Volkswagen AG

This article covers the company. For the Volkswagen brand, see Volkswagen .

Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
legal form	Corporation
ISIN	DE0007664005 ( common share ) DE0007664039 ( preferred share )
founding	May 28, 1937 in Berlin
Seat	Wolfsburg , Germany
management	Herbert Diess ( CEO ) Oliver Blume Markus Duesmann Gunnar Kilian Andreas Renschler Hiltrud Dorothea Werner Frank Witter Hans Dieter Pötsch ( Chairman of the Supervisory Board )
Number of employees	671,200 (2019)
sales	252.6 billion euros (2019)
Branch	Automotive industry , financial and logistics services
Website	www.volkswagenag.com
As of December 31, 2019

The Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft (abbreviated VW AG ), headquartered in Lower Saxony Wolfsburg is a German automobile manufacturer . It is indirectly majority owned by the Austrian families Porsche and Piëch. Volkswagen is the largest automobile manufacturer in the world. Toyota and General Motors are major competitors of Volkswagen in the world market. The company, which was founded in Berlin on May 28, 1937 as a company for the preparation of Volkswagens  mbH , was renamed Volkswagenwerk GmbH in 1938 and converted into a stock corporation in 1960 . In 1985, the Annual General Meeting resolved to change the company's name to Volkswagen AG .

Today's VW AG acts as the parent company of the vehicle brand Volkswagen Passenger Cars and the subsidiaries Seat , Škoda Auto and Audi as well as the luxury brands Bentley , Bugatti , Ducati (motorcycles), Lamborghini and Porsche . 2007-2011, the Group also expanded its commercial vehicle division (trucks and buses) with the division Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles to the companies MAN and Scania .

The operational business of Volkswagen AG is divided into two corporate divisions, Automobiles and Financial Services . The automobile segment includes the areas of passenger cars (Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Seat, Skoda, Porsche, Volkswagen PKW, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles), commercial vehicles (Scania Vehicles and Service, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge) and power engineering (large diesel engines, turbo machines, special transmissions, components from Drive technology and test systems). Dealer and customer financing, leasing , insurance and the fleet business are combined in the Financial Services division ( Volkswagen Financial Services AG ) .

Origin of the group

The origin of today's group is the development of a Volkswagen by Ferdinand Porsche . For the production of the car, the National Socialist organization " Kraft durch Freude " founded the Society for the Preparation of the Volkswagen mbH (GeZuVor) on May 28, 1937 in Berlin . At the beginning of 1938, the construction of the "Vorwerk" Braunschweig began , followed by the actual Volkswagen factory near Fallersleben , through which the city later called Wolfsburg was created. After the Second World War, the company was operated by the military administration of the British zone of occupation under the name Wolfsburg Motor Works .

On August 22, 1960, Volkswagenwerk GmbH , which was owned by the State of Lower Saxony after the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany , was converted into a stock corporation. By resolution of the 1985 Annual General Meeting, the company's name has been Volkswagen AG since then . In addition to the automobile and motorcycle sector, financial and logistics services as well as a small food division also belong to the Volkswagen Group. The Volkswagen brand is managed from the VW administration tower in Wolfsburg, the group from an adjacent office complex.

history

founding

On March 8, 1934, at the opening of the 24th International Automobile and Motorcycle Exhibition  (IAMA) in Berlin , Adolf Hitler called for a car to be built for broad sections of the population. He had in mind the construction of a car that would be " autobahn-proof " , capable of maintaining a continuous speed of 100 km / h, with four seats, would be suitable for families, be economical in consumption and, above all, cost less than 1,000  RM .

KdF car on a Reichsautobahn , January 1943

Ferdinand Porsche, who ran his own design office in Stuttgart, received the development order for the construction of a prototype from the Reich Association of the German Automobile Industry on June 22, 1934 . The German automobile companies questioned about the assessment of the feasibility doubted whether the Volkswagen could be realized at Hitler's desired price of less than RM 1,000. Other vehicle concepts before, which already used the term Volkswagen, could not be offered at a "popular" price due to high material costs and - due to a lack of efficient production methods - high production costs. For example, Josef Ganz presented a Volkswagen called Maikäfer at the above-mentioned automobile exhibition.

Since the automobile industry was not interested in subsidizing the Volkswagen, Hitler commissioned the German Labor Front  (DAF) to build the largest automobile factory in Europe. On May 28, 1937, under the supervision of the head of DAF Robert Ley, the Society for Preparation of the German Volkswagen mbH (GeZuVor) was founded with its headquarters in Berlin-Grunewald , Taubertstrasse 4. Your first and only product was to be the " KdF-Wagen " (KdF = strength through joy) . It financed the development of the Volkswagen plant mainly from the sale of the union assets that were confiscated in 1933. The subsequent production was pre-financed according to a concept developed by DAF, according to which future buyers of the Volkswagen had to make advance payments.

The purchase price of 990 RM was saved in installments of 5 RM and acknowledged with savings stamps on a savings card. However, in 1939 the calculated costs resulted in a loss of 1,080 RM for each vehicle to be delivered.

May 26, 1938: Chancellor Adolf Hitler laid the foundation stone for the Volkswagen factory, Ferdinand Porsche in front right

After a tour by the managing director Bodo Lafferentz , the location of the plant was found more or less by chance in the rural and sparsely populated area near the municipality of Fallersleben near Wolfsburg Castle with the local estate . The first plan sketches with details of the approximate size of the production halls and the basic technical equipment were made by the engineer Fritz Kuntze in the summer of 1937. The then most modern River-Rouge automobile plant of the Ford  Motor Company in Dearborn served as a model for the plant planning . The architects Emil Rudolf Mewes and Karl Kohlbecker and the architects Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer were jointly commissioned with the planning and construction management of the plant . The " City of the KdF-Wagons near Fallersleben " (from 1945 Wolfsburg), newly founded in 1938, was planned by the architect Peter Koller (see Koller plan ). The location in the glacial valley of the Aller in the geographical center of the empire offered convenient connections

• the Mittelland Canal ,
• the Reichsautobahn from Berlin to Hanover (today Bundesautobahn 2 ),
• the Berlin- Ruhr area railway line
• and the proximity to steelworks in Peine ( Ilseder Hütte ) or Salzgitter (" Hermann-Göring-Werke ") and to the city of Braunschweig .

Of particular importance for the choice of location was the fact that almost the entire selected factory premises belonged to Günther Graf von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg , the lord of the Wolfsburg castle. This made the acquisition of land much easier.

However, the motorway connection first had to be built and a connection to the Berlin-Lehrter Railway created. In addition, an adequate infrastructure for electricity and water supply as well as telecommunications had to be built.

Since Ferdinand Porsche was able to produce his Volkswagen in a completely newly built factory, it was possible for him to optimally coordinate the product and his production facilities. The number of sheet metal parts to be pressed was reduced through an optimized shape (individual sheets as large as possible). The consequent assembly line production was based on examples from Ford in Detroit , whose production methods Porsche studied on a trip to the USA.

The company for the preparation of the German Volkswagen mbH was renamed Volkswagenwerk GmbH in 1938 . The company headquarters was now in the house of the German Labor Front in Knesebeckstrasse 48/49, Berlin W15 ( Charlottenburg ). Ferdinand Porsche became managing director and member of the supervisory board of the new GmbH. In the years that followed, he was fully committed to establishing the plant near Fallersleben as the most modern automobile factory in Europe. The Volkswagen logo was also created in 1937/1938 from the two letters V and W placed on top of each other in a wheel. This company logo was developed by Franz Xaver Reimspieß and Hans Martin Freyer .

Second World War, war economy and forced labor

The Kübelwagen, which was mainly produced during the Second World War

In autumn 1939 the shell of the production halls was finished. However, the production of the KdF car (planned 150,000 / year) no longer came about because special machine tools were missing because the German economy had to prepare for the war. Most of the steel required for production was to be supplied from the “City of Hermann Göring Works ” ( Salzgitter ). The KdF wagons, on which many had saved, were never delivered; Instead, the technology - which Porsche had helped to develop - was used in the bucket and floating car for the Wehrmacht . Few limousines were made for high-ranking figures during the war. Also for the Wehrmacht special vehicles with the KdF car body and the chassis of the bucket or floating car were assembled in a few hundred pieces for testing and use. In the outsourced branches of Volkswagenwerk GmbH, war production gradually came to a standstill due to a lack of supplies, a lack of raw materials and tools, but also due to stagnation in the power supply. The assembly of Kübelwagen on the production lines in Fallersleben continued until the last moment and only stopped a few hours before the tank alarm of April 10, 1945. The secondary production of plate mines and bazookas continued until the SS transported the Hungarian Jewish women used for this purpose to the Salzwedel concentration camp overnight . There the women were freed from the American troops who were already approaching.

During the Second World War , the Volkswagen factory was converted to the production of armaments, including the V1 retaliatory weapon . This was mainly organized by Porsche's son-in-law Anton Piëch , who was plant manager from 1941 and one of the three general managers. From 1940 to 1945 around 20,000 people had to do forced labor at the Volkswagen factory, including prisoners of war and concentration camp inmates . In 1942, the Arbeitsdorf concentration camp was specially created, but it was closed again at the end of the year. From 1944, forced laborers were interned in the Laagberg satellite camp, among others .

On April 10, 1945 Anton Piëch went with 10 million RM under the pretext of relocating the group management via Neudek to Zell am See , where the Porsche family owned a property . The money was supposed to be used for the relocation of part of the Volkswagen factory from Neudek to the Allgäu, but this was no longer possible. The money was used to finance Porsche KG . Until November 1945, Anton Piëch acted as managing director of Volkswagenwerk GmbH and paid invoices from Porsche KG . Anton Piëch was the father of Ferdinand Piëch, who later became chairman of the supervisory board. The FAZ wrote on November 12, 2006: “Porsche-Piëch and VW, this is an age-old relationship box. The entry of the small sports car manufacturer Porsche into the largest car manufacturer on the European continent was, in a certain way, the material completion of a connection that has always been there. "

After heavy bombing raids in the summer of 1944, the KdF-Werk, whose war-important productions - with the exception of the bucket and floating car production - had been relocated below the surface , was no longer bothered by major air raids. Despite the destruction - which most affected the hall roofs - it became possible to put the assembly line back into operation: by moving it to the basement, it was better protected from bombs. Other parts of the business were relocated near the plant. In the last months of the war, the delivery of material for the main plant was ensured by trucks and - where this was no longer possible due to the war - by transport columns that were traveling with rucksacks and suitcases. After the end of the war, this local relocation proved to be an advantage: it was relatively easy for the British occupation officers to return outsourced production areas to the largely functional plant and to try to restart production.

