 1 = Sedan
 * 2 = Wagon
 * 3 = Sportback (a model with extra doors)
 * 4 = Coupe / Sports
 * 5 = Cabriolet
 * 6 = Allroad / SUV
 * 7 = Pickup / Vans