The dangers of Hitler's destruction orders were averted in particular by power plant manager Fritz Kuntze. The bridge over the Mittelland Canal - which connected the factory and the city and contained vital supply lines - was not blown up. He also opposed the later request by American soldiers to shut down the power station and thus the power supply to the city. Because of this, he was arrested and taken prisoner by the United States, even though he had an American passport. The closer plant management was no longer in town at the end of the war.

post war period

Current (left, center) and former corporate headquarters in Wolfsburg

After the end of the Second World War, responsibility for the Volkswagen factory was transferred to the British military government in the British occupation zone , which after the renaming of the city ​​of the Kdf-Wagen near Fallersleben on May 26, 1945 in Wolfsburg, the factory was renamed “Wolfsburg Motor Works “continued to operate. 20 percent of the factory buildings were destroyed, 93 percent of the machine equipment was still in usable condition.

The first Beetle was mass-produced in 1945 , but in the first few years after the Second World War, the future of the plant and the “Beetle” was uncertain. Only then did the company and its products officially receive the name "Volkswagen". Both dismantling the factory and continuing Beetle production in other countries were possible options. The British company Humber and Ford, among others, were interested in the VW plant. However, due to a false market assessment , the proximity to the Soviet occupation zone and a devastating technical assessment of the VW Beetle by a British investigation report, all interested parties gave up their intentions to buy the VW plant.

In the said investigation report, the Beetle was judged to be a construction not worth imitating, which allegedly did not meet the requirements that had to be placed on small cars at the time.

The British major Ivan Hirst , who, together with the German management, made sure that production started, had a great influence on the development of the Volkswagen factory in the first years after the Second World War . The German plant management consisted, among other things, of the Berlin industrial lawyer Hermann Münch , who was initially commissioned as a trustee to rebuild the plant and, after Rudolf Brörmann's replacement on June 17, 1946, was appointed general director and main trustee . In the beginning, only service vehicles for the occupation management were assembled from stocks. However, the occupation administration was under political pressure from 1946 at the latest: It had to take care of the civilian population in its zone of occupation, which was still growing due to refugees, and thereby burdened the British state budget. Dismantling would have made this situation worse; the revival of the plant, on the other hand, promised both the elimination of transfer payments through jobs and income from production for personal use or sales.

From 1946, the VW could also be bought privately with a voucher at a price of 5,000 Reichsmarks. On the initiative of Hirst, a customer service and sales system - also abroad - was set up and quality and production capacities were increased. Hirst finally recommended Heinrich Nordhoff , who was head of the Opel factory in Brandenburg until the end of the war , as Münch's successor. In 1948 Nordhoff became general director.

In 1949, the British military government handed the company over to the trusteeship of the State of Lower Saxony , with the condition that the ownership rights should be exercised jointly with the federal government and that the other federal states and the trade unions should have great influence. From then on, the company was run as Volkswagenwerk GmbH .

The Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg was to become the largest automobile factory in the world. The factory area today takes up an area comparable to that of Gibraltar . The covered hall area alone is roughly the size of the Principality of Monaco .

In 1955 the completion of the one millionth Volkswagen was celebrated in Wolfsburg. In 1959, the board moved into the newly built administration tower on the Mittelland Canal.

Under monument protection: old power plant with VW emblem in the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg

On March 17, 1960, the German Bundestag decided to privatize the majority of the state-owned company . The Volkswagenwerk GmbH was converted into a stock corporation on August 22, 1960 , partially privatized and was now called "Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft". 60 percent of VW's share capital was issued to private individuals in the form of so-called people's shares with a total nominal value of DM 360 million, with proceeds of around EUR 500 million. The Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Lower Saxony each retained 20 percent of the shares. With the sales proceeds and the profit entitlements from the remaining 40 percent of the public-sector shares, after a long tug-of-war between the federal government and Lower Saxony, the Volkswagenwerk Foundation was founded as a non-profit foundation under civil law in Hanover in 1961 to promote science . A special feature of this is the so-called VW law of July 21, 1960, which not only regulates privatization, but is also intended to further secure its decisive influence despite the minority position of the public sector. It states that no shareholder may exercise more than 20 percent of voting rights. This prevents hostile takeovers or blocking minorities .

In 1962 the group as a whole had 69,000 employees and an annual turnover of 6.4 billion DM. In 1962 there was a strike by Italian workers, one of the first ever by guest workers in the Federal Republic.

In October 1964, took over Volkswagen AG , the Auto Union  GmbH of Daimler-Benz . The company, based in Ingolstadt, secured the Wolfsburg-based new technologies such as water cooling in engine construction and front-wheel drive . Under the revived brand name Audi , Volkswagen had a second group brand on offer for the first time, into which the NSU company was integrated in 1969 .

After Heinrich Nordhoff's death in April 1968, Kurt Lotz became CEO of VW.

In 1969 the Ehra-Lessien test site north of Wolfsburg was inaugurated, where vehicles from all Group brands are tested.

1970s

With the K 70 developed by NSU , Volkswagen launched a vehicle with a front engine , front-wheel drive and water cooling for the first time in 1970 .

Rudolf Leiding, VW CEO from 1971 to 1975

In September 1971 Lotz resigned and Rudolf Leiding became VW CEO.

In 1972 Volkswagen employed 192,100 people and generated annual sales of DM 16 billion.

The VW Beetle became the world's most built car in 1972: With 15,007,034 assembled cars, the VW Beetle broke the production record of the T-model built by the Ford Motor Company at the beginning of the 20th century . In 2002 the VW Golf relegated the Beetle to third place in the ranking of the most produced automobiles with 21.5 million units built. The Toyota Corolla remained production world champion , followed by the VW Golf . The Ford T-model took fourth place. However, it should be noted that both the Beetle and the T-model were produced almost unchanged, while Corolla and Golf run several models under the same name. The number of units of the Ford T also exceeds the Fiat 124 , if one takes into account the worldwide production at WAS (15 million units there alone), Premier, Seat, Tofaş and others.

The Passat B1 (1973) in the Variant version, which was not yet very widespread at the time

VW ran into economic problems at the beginning of the 1970s: the demand for the Beetle steadily declined and the larger models VW 1500/1600 and VW 411/412 based on the same concept could no longer offer any compensation. Auto Union GmbH in Ingolstadt (from 1969 Audi NSU Auto Union AG ), sold by Daimler-Benz to VW in the mid-1960s, proved to be a savior : With the use of engine and chassis components from the subsidiary, it was possible to create a modern, attractive one in a short time To offer model range.

Apart from the VW K 70 , which was presented in 1970 and was still being developed by NSU, the Passat, which was produced from May 1973, was the first representative of the water-cooled front-wheel drive models. It was almost identical to the Audi 80 introduced in 1972 . The Scirocco appeared in the spring of 1974 and the Golf followed in the summer of 1974, which quickly developed into the top-selling VW model. In 1974 the smaller Audi 50 appeared , in 1975 the structurally identical, but more simply equipped and cheaper Polo .

Production was based on the modular principle , which released considerable savings potential through components that can be used in various models. The disadvantage was that the VW and Audi models were now very similar. To capacity for the well running model Passat freizubekommen, the production of the "Beetle" was founded in 1978 by the Emden plant in the Puebla plant moved to Mexico, where the symbol of the West German " economic miracle " was still built by 2003. The transition from the Beetle to the Golf is a standard example of a non-implemented lifecycle management (lifecycle management) of a product and the resulting consequences for a company.

Toni Schmücker headed the VW Group from 1975 to 1982

On February 10, 1975 Toni Schmücker took up the post of VW CEO. Under Schmücker, plans were forged to expand the group by adding new brands and opening up new market segments. Buying or participating in a commercial vehicle manufacturer was an option. The addition of other car brands was not ruled out either. The considerations called for a new corporate structure, with a holding company at the top and downstream brands or subsidiaries.

In internal company debates, the "Ford model" competed with the "GM model". Ford had a strong brand that also served as the top of the group. Among them were rather weaker brands like Lincoln and Mercury . General Motors had a pure group top, with subordinate vehicle brands such as Buick , Cadillac , Chevrolet , GMC , Holden , Opel , Pontiac , and Vauxhall . This allowed further freedom for cross-brand companies such as GM Performance Parts , GM Goodwrench , GM Powertrain , GMAC Financial Services and later GM  OnStar .

The more consistent GM model was initially favored by Volkswagen. A name for the holding was searched for, and Auto Union was also the subject of consideration. Ultimately, the top management did not want to part with the VW logo above the Wolfsburg administration tower. It was decided to initially put the joint Volkswagen and Audi sales organization (merged since the early 1970s) under a new name. Subsidiaries such as bank or leasing should be given the same name.

Logo of the sales organization for Audi and VW in the 1970 / 80s. Design: Wolff Olins, London

In 1978, a joint sales platform for the two brands Audi and Volkswagen was created under the name VAG - for reasons of symmetry with only two dots, as a word mark also V · A · G. The dealerships were given a uniform appearance in the form of a surrounding blue ribbon. The VW Bank was in the same year in VAG Bank renamed. The leasing subsidiary changed its name to VAG Leasing .

Volkswagen never resolved the meaning of the three letters. Common interpretations were "Volkswagen-Audi-Gemeinschaft" or "Volkswagen Audi-Gruppe". Other opinions come from “Volkswagenwerk AG”.

The intention of the new VAG sales organization was based on large "car dealerships" in which many car brands and services in the mobility sector were to be offered. The vision anticipated the auto malls that developed in the US in the 1990s and later in Europe. The term “VAG partner” did not catch on in public and disappeared again around 1992. The special tools and test devices such as the VAG 1551 are still reminiscent of VAG today.

After the 1975 IAA, VW lifted a hiring freeze in September 1975 and now offered 2,750 new jobs.

In order to reduce the GDR's foreign trade deficit , the Federal Republic of Germany carried out so-called compensation transactions in the 1970s . As the main state shareholder of the Volkswagen plant, the state of Lower Saxony, as a contractual partner of the GDR, ensured imports of goods from the Eastern Bloc for the VW Group. Volkswagen also purchased sheet steel of inferior quality, which later led to considerable corrosion in the vehicles made from it. In 1977 there was a remarkable trade with the "VE foreign trade transport machinery export and import" in the GDR. Volkswagen delivered 10,000  Golf to the GDR. On January 13, 1978, the first train with 200 vehicles rolled over the inner-German border . In return, the GDR supplied presses , machine tools and a projector from Carl Zeiss Jena for the Wolfsburg Planetarium , which VW gave to the city in 1978 on the 40th anniversary of its founding.

In the USA , VW was the first foreign motor vehicle manufacturer to open a car plant in Westmoreland, Pennsylvania on April 10, 1978 . There the US version of the VW Golf was assembled under the name "Rabbit" in the CKD process from supplied parts.

1980s

From 1982 Carl H. Hahn headed the company. The son of Carl Hahn senior , one of the co-founders of Auto Union, was President of Volkswagen of America (VoA) from 1958 to 1965 and built up the overseas business there. After Hahn junior was CEO of Continental AG for ten years , he took over the chairmanship of VW AG in 1982. Under his leadership, VW became a " global player " in the truest sense of the word. In 1986 Volkswagen AG took over the majority of Seat , in 1991 Škoda Auto was bought and Škoda Auto Deutschland was founded to represent this brand in Germany.

Global strategist: Carl Horst Hahn, VW CEO from 1982 to 1993

In the People's Republic of China , today the largest car market and largest car manufacturer in the world, Hahn demonstrated foresight early on. In October 1984, a contract for the production of the VW Santana in China was signed with the Shanghai Tractor Automobile Corporation (STAC) , the forerunner of the SAIC group, the China National Automotive Industry Corporation (CNAIC) and the Bank of China . The first “assembly line” started operating in October 1985. In the mid-2010s, China was the company's largest sales market.

The introduction of the VW Golf II brought with it the beginning of new production methods (for example the use of industrial robots ). The new manufacturing process became known under the term “ Hall 54 ”, based on a production hall at the Wolfsburg location that was  equipped according to the latest aspects of computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM). In retrospect, however, the process was discontinued on many points, as it became clear that production without people was not working. Among other things, the maintenance effort and downtime negated the savings from fewer staff.

In 1984 there was another major trade deal with the GDR. After years of ignorance, the GDR leadership had come to the conclusion that two-stroke engine construction for cars could no longer go on like this. Here played Günter Mittag , a decisive role he stood behind one, outside the Politburo contract with Volkswagen, the delivery of short engines to VW had, among others, the sale of the production of the alpha motor series to the GDR, as well as to the content in return. The VW engines built under license were installed in the Wartburg 1.3 from 1988 and in the Trabant 1.1 and Barkas B1000-1 from 1990 . On the basis of the established cooperation, Volkswagen Sachsen  GmbH developed after 1990 . See also VEB Barkas-Werke .

In 1985, the Annual General Meeting resolved to change the company's name from Volkswagenwerk AG to Volkswagen AG .

In 1986 the company fell victim to a large-scale currency fraud. Volkswagen's chief foreign exchange dealer Burkhard Junge embezzled DM 480 million together with the Frankfurt foreign exchange dealer Hans-Joachim Schmidt. Both were sentenced to six years' imprisonment. Other foreign exchange workers also went to jail.

On March 24, 1988, the federal government ( Kohl III cabinet ) began to sell its remaining 16 percent stake in Volkswagen AG through a consortium of banks .

Due to the decision of the board of directors in November 1987, the US plant in Westmoreland ( Pennsylvania ) was closed in July 1988. The capacity utilization was no longer convincing and further losses should be stopped. The state of Pennsylvania took over the buildings in October 1990 .

1990s

Retro success: the New Beetle

Porsche's legacy: Ferdinand Karl Piëch, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG from 1993 to 2002

In 1992, the joint sales network of Volkswagen and Audi, which had been known as VAG since 1978 , was split up again in order to give the two brands a more distinctive and independent image . Since then, Volkswagen and Audi vehicles have been sold separately.

On January 1, 1993, Ferdinand Piëch , a grandson of Ferdinand Porsche , took over the chairmanship of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG .

Shortly after taking office in April 1993, Piëch brought José Ignacio López and seven of his employees, for example Francisco Javier García Sanz (VW Board Member for Procurement from 2001 to April 2018), from General Motors to Wolfsburg. Lopéz took over the new board area “Production optimization and procurement.” Together with Lopez, production was converted to just-in-time production and the vertical range of manufacture was reduced. The aim was to pass the investments for productivity gains primarily on the suppliers. In May 1993, Lopéz was accused of industrial espionage by his former employer. Opel and General Motors filed criminal charges against the new VW employees. At the same time, a lawsuit was brought in the USA based on the RICO Act , a law originally created to combat organized crime, which also affected Piëch. After three and a half years, the indictment was published in December 1996. López joined end of 1996 Piëch's insistence back, but got by VW that until the end of his contract period in 1998 due salary of 4 million DM. The lawsuit filed by GM was brokered by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and US President Bill Clinton with the 9 January 1997 withdrawn settlement. VW paid $ 100 million in damages to GM and purchased components from GM for $ 1 billion. The “López effect” caused painful concentration in the supplier industry and, due to the lower quality of parts, caused the group to suffer for a long time with high warranty costs .

The VW Sharan presented in 1995 was VW's first successful attempt to establish itself in the niche vehicle market and to participate in the then booming van market . The Sharan was also offered as an Alhambra by Seat with minor changes . A strategic alliance was concluded with Ford for development and production , where the car was launched as the Ford Galaxy . In the early 1990s, Ford and VW established a joint venture in Palmela (Portugal) with Autoeuropa - Automóveis Ltda. founded, which has been owned by VW as VW Autoeuropa since the beginning of 1999 . The Scirocco III and the Eos also come from Portugal . VW built the Galaxy on behalf of Ford in Palmela until February 2006, and since then Ford has been producing the Galaxy in Belgium.

In 1998, VW presented the VW New Beetle in the United States . The vehicle, which was positioned as a so-called “fun car”, with its striking body in a retro design, was a success, especially on the US market.

With the introduction of the four-day week for Volkswagen employees, the Board of Management (e.g. Peter Hartz ), the works council and IG Metall embarked on a new path to secure business locations and jobs in 1994.

Trademark law prevents takeover: Rolls-Royce logo

After the takeover poker between VW AG and BMW for the British luxury car manufacturer Rolls-Royce , the shareholders of the parent company Vickers decided on June 5, 1998 in favor of the VW Group's offer of DM 1.3 billion. It was either overlooked or ignored that the trademark rights of Rolls-Royce in the event of a takeover to the trademark owner, the turbine manufacturer Rolls-Royce Plc. went back. Rolls-Royce cooperated with BMW in the turbine sector. In 2002, VW gave Rolls-Royce to BMW to focus on the production of the other luxury brand, Bentley .

In 1999 VW launched the first three-liter car with the Lupo 3L TDI . For this VW received a lot of recognition from the environmental associations, but the small vehicle did not have any notable market success. In the same year, Volkswagen laid the foundation stone for the Transparent Factory in Dresden , where the Phaeton is finally assembled.

2000s

The Volkswagen Group opened the “ Autostadt ” in Wolfsburg in 2000 , a service and competence center combined with an amusement park . In the Autostadt, customers can pick up their new car, visit an automobile museum and find out about the Group's product range in various brand pavilions.

In 2002 presented " one-liter car " laid claim to the technology leadership of Volkswagen AG with fuel-efficient vehicles. For economic reasons, however, the concept study was not implemented in the form presented.

Bernd Pischetsrieder took over the position of CEO from Ferdinand Piëch in 2002. Pischetsrieder was Piëch's adversary at BMW during the Rolls-Royce takeover. He left BMW in 1999 and moved to the Volkswagen Group as Head of Seat .

In 2004 Volkswagen came under economic pressure. The group suffered a profit slump of over 50 percent in the 2003 financial year. The Board of Management announced a comprehensive restructuring of the company in order to reduce costs in cooperation with the workforce and to make the German production sites more competitive.

The main reasons for the corporate crisis were the high wages and production costs at VW. According to its own information, VW had eleven percent higher personnel costs than the average of other German automobile manufacturers. This led to comparatively high production costs for the Group's vehicles. Critics also cited excess managerial salaries and severance payments as reasons for the high costs.

The fifth generation of the Golf, presented in 2003, had to struggle with sales difficulties in 2004. The entry price, which was identical to that of the Golf IV, did not match the poor economic situation and the associated reluctance to buy in Germany. In addition, the price war in the automotive industry intensified in 2004. In order to increase sales, the group decided on a discount campaign that was unique in the history of VW models and called the "30 Years of Golf Anniversary Campaign". All Golf V buyers received the air conditioning free of charge until September 2004.

In the same year, sales of the Phaeton model were disappointing. As a result, free capacities in the Gläserne Manufaktur were used to full capacity in 2005 and 2006 with the production of the British Bentley Continental Flying Spur .

In autumn 2005, Porsche became the largest shareholder in VW with a stake of 20%. The acquisition of the shares cost Porsche around 3 billion euros, which came from the company's assets. The main reason given for the entry was to prevent a hostile takeover of VW, which could then have impaired cooperation with VW. The shareholding held by Porsche in VW rose to over 30%, so that Porsche had to submit a takeover offer to all VW shareholders . That happened on March 28, 2007, but only 100.92 euros were offered per ordinary share, which was far below the current share price of around 112 euros. At that time, Porsche announced that it would not seek industrial leadership at VW. From this point on, however, no further formalities such as mandatory takeover offers or the like were necessary if Porsche were to buy further shares in VW.

In spring 2005 the new generation of the Passat, the second most important model of the VW brand, was presented. The second important new release this year was the VW Fox , which replaced the Lupo and is built in Brazil . The sales of the Passat met expectations. Some models showed quality problems, also triggered by the widespread installation of sensitive electronics.

In the summer of 2005, a corruption scandal rocked the group. Internal misconduct by individual employees (for example, luxury trips and brothel visits by works councils at company costs) made the headlines. The model of the cooperation between the works council , trade unions , board of directors and state government in the supervisory board of the group came under public criticism. The resignation of the VW personnel manager Peter Hartz , also known as the namesake of the labor market reform of the red-green federal government, in whose area of ​​responsibility the misconduct fell, was accepted by the VW management.

In the summer of 2006 too, Volkswagen generated national media interest. As a result of the planned reconstruction, the group cut the four-day 28.8-hour week for its employees and extended it to 35 hours without increasing wages and salaries . In the same train was due to company-wide strikes the confidence flexitime introduced, also were after negotiations with the IG Metall compulsory redundancies eliminated by 2011.

In October 2006, Volkswagen laid the foundation stone for a new automobile plant in Russia, in which a model tailored to the local market was to be manufactured.

Winter grain in March 2015

In November 2006 a change at the top of the group was surprisingly announced. Following the approval of the Supervisory Board on November 17, 2006, Martin Winterkorn succeeded VW CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder as CEO of VW on January 1, 2007 . Winterkorn was Head of Development at Volkswagen under Piëch and has continued the successful series of VW subsidiary Audi since 2003. Winterkorn's first task was to make the core VW brand profitable again and, in particular, to bring it back into profitability in the home market of Europe, and to strengthen the entire group in global competition. The supervisory board chairman and former chairman of the board, Ferdinand Piëch, is believed to be the driving force behind Pischetsrieder's replacement .

Also in November 2006, Porsche AG increased its stake in VW to 27.4% and on March 26, 2007 increased this stake to 30.9%. This made Porsche by far the largest shareholder ahead of the state of Lower Saxony with 20.20%. Porsche also spoke out against the VW law and claimed seats on the supervisory board according to its shares. On October 23, 2007, the European Court of Justice declared the VW Act to be in breach of European law.

In May 2007, Volkswagen founded the European Research Association for Environment and Health in the Transport Sector (EUGT) with Daimler, BMW and Bosch . In the wake of the emissions scandal , Volkswagen left the EUGT in 2016, which in turn was dissolved in mid-2017.

In July 2008, Volkswagen announced the opening of a plant in Chattanooga , Tennessee, USA. Construction began in 2009. The plant, in which 150,000 Passat vehicles were to be produced annually with around 2,000 workers , was opened on May 24, 2011 by Martin Winterkorn. Volkswagen thus set up another production facility in the USA after the plant in Westmoreland was closed in July 1988. The new production facility, with an investment volume of one billion US dollars, is located in the Enterprise South Industrial Park , around 20 km northeast of downtown Chattanooga.

In August 2008 Volkswagen AG announced that the company had risen to "the top three of the world's largest automobile manufacturers" for the first time. The company reported: “With 3.31 million vehicles delivered in the first half of 2008, the Volkswagen Group increased its sales in the first half of 2008 by 7.2%. The Wolfsburg-based company moved up one place to third place in the global sales ranking, past competitor Ford, who, according to their own information, sold 3.22 million vehicles in the calculation period. "

On September 16, 2008, Porsche Automobil Holding  SE announced the increase in its stake in Volkswagen AG to 35.14%. Thus Volkswagen AG was now a subsidiary according to Section 2 (6) WpÜG .

Since Porsche had secured 74.1% of the VW shares through options and 20% were held by the State of Lower Saxony, there was a severe shortage of VW shares, so that speculators who had carried out extensive short sales of VW shares, got into a tight spot (so-called short squeeze ). At times, the VW share exceeded the 1,000 euro mark October 28, 2008, making the Volkswagen AG by market capitalization briefly the most expensive company was the world.

On January 5, 2009, Porsche announced that it now held 50.76% of the Volkswagen ordinary shares and was thus the majority owner of Volkswagen AG . On May 6, 2009, Porsche Automobil Holding SE issued a press release that it was aiming to create an integrated automotive group with Volkswagen AG . Financing problems with the bank loans forced Porsche, according to media reports, to abandon the planned takeover.

On December 9, 2009, Volkswagen AG and Suzuki  Motor Corp. agreed an alliance. On January 15, 2010, Volkswagen paid $ 2.4 billion for a 19.9% ​​stake in Suzuki. Suzuki bought shares in Volkswagen AG for $ 1 billion, getting 1.5% of the shares. Suzuki CEO Osamo Suzuki excluded further investments for the time being. In September 2011, however, the Suzuki group announced that it was no longer interested in closer cooperation and asked VW to sell its Suzuki shares.

2010s

On May 25, 2010 Volkswagen AG took over Giorgio Giugiaros Italdesign . 90.1% of the shares were taken over by the Audi AG subsidiary Lamborghini  Holding SpA . Giugiaro designed the bodies of the first generation of the Golf , Scirocco , Passat and Audi 80 .

Presentation of the VW e-load up! at the opening of the exhibition “Hannover charged!” on February 10, 2015 in the Historical Museum Hannover
(from left: Raimund Nowak , Jürgen Leohold , Olaf Lies and Stefan Schostok )

In 2011, the VW Group acquired the majority of MAN and in 2012 - through the Group's subsidiary Audi - the motorcycle brand Ducati . On August 1, 2012, Volkswagen AG took over the remaining shares in Porsche AG from Porsche Automobil Holding . This step became necessary because the planned merger with the Porsche Holding had failed at the end of 2011. Porsche Automobil Holding received 4.46 billion euros and one Volkswagen ordinary share . This procedure is considered an internal restructuring in tax law.

The company has had a revised company logo since 2012.

VW AG reported a profit of around 4.8 billion euros on sales of 98.7 billion euros for the first half of 2013. The latter is an increase of 3.5 percent.

In 2014 the management board moved into a smaller building with the BT 10 office building; the administration tower was then refurbished. After the work was completed, the administration tower was assigned to the Volkswagen brand; the group board stayed in the smaller office building.

On September 26, 2015, Porsche Automobil Holding took over the 1.5% stake in Suzuki at an undisclosed price, thereby increasing its stake in Volkswagen ordinary shares to 52.2%; the stake in the subscribed capital increased to 32, 4%.

At the end of October 2015, VW AG signed a strategic partnership with the Chinese Industrial and Commercial Bank of China  (ICBC), which should in future provide the automotive company with banking services worldwide.

Herbert Diess , the VW brand boss, said that the planned restructuring of his company will take about two generations of cars (around 14 years). After the VW emissions scandal , the company is trying to replace the drive technology in its fleet, which is mainly based on internal combustion engines , with electric motors. The focus is on the battery , which should account for 30–50% of the vehicle's value.

In 2017, net profit was EUR 11.4 billion (operating profit: EUR 13.8 billion).

In November 2017, VW AG entered into a joint venture with JAC to establish an electric car brand. The Sol E20X, the first vehicle of the Sol brand, has been built in Hefei since autumn 2019 .

For the Chinese market, VW founded the Jetta brand in February 2019 . A sedan and two sport utility vehicles are to be marketed under this brand from the third quarter of 2019 .

VW ID.3

At the IAA 2019, VW presented the ID.3 , the brand's first vehicle designed exclusively as an electric vehicle.

Manipulation of emission tests 2015

→ Main article : Emissions scandal

On September 20, 2015, Volkswagen admitted that it had manipulated the results of some emission tests on its vehicles with diesel engines with prohibited control software in the USA . The VW shares then lost up to 23% of their value on the first day of trading. Volkswagen stopped selling many diesel vehicles in the United States. The US Department of Transportation then initiated proceedings.

On September 22, 2015, VW admitted that the manipulated software was also present in other vehicles outside the United States and that it had an impact on test bench values ​​in around eleven million vehicles worldwide. VW also issued a profit warning due to the necessary financial provisions , which caused the share price to collapse by another 20%. The next day, the then acting Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, Martin Winterkorn, resigned.

A reform plan presented in November 2016 provides for the shedding of up to 30,000 jobs at VW by the end of 2025, of which up to 23,000 jobs are to be cut at the core brand Volkswagen in Germany alone. At the same time, 9,000 new jobs are to be created and EUR 3.5 billion to be invested in future viability.

When Deutsche Umwelthilfe  (DUH) checked the effectiveness of the retrofit in 2017 , VW was sued by VW for the failure to make false claims. After retrofitting, the DUH had determined a nitrogen oxide emission value of 602 milligrams per kilometer while driving, previously the value during driving was 964 milligrams. The limit value for laboratory measurements is 180 milligrams. The DUH denies the effectiveness of the retrofit, although its review also confirmed a reduction in emissions of around 38 percent. VW pointed out that the values ​​should be determined in the laboratory. This view is confirmed by the Federal Motor Transport Authority.

In June 2018, the Braunschweig public prosecutor ended the investigation against Volkswagen AG for breaches of supervisory duties (in the engine development department in connection with vehicle inspection) by imposing a fine of one billion euros.

In February 2019, it became known that the diesel scandal had cost Volkswagen around 28 billion euros by then.

VW does not want to produce petrol or diesel cars from 2040 onwards.

Compensation fund

Like several other well-known German companies, such as Daimler AG or Siemens , Volkswagen profited from thousands of forced laborers during the Nazi era, but refused to pay compensation for years after the end of the Second World War. Only more than fifty years later, on July 7, 1998, after lengthy negotiations with the federal government, Volkswagen gave in to increasing international pressure and set up a private humanitarian foundation worth DM 20 million  (1999 profit from Volkswagen AG: DM 845 million) , from whose funds only around 2,000 of the originally around 20,000 former forced laborers in 26 states had received compensation by the end of 2001.

In the Wolfsburg plant there is a “memorial to the forced labor on the premises of the Volkswagen plant”.

Projects based on labor market policy

Wolfsburg AG

When unemployment rose rapidly in 1998, VW presented the city of Wolfsburg with a concept that showed future prospects for Wolfsburg as a business location. Wolfsburg AG , a public private partnership founded in 1999 by the city of Wolfsburg and VW , implemented the concept. Their goal was to halve the unemployment rate of around 18 percent (as of 1997) in the region and to open up new economic fields.

Auto 5000 Ltd.

The Auto 5000  GmbH was founded in August 2001 and built as a 100 percent subsidiary of Volkswagen AG the Touran compact van and the compact SUV Tiguan . The company was founded in order to maintain Germany as a production facility and to create jobs in the region. Auto 5000 had 3,500 direct employees .

Since January 1, 2009, the majority of the Auto-5000 employees have been employed by Volkswagen AG . The Auto 5000 production area has been renamed Production Area 2. Jens Herrmann (plant manager Wolfsburg) became managing director.

Volkswagen and German politics

In 1998, on the recommendation of Peter Hartz, VW engaged the former Saarland economics minister and lawyer, Reinhold Kopp, as the "Commissioner for Government Relations ". Two years later he was appointed General Manager and in this role he was in charge of the Group's external relations. The ex-VW chairman, Bernd Pischetsrieder , announced that the automotive group intends to present a list of elected representatives who have worked for Volkswagen across Europe in January 2005. The SPD Bundestag member Hans-Jürgen Uhl and two SPD members of the Lower Saxony state parliament exposed lobbying work for the group, including the then Wolfsburg mayor Ingolf Viereck .

Structure, brands, subsidiaries

The Volkswagen group is divided into the areas of automobiles , mobility and financial services . There are also other corporate divisions and holdings.

53.1% (31.3%)

State of Lower Saxony 20% (11.8%)

Emirate of Qatar 17% (14.6%)

Free float 9.9% (42.3%)

Car

commercial vehicles

Caminhões e Ônibus

1. ↑ The proportion of subscribed capital is shown in brackets .

Regional responsibility

(As of June 22, 2018, source :)

region	brand
North America	Volkswagen (car)
South America
Sub-Sahara
North africa	Seat
Middle East	Audi AG
Asia Pacific 1
China	Volkswagen AG (Group)
Russia	Škoda Auto
India

¹ without China

Automobiles

Brands and subsidiaries of Volkswagen AG

brand	VW share	units delivered in 2019 (2018)
Volkswagen (car)	100% (brand of Volkswagen AG)	6.278 million (6.245 million)
Audi	99.64% in Audi AG	1.846 million (1.812 million)
Škoda Auto	100% to Škoda Auto, as	1.243 million (1.254 million)
Seat	100% to Seat SA	574,078 (517,627)
Cupra	100% (brand of Seat SA)	-
Bentley	100% to Bentley Motors, Ltd.	11,006 (10,494)
Lamborghini	100% in Automobil Lamborghini Holding SpA (through Audi AG)	8,205 (5,750)
Bugatti	100% to Bugatti Automobiles SAS	82 (76)
Porsche	100% to Dr. Ing.hc F. Porsche AG	280,800 (256,255)
Jetta	100% to JETTA	-
Volkswagen commercial vehicles	100% (brand of Volkswagen AG)	491,559 (499,723)
Traton SE (Scania, MAN)	89.7% in Traton SE	242.221 (232.994) 1
Scania (trucks and buses)	100% to Scania AB (through Traton SE and MAN SE )	99,457 (96,475)
MAN (trucks and buses)	94.36% in MAN SE (through Traton SE)	142,764 (136,517)
Ducati (motorcycles)	100% in Ducati Motor Holding SpA (through Audi AG)	53,183 (53,004)

¹ Summary of deliveries by Scania and MAN (see below)

Former automobile holdings

• Suzuki - 19.9% ​​stake from January 2010 to September 2015

Group brands timeline

Timeline of the Volkswagen AG vehicle brands from 1935 to the present day
company	1930s					1940s										1950s										1960s										1970s										1980s										1990s										2000s										2010s										brand
	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9
Volkswagen											Volkswagen																																																																Volkswagen
																Volkswagen																																																																						Volkswagen commercial vehicles
Seat																																																																																						Seat
Škoda																																																																																						Škoda
Bentley																																														to Vickers																																								Bentley
Bugatti																																																																																						Bugatti
Porsche																																																																											Porsche
Suzuki																																																																										Suzuki
Auto Union	DKW , Wanderer , Horch , Audi														DKW (Auto Union GmbH)									DKW / Auto-Union to Daimler-Benz							Audi				Audi									Audi																																										Audi
NSU																																			NSU
Lamborghini																														(Sports car)																							to Chrysler							to Megatech				to Audi																						Lamborghini
														(Tractors)																								to Same																																																Lamborghini
Jetta																																																																																						Jetta
Ducati																																																																															to Audi							Ducati
Scania	Scania-Vabis																																		Scania to Saab																										independent																									Scania
MAN	MAN																																																			MAN																																		MAN
Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus																								Simca								to Chrysler			Dodge											Volkswagen																													to MAN											Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus
 Brand of an independent company before participation or takeover by Volkswagen, possibly already active in other areas beforehand  Brand of a company that partly belongs to Volkswagen  Brand of a company that is majority owned by Volkswagen  Brand of Volkswagen or a wholly owned subsidiary  Porsche brand  Porsche, the former parent company of Volkswagen ↑ In August 2015, VW announced that it wanted to return its stake in Suzuki. Current status unclear! ↑ a b 1969 merger to form Audi NSU Auto Union AG

Timelines of the models of each brand

Mobility services

MOIA vehicle 2018 in Hanover

• With We Share , the group offers a car sharing service with electric vehicles . After Berlin, this offer will later be expanded to other European and North American cities.
• The MOIA GmbH provides ridesharing -Mobilitätsdienste in the transport segment between bus and taxi to.

In Hanover , the service was initially offered in minibuses with combustion engines , in Hamburg with electric minibuses . Since August 2020, only electric vehicles have been used in Hanover.

Financial services

• Volkswagen Financial Services  AG (with other subsidiaries, such as bank, leasing, insurance)

Other corporate divisions and holdings

Company archive

• The company's own archive was set up in Wolfsburg in 1999.

design

• Italdesign Giugiaro - 100% (until 2015: 90.1%) stake in the well-known design forge through the Audi subsidiary Lamborghini, announced on May 25, 2010.

Development services

• IAV GmbH (VW subsidiary 50%)
• Volkswagen Infotainment GmbH (VW subsidiary 100%)

Initial and continuing education

• Volkswagen Coaching (until 2012)

Engines

• Volkswagen Marine boat engines

power supply

• VW-Kraftwerk GmbH (VW subsidiary 100%)

Services

• Volkswagen Group Services GmbH (VW subsidiary 100%)
• gedas (former VW subsidiary, sold to T-Systems on April 1, 2006 )

Electronics development

• Carmeq GmbH (VW subsidiary 100% through Volkswagen Group Services GmbH , since July 30, 2002)

Professional sport

• VfL Wolfsburg -Fußball GmbH (initially 90% stake. Since November 28, 2007 100% stake after the purchase of the shares in VfL Wolfsburg eV, held by Volkswagen Group Services)

Group logistics

Volkswagen Genuine Parts Logistics , headquartered in Baunatal, is the spare parts distribution network that networks the Original Parts Centers as Europe's largest spare parts warehouse with major customers from over 170 countries. In addition, the Group subsidiary Volkswagen Airservice takes on air transport services for the Group's management personnel; this company's aircraft are stationed at Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport.

Distribution and sales

As part of the planned merger of Volkswagen AG and Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PAH) , the Porsche and Piëch families agreed on August 13, 2009 to sell Porsche Holding GmbH to VW AG . On March 1, 2011, VW AG acquired Porsche Holding GmbH by paying PAH € 3.3 billion .

In May 2012, Volkswagen AG bundled its own automobile trading companies in VGRD GmbH (Volkswagen Group Retail Germany) and transferred them to Porsche Holding GmbH , Salzburg.

Porsche Holding Gesellschaft mbH, Salzburg The Porsche Holding GmbH is Europe's largest car trading company with headquarters in Salzburg
VGRD GmbH Merger of the car dealerships in Germany.
MAHAG (Munich) In 2009 Volkswagen AG took over 100% of the shares in the MAHAG Group and saved it from possible bankruptcy. MAHAG is one of the largest car dealerships in Germany and sells all of the Volkswagen Group's car brands. Volkswagen Automobile (Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Chemnitz, Rhein-Neckar, Hanover) GmbH Audi Center (Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Hanover, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Munich) GmbH Held & Ströhle (Ulm) The Hero & Ströhle GmbH based in Ulm markets like the MAHAG all car brands and commercial vehicles of the Volkswagen AG . Auto & Service (Munich and Upper Bavaria) Schwaba (Augsburg)

Seat Germany Niederlassung GmbH

The Seat Germany GmbH subsidiary is a 100 percent subsidiary SEAT and operates four main offices in Germany (Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart).

Food

Currywurst and ketchup from Volkswagen

One of the Volkswagen Service Factory's butchers produces millions of sausage products every year, mostly for sale in the factories. Around 7.8 million sausage products were produced in 2014, 6.3 million of which were VW currywurst .

Managing directors

Board

CEO Herbert Diess

(Status: March 20, 2020 | Source :)

Business area	Surname	Member since	previous work
CEO	Herbert Diess	April 13, 2018 1	Board Member for Development, BMW AG
China division	Herbert Diess	January 11, 2019 1	s. O.
Finance and IT division	Frank Witter	October 7, 2015	Chairman of the Board of Management, Volkswagen Financial Services AG
Research and Development division	Markus Duesmann	April 1, 2020	Member of the Board of Management of Purchasing and Supplier Network, BMW AG
Integrity and Legal Division	Hiltrud Dorothea Werner	1st February 2017	Head of Corporate Audit, Volkswagen AG
Components and Procurement division	Stefan Sommer	1st September 2018	CEO, ZF Friedrichshafen AG
Personnel division	Gunnar Kilian	April 13, 2018	Secretary General of the Group Works Council, Volkswagen AG
Group production	Oliver Blume	April 13, 2018	Board Member for Production & Logistics, Porsche AG
Group sales	Herbert Diess	April 1, 2020 1	s. O.
Brand group Premium	Markus Duesmann	s. O.	s. O.
Sport & Luxury brand group	Oliver Blume	s. O.	s. O.
Truck & Bus brand group	Andreas Renschler	February 1, 2015	Director of Production & Purchasing, Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans
Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Passenger Cars	Ralf Brandstätter	July 1, 2020	Brand Board Member for the Procurement Division, Volkswagen Passenger Cars

¹ Member of the Executive Board since July 1, 2015

CEO :

Supervisory board

person	function
Hans Dieter Pötsch	Chairman
Hussain Ali Al-Abdulla	Representative of the Qatar Holding
Hessa Sultan Al-Jaber	Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Qatar
Bernd Althusmann	Lower Saxony Minister for Economy, Labor, Transport and Digitization
Hans-Peter Fischer	Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Management Association (VMA)
Marianne Heiss	CEO of the BBDO Group Germany
Jörg Hofmann	IG Metall
Johan Järvklo	Chairman of IF Metall at Scania AB
Ulrike Jakob	Deputy Chairwoman of the Works Council of Volkswagen AG, Kassel plant
Louise Kiesling	Representative of the Porsche and Piëch families
Peter Mosch	Chairman of the General Works Council of Audi AG
Bertina Murkovic	Chairwoman of the Works Council for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Bernd Osterloh	Chairman of the General and Group Works Council of Volkswagen AG
Hans Michel Piëch	Porsche Holding
Ferdinand Oliver Porsche	Board member of the Porsche AG holding company
Wolfgang Porsche	Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Porsche Automobil Holding SE and Dr. Ing.hc F. Porsche AG
Conny Schönhardt	Trade union secretary at the IG Metall executive committee, StSt strategic and political planning
Athanasios Stimoniaris	Chairman of the group works council of MAN SE and the SE works council
Stephan Weil	Prime Minister of Lower Saxony
Werner Weresch	Chairman of the General and Group Works Council of Dr. Ing.hc F. Porsche AG

Chairman of the Supervisory Board :

• 1966–1974: Josef Rust
• 1974–1979: Hans Birnbaum
• 1979–1987: Karl Gustaf Ratjen
• 1987–2002: Klaus Liesen
• 2002–2015: Ferdinand Piëch
• 2015 00000: Berthold Huber (commissioner.)
• 2015– 0000: Hans Dieter Pötsch

Economic figures

VW worldwide sales 2018 (in thousands)
Rank in GM	country	Sales figures	Market share (in%)
1	People's Republic of China	4,289	15.5%
-	European Union (2016)	3,498	-
2	Germany	1,248	36.5%
3	United States	638	3.7%
4th	United Kingdom	499	21.1%
5	Brazil	378	15.3%
6th	Spain	297	22.3%
7th	Italy	276	14.4%
8th	France	259	11.9%
9	Russia	209	11.6%
10	Mexico	197	13.8%
11	Argentina	123	15.5%
12	Czech Republic (2016)	122	47.0%
13	Poland (2016)	117	27.1%
14th	Belgium	114	20.7%
15th	Turkey	112	18.1%
16	Austria (2015)	106	34.4%
17th	Sweden	97	27.4%
18th	Netherlands	94	21.1%
19th	Canada	98	5.0%
20th	South Africa	94	17.4%

According to the 2014 OICA ranking, Volkswagen is the second largest automaker in the world. Toyota had first place with 10.48 million units; Volkswagen followed with 9.89 million and the GM group with 9.61 million units.

In addition to organic growth , manufacturers are also being bought in, such as the commercial vehicle manufacturers MAN and Scania or the motorcycle brand Ducati .

Official OICA annual rankings are published in the summer of the following year. During the US auto show in Detroit , CEO Martin Winterkorn announced for 2012 that his company was able to sell 11.2% more automobiles compared to the previous year. After an automotive group succeeded for the first time in 2012 with GM to deliver more than 9 million vehicles, the VW group followed suit in 2012 with 9.07 million vehicles. The VW AG pursued the strategic goal to become by 2018 the world's largest automakers. This goal was already achieved in 2016. The business figures of the Volkswagen Group relate to the consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS . The business figures of Volkswagen AG include the annual surplus as well as the dividend deduction and show the annual financial statements in accordance with the HGB .

year	Sales revenue [million Euro]	Earnings after taxes [million Euro]	Deliveries [million Piece]	Workforce (annual average) [thousand]
1972	8,180 (15,999 million DM)	k. A.	k. A.	192
1990	34,800 (68,063 million DM)	k. A.	k. A.	261
1997	57,800 (113,047 million DM)	k. A.	k. A.	280
2000	81,840 (160,065 million DM)	2,610	5.165	322
2001	87,300 (170,744 million DM)	2,930	5.107	324
2002	85.293	2,597	4.984	324
2003	84,813	1.003	5.016	335
2004	88,963	697	5.079	343
2005	93.996	1,120	5.243	345
2006	104,875	2,750	5.734	324.9
2007	108,897	4.122	6,192	329.3 (+1.4%)
2008	113,808	4,688	6.272	369.9 (+ 12.3%)
2009	105.187	911	6.310	368.5 (−0.4%)
2010	126,875	7,226	7.203	399.4 (+ 8.4%)
2011	159,337	15,799	8,361	502 (+ 25.7%)
2012	192,676	21,884	9.345	550 (+ 9.5%)
2013	197.007	9,145	9.728	573 (+ 4.2%)
2014	202,458	11,068	10.217	593 (+ 3.5%)
2015	213.292	−1,361	9.931	610 (+ 2.9%)
2016	217.267	5,379	10.297	627 (+ 2.8%)
2017	229,550	11,463	10,472	634 (+1.1%)
2018	235.849	12,153	10,834	656 (+ 3.5%)

In the 2014 fiscal year, the Volkswagen Group delivered 1,092,675 vehicles in Germany, which corresponds to a market share of 36 percent. On the world market, the VW Group had a market share of 14 percent in new registrations in 2014.

The Volkswagen Group employs a total of over 8,000 trainees - at 44 production sites in 12 European countries and in 6 countries in America, Asia and Africa. Around 24,500 vehicles are built every day. Volkswagen offers its vehicles in more than 150 countries.

Production sites and employment figures

(As of March 19, 2020)

	Companies	Locations	Employee	Models
Europe
Germany	Audi AG	Ingolstadt	44,458	Audi A3 Sportback Audi A3 Sedan Audi A4 Sedan Audi A4 Avant Audi A4 allroad Audi A5 Coupé Audi A5 Sportback Audi Q2
		Münchsmünster	> 900	Component plant: chassis structural components
		Neckarsulm	16,935	Audi A4 Sedan Audi A5 Cabriolet Audi A6 Sedan Audi A6 Avant Audi A7 Sportback Audi A8 Sedan Audi A8L Sedan 1
	Audi Sport GmbH	Heilbronn	1,131	Audi R8 Coupé Audi R8 Spyder
	Dr. Ing.hc F. Porsche AG	Leipzig	4,260	Porsche Macan Porsche Panamera Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo
		Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen	21,371	Porsche 718 Boxster Porsche 718 Cayman Porsche 911 Coupé Porsche 911 Cabriolet Porsche 911 Targa Porsche Taycan Volkswagen Group Components: Engines Gearboxes
	MAN Energy Solutions SE ( MAN SE )	augsburg	4,334	Component plant: four-stroke large diesel engines, turbochargers for ships and power plants
		Berlin	436	Component plant: Compressors for refineries and the industrial gas industry
		Deggendorf	527	Component plant: reactors for the chemical and petrochemical industry
		Hamburg	466	Component plant: MARC steam turbines
		Oberhausen	1,848	Component plant: compressors, steam and gas turbines
	MAN Truck & Bus AG (MAN SE)	Munich	9,185	Man TGS Man TGX MAN TGS WW component plant: cabs axles transfer case
		Nuremberg	3,743	Component plant: diesel and gas engines
		Salzgitter	2,472	Component plant: axles, crankshafts
	Renk AG (MAN SE)	augsburg	1,276	Component plant: Powershift transmissions for tracked vehicles, special transmissions for ships
		Hanover	356	Component plant: plain bearing couplings
		Rheine	441	Component plant: standard gearboxes for ships turbo gearboxes for industrial plants couplings
	Sitech GmbH	Emden	455	Volkswagen Group Components: sofas VW Arteon VW Passat
		Hanover	424	Volkswagen Group Components: Seat sets VW Amarok VW T6
		Wolfsburg	1,841	Volkswagen Group Components: Seat sets VW Golf VW Golf Sportsvan VW Tiguan VW Touran
	Volkswagen AG ( Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Braunschweig	6,439	Component plant: Battery systems, plastics technology Volkswagen Group Components: Chassis
		Emden	8,891	VW Arteon VW Passat VW Passat Variant VW Passat Variant TGI VW Passat Variant GTE VW Passat Variant Alltrack
		Kassel ( Baunatal )	16,500	Component plant: exhaust systems Volkswagen Group Components: electric motors foundry manual and direct shift gearboxes
		Salzgitter	6,259	Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
		Wolfsburg	52,389	Seat Tarraco VW Golf VW e-Golf VW Golf Sportsvan VW Tiguan VW Touran Component plant : Press shop for plastics technology Volkswagen Group Components: Chassis
	Volkswagen AG ( Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles )	Hanover	13,402	VW Amarok VW T6 VW e-Crafter Volkswagen Group Components: Foundry heat exchanger
	Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Chemnitz	2,046	Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
		Dresden	418	VW e-Golf VW ID.3
		Zwickau	8,184	VW ID.3 VW Golf VW Golf Variant
	Volkswagen Osnabrück GmbH (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Osnabrück	2,434	Porsche 718 Cayman VW T-Roc Cabriolet
Belgium	AUDI BRUSSELS SA / NV (Audi AG)	Brussels	3,065	Audi e-tron Audi e-tron Sportback Volkswagen Group Components: -?
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Volkswagen Sarajevo doo	Sarajevo	-	Volkswagen Group Components: chassis
Denmark	Dencop A / S (MAN Energy Solutions SE)	Copenhagen	1,396	Research and development component plant: engine components for maritime two-stroke engines
	MAN Energy Solutions SE	Frederikshavn	462	Component plant: marine engines
Finland	Scania OmniExpress (SOE) Busproduction Finland Oy ( Scania CV AB )	Lahti	336	Scania Omni-Express
France	Bugatti Automobiles SAS	Molsheim	120	Bugatti Chiron
	MAN Energy Solutions France SAS (MAN Energy Solutions SE)	Saint-Nazaire	645	Component plant: four-stroke engines spare parts production center for connecting rods, cylinder heads and crankcases
	Scania France SAS (Scania CV AB)	Angers	941	Scania Trucks for France & Southwest Europe
United Kingdom	Horstman Holdings (Renk AG)	Bath	113	Component factory
	Bentley Motors Ltd.	Crewe	4,398	Bentley Bentayga Bentley Continental GT Bentley Continental GTC Bentley Flying Spur Bentley Mulsanne Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
Italy	Automobili Lamborghini SpA (Audi AG)	Sant'Agata Bolognese	1,787	Lamborghini Aventador S Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Lamborghini Huracán Lamborghini Huracán Spyder Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 Lamborghini Urus Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
	Ducati Motor Holding SpA (Audi AG)	Bologna	1,276	Ducati Diavel Ducati Hypermotard Ducati Monster Ducati Multistrada Ducati Scrambler Ducati SuperSport 939 Ducati Superbike 959 Panigale Ducati Superbike 1299 Panigale Components plant: engines
	Italdesign Giugiaro SpA (Audi AG)	Moncalieri	1,045	Design studio
Austria	MAN Truck & Bus Austria GmbH (MAN Truck & Bus AG)	Steyr	2.154	MAN TGM MAN TGL
Netherlands	Scania Production Meppel BV (Scania CV AB)	Meppel	390	Component plant: paint shop for cabs and chassis parts
	Scania Production Zwolle BV (Scania CV AB)	Zwolle	1,494	Scania Trucks
Poland	MAN Truck & Bus Polska Sp. Z oo (MAN Truck & Bus AG)	Starachowice	2,868	MAN Lion's City MAN Lion's Regio
	MAN Trucks Sp. Z oo (MAN Truck & Bus AG)	Kraków	577	MAN TGS MAN TGX
	Scania Production Słupsk SA (Scania CV AB)	Slupsk	697	Bus bodies
	SITECH Sp. Z oo (SITECH GmbH)	Głogów	144	Volkswagen Group Components: seat components and seat sets
		Polkowice	1,642
		Września	155	Volkswagen Group Components: VW Crafter MAN TGE
	Volkswagen Poznań Sp. Zoo (Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles)	Poses	6,467	VW Caddy VW T6.1 Volkswagen Group Components: Foundry
	Volkswagen Września Sp. Zoo (Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles)	Września	3,022	VW Crafter VW Grand California MAN TGE MAN e-TGE
	Volkswagen Motor Polska Sp. Zoo (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Polkowice	1,297	Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
Portugal	Volkswagen Autoeuropa, Lda.	Palmela	5,536	Seat Alhambra VW Sharan VW T-Roc
Sweden	Ferruform AB (Scania CV AB)	Luleå	484	Component factory: frame, bumper, rear axle housing
	Scania CV AB	Södertälje	16,083	Research and Development Trucks Bus Chassis Component Plant: Axles Chassis Gearboxes Motors
	Scania Cab Production (Scania CV AB)	Oskarshamn	928	Component plant: truck cabs
Switzerland	MAN Diesel & Turbo Schweiz AG (MAN Energy Solutions SE)	Zurich	797	Component factory: hermetically sealed motor compressors and vacuum blowers
	RENK-MAAG GmbH (MAN Energy Solutions SE)	Winterthur	111	Component plant: turbo transmission
Spain	SEAT SA	Barcelona	1,384	Press shop: punched body parts
		Martorell	12,586	Audi A1 Sportback Audi A1 citycarver Seat Arona Seat Ibiza Seat Leon Seat Leon ST Component plant: engines
	Seat Components (SEAT SA)	El Prat de Llobregat	1,099	Volkswagen Group Components: Transmission - MQ100 / 200/250/350/500
	Volkswagen Navarra (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Pamplona	4,967	VW Polo VW T-Cross Component Plant : Transmission - AQ160 / 250/300/450 engines
Slovakia	Volkswagen Slovakia as (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Bratislava	11,453	Audi Q7 Audi Q8 Porsche Cayenne Porsche Cayenne Coupé Seat Mii electric Škoda Citigo Škoda Karoq VW Touareg VW up! VW e-up! Volkswagen Group Components: Transmission
		Martin	881	Components plant: chassis components engine components Volkswagen Group Components: transmissions
Czech Republic	PBS Turbo sro (MAN Energy Solutions SE)	Velká Bíteš	210	Component plant: turbocharger for large diesel engines
	Škoda Auto as	Kvasiny	7,203	Seat Ateca Škoda Karoq Škoda Kodiaq Škoda Superb
		Mladá Boleslav	26,992	Škoda Fabia Škoda Kamiq Škoda Karoq Škoda Octavia Škoda Scala Volkswagen Group Components: foundry chassis
		Vrchlabí	857	Volkswagen Group Components: Transmission - DQ200
Turkey	MAN Türkiye AS (MAN Truck & Bus AG)	Ankara	2,840	MAN Lion's City MAN Lion's Coach Neoplan Cityliner Neoplan Skyliner Neoplan Tourliner
Hungary	AUDI HUNGARIA Zrt. (Audi AG)	Győr	12,807	Audi A3 Sedan Audi A3 Cabriolet Audi TT Coupé Audi TT Roadster Audi Q3 Volkswagen Group Components: Motors E-drive
Russia	OOO MAN Truck & Bus Production RUS (MAN Truck & Bus AG)	St. Petersburg	2	MAN TGS WW
	OOO Volkswagen Group Rus (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Kaluga	4,558	Audi Q7 Škoda Karoq Škoda Kodiaq Škoda Octavia VW Polo (Vento) VW Tiguan Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
North America
Mexico	Audi México SA de CV (Audi AG)	San Jose Chiapa	5,229	Audi Q5
	MAN Latin America Indústria e Comércio de Veiculos Ltda.	Santiago de Querétaro	215	Coach LionsMex Coach VW Constellation VW Worker
	Volkswagen de México SA de CV (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Puebla	13,077	VW Golf VW Golf Variant VW Golf SportWagen (North America) VW Jetta VW Tiguan Volkswagen Group Components: Foundry Chassis
		Silao	1,233	Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
United States	Horstman Holdings (Renk AG)	Sterling Heights (Michigan)	58	Component factory
	Volkswagen Group of America Chattanooga Operations LLC (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Chattanooga, Tennessee	2,559	VW Atlas VW Atlas Cross Sport VW Passat (NMS)
South America
Argentina	Scania Argentina SA (Scania CV AB)	San Miguel de Tucuman	979	Component plant: gearbox rear axle drive
	Volkswagen Argentina SA (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Cordoba	1,353	Volkswagen Group Components: manual transmission
		Pacheco	3,702	VW Amarok
Brazil	Audi do Brasil Indústria e Comércio de Veículos Ltda. (Audi AG)	São José dos Pinhais	2,598	Audi A3 sedan
	DAFRA da Amazônia Indústria e Comércio de Motocicletas Ltda. (Ducati Motor Holding SpA)	Manaus	11	Ducati Diavel Ducati Hypermotard Ducati Multistrada Ducati Monster Ducati Scrambler Ducati Superbike 959 Panigale Ducati Superbike 1299 Panigale
	MAN Latin America Indústria e Comércio de Veiculos Ltda.	Resende	1,586	MAN TGX MAN Volksbus VW Constellation VW Worker Component plant: Bus chassis
	Scania Latin America Ltda. (Scania CV AB)	São Paulo	3,969	Trucks component plant: axles, bus chassis, cabs, engines
	Volkswagen do Brasil Indústria de Veículos Automotores Ltda. (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Sao Bernardo do Campo	8.105	VW Nivus VW Polo VW Saveiro VW Virtus
		Sao Carlos	923	Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
		São José dos Pinhais	so	VW Fox VW T-Cross
		Taubate	3.127	VW Gol VW up! VW Voyage
Africa
Algeria	SOVAC Production SPA	Relizane	-	Multi-brand factory (SKD)
South Africa	MAN Bus & Coach (Pty) Ltd. (MAN Truck & Bus AG)	Olifantsfontein	206	MAN Lion's Explorer MAN Lion's City MAN Lion's Intercity VW Volksbus
	MAN Truck & Bus (SA). (Pty) Ltd. (MAN Truck & Bus AG)	Pinetown	117	MAN TGS WW MAN TGL MAN TGM MAN Cargoline CLA VW Constellation Component plant: bus chassis
	Scania South Africa (Pty) Ltd. (Scania CV AB)	Johannesburg	709	Trucks buses
	Volkswagen of South Africa (Pty) Ltd. (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Uitenhage	4,007	VW Polo Vivo Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
Asia
China	FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Company, Ltd. (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Changchun	20,933	Audi A4L sedan 1 Audi A6L sedan 1 Audi Q5L 1 Audi e-tron VW Bora VW C-Trek VW CC VW Tacqua VW Magotan Volkswagen Group Components: engines gearboxes
		Cheng you	7,264	JETTA VA3 JETTA VS5 JETTA VS7 VW Sagitar Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
		Foshan	6,510	Audi Q2L Audi Q2L e-tron VW T-Roc VW Golf VW Golf Sportsvan
		Qingdao	3,196	Audi A3 Sedan Audi A3 Sportback VW New Bora
	MAN Diesel & Turbo China Production Co., Ltd. (MAN Energy Solutions SE)	Changzhou	437	Component plant: Turbomachinery Turbocharger for large diesel engines
	SAIC-Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd., Shanghai (Volkswagen PKW)	Anting	17,791	VW New Lavida VW Phideon VW Polo VW T-Cross VW Tiguan (LWB) 2 VW Touran Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
		Changsha	3.130	Škoda Kodiaq Škoda Kodiaq GT VW New Lavida VW Touran
		Nanjing	3,212	Škoda Kamiq Škoda Kamiq GT Škoda Superb VW Passat NMS China
		Ningbo	3,922	Škoda Karoq Škoda Octavia VW Lamando VW Tharu VW Teramont VW Teramont X VW Viloran
		Urumqi	642	VW Tharu VW Santana
		Yizheng	2,957	Škoda Rapid Škoda Rapid Spaceback VW Tharu VW Santana
	Shanghai Volkswagen Powertrain Company, Ltd. (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Loutang	1,847	Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
	SITECH Dongchang (SITECH GmbH)	Shanghai	815	Volkswagen Group Components: seat structures and seat sets
	VOLKSWAGEN Automatic Transmission Co., Ltd. (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Tianjin	4600	Volkswagen Group Components: Transmission
	VOLKSWAGEN Automatic Transmission (Dalian) Co., Ltd. (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Dalian	2,940
	VOLKSWAGEN Transmission (Shanghai) Company, Ltd. (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Anting	438
	Volkswagen FAW Engine (Dalian) Co., Ltd. (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Changchun	652	Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
		Dalian	832
	Volkswagen FAW Platform Company, Ltd. (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Changchun	661	Volkswagen Group Components: chassis
		Cheng you	286
		Foshan	438
		Tianjin	245
India	MAN Diesel & Turbo India Pty. Ltd. (MAN Energy Solutions SE)	Aurangabad	408	Component plant: diesel engines for ships and power plants
	MAN Turbomachinery India Pvt. Ltd. (MAN Energy Solutions SE)	Bangalore	171	Component plant: MARIM and MARC steam turbines
	Scania Commercial Vehicles India Pvt. Ltd. (Scania CV AB)	Kolar	236	Scania trucks and buses
	Škoda Auto India Private Limited (Škoda Auto)	Aurangabad	891	Audi A3 Sedan Audi A4 Sedan Audi A6 Sedan Audi Q3 Audi Q5 Audi Q7 Škoda Kodiaq Škoda Superb
	Volkswagen India Private Ltd. (Volkswagen Passenger Cars)	Pune	3,364	Škoda Rapid VW Polo VW Polo Vento Volkswagen Group Components: Engines
Malaysia	Scania (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (Scania CV AB)	Kuala Lumpur	304	Scania trucks and buses
South Korea	Scania Korea Seoul Ltd. (Scania CV AB)	Busan	210	Scania Trucks
Taiwan	Griffin Automotive Ltd. Taiwan Branch (BVI) (Scania CV AB)	Ping Chen City	47	Scania trucks and buses
Thailand	Ducati Motor (Thailand) Co. Ltd. (Ducati Motor Holding SpA)	Amphur Pluakdaeng Rayong	200	Ducati Diavel Ducati Hypermotard Ducati Monster Ducati Multistrada Ducati Scrambler Ducati SuperSport 939 Ducati Superbike 959 Panigale Ducati Superbike 1299 Panigale Components plant: engines
	Scania Siam Co. Ltd. (Scania CV AB)	Bang Pakong	94	Scania trucks and buses

¹ Long version

² Long wheel base

Companies	Africa	Asia	Europe	North America	South America	Worldwide
Audi AG	-	800	79,296	5,229	-	85,725
Automobili Lamborghini SpA	-	-	1,787	-	-	1,787
Bentley Motors Ltd.	-	-	4,398	-	-	4,398
Bugatti Automobiles SAS	-	-	120	-	-	120
Dr. Ing.hc F. Porsche AG	-	-	25,631	-	-	25,631
Ducati Motor Holding SpA	-	200	1,276	-	11	1,487
Italdesign Giugiaro SpA	-	-	1,045	-	-	1,045
MAN SE	323	1,016	37,259	58	1,801	40,457
MAN Truck & Bus AG	323	-	23,841	-	1,801	25,965
MAN Energy Solutions SE (including RENK AG)	-	1,016	13,418	58	-	14,492
RENK AG (including Horstman Holdings and Renk-Maag)	-	-	2,297	58	-	2,355
Horstman Holdings	-	-	113	58	-	171
Renk-Maag GmbH	-	-	111	-	-	111
Scania CV AB	709	891	21,353	-	4,948	27.901
SEAT SA	-	-	15,069	-	-	15,069
Sitech GmbH	-	815	4,661	-	-	5,476
Škoda Auto	-	891	35,052	-	-	35,943
Volkswagen Financial Services AG	-	-	8,158	1.014	-	9,172
Volkswagen Passenger Cars (including FAW and SAIC joint venture)	4,007	85,860	129.010	16,869	19,808	255.554
Volkswagen commercial vehicles	-	-	22,891	-	-	22,891

Share and shareholders

Volkswagen is a stock corporation that issues its shares in bearer ordinary shares and preference shares . The company's share capital is divided into around 295 million ordinary shares and around 206 million preference shares. Around 89% of the ordinary shares are held by three major shareholders (see table). The majority of the preferred shares listed in the DAX are in free float.

Share (distribution of voting rights)	Share (in subscribed capital)	Shareholders
53.1%	31.3%	Porsche Automobil Holding  SE, Stuttgart
20.0%	11.8%	State of Lower Saxony via Hannoversche Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH , Hanover
17.0%	14.6%	Qatar Holding  LLC, Doha
09.9%	42.3%	Free float

As of December 31, 2019

With the amendment of the VW Act , the limitation of the voting rights of an individual shareholder to 20 percent has been abolished.

The share is represented in the EURO STOXX 50 , DAX , DivDAX , HDAX , CDAX , Prime All Share , Prime Automobile and NISAX20 indices and is traded on all major German and global stock exchanges , including New York, London and Luxembourg. It is also featured in many of the Standard & Poor’s and Dow Jones automotive indices .

VW share price around October 26, 2008

On October 26, 2008, major shareholder Porsche announced that it had increased its stake in Volkswagen to 42.6%. In addition, they have 31.5% in the form of options to hedge the share price on VW ordinary shares. Taken together, Porsche would have a 74.1% stake in Volkswagen, which could allow a domination agreement to be concluded. At that time, the state of Lower Saxony owned around 20 percent, meaning that only around 6 percent of VW ordinary shares were freely tradable. This situation resulted in the share price rising by 289.29% within a week and on October 28, 2008 in the Xetra electronic trading system, after an opening price of EUR 500, it reached the peak value of EUR 1,005.01 within one day. Volkswagen was thus briefly - measured in terms of stock market value - as the most valuable company in the world.

On December 18, 2009, the Emirate of Qatar increased its stake to 17%. As a result, the proportion of common shares in free float fell below the 10% limit, as a result of which VW common shares were removed from the DAX and replaced by VW preferred shares .

Personalities

• Heinrich Nordhoff , from 1948 General Director ( Managing Director ) of Volkswagenwerk GmbH, from 1960 to 1968 then Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagenwerk AG
• Rudolf Leiding , VW CEO from 1971 to 1975
• Carl Hahn junior , VW CEO from 1982 to 1993
• Folker Weißgerber , headed the production division from March 2001 to June 2005 as a VW board member.
• Ferdinand Piëch , grandson of Ferdinand Porsche , VW CEO from 1993 to 2002 and Chairman of the VW Supervisory Board from 2002 to 2015
• Ignacio Lopez , head of purchasing at VW AG from 1993 to 1996

criticism

At the presentation of the series vehicle VW up! At the International Motor Show in Frankfurt in September 2011, Greenpeace criticized the Group's model policy. The environmental protection organization complained that the fuel consumption of the small car was too high compared to the BlueMotion models Polo and Golf; As the largest European automobile manufacturer, VW is a role model for climate protection .

literature

• Mark C. Schneider: Volkswagen. A German story. Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-8270-1322-4 . (With notes, bibliography, chronicle and register of persons)
• Hedwig Richter, Ralf Richter: The guest worker world. Life between Palermo and Wolfsburg . Schöningh, 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-77373-9 .
• Paul Schilperoord: The True Story of the VW Beetle. How the Nazis stole the VW patents from Josef Ganz . Huber, Vienna a. a. 2011, ISBN 978-3-7193-1565-8 .
• Martin Posth: 1000 Days in Shanghai. Singapore 2008, ISBN 978-0-470-82388-0 .
• Manfred Grieger, Ulrike Gutzmann, Dirk Schlinkert (eds.): Volkswagen Chronik (= historical notations . Volume 7). 2nd Edition. Wolfsburg 2005, ISBN 3-935112-10-6 .
• Markus Lupa: The work of the British. Volkswagen factory and occupying power 1945–1949 (= historical notes . Volume 2). 2nd Edition. Wolfsburg 2005, ISBN 3-935112-00-9 .
• Hans-Joachim Selenz : Black Book VW. Frankfurt 2005, ISBN 3-8218-5612-2 .
• Ralf Richter: Ivan Hirst . British officer and manager of Volkswagen construction . Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg 2003, ISBN 3-935112-12-2 .
• Hans Mommsen, Manfred Grieger: The Volkswagen factory and its workers in the Third Reich. Econ-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1996, ISBN 3-430-16785-X .
• Volkmar Köhler: The Volkswagen factories in Wolfsburg and Hanover (= Small Art Guide for Lower Saxony . Issue 20). Goettingen 1958.

Web links

Commons : Volkswagen Group  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

 Wikinews: Portal: VW  - in the news

• Volkswagen AG website
• Affairs and scandals about the VW group Deutsche Welle from July 8, 2005 to VW affairs from 1990 to 2005
• Who with whom? The most important links between the largest automakers and suppliers (PDF; 4.6 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Volkswagen AG Annual Report 2018 , accessed on February 29, 2020
2. ↑ ^{a b} Volkswagen Group 2019 with successful business. In: VolkswagenAG.com. February 28, 2020, accessed March 5, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Two new billionaires: Trend ranking: These are the richest Austrians . In: www.kleinezeitung.at . ( kleinezeitung.at [accessed on September 26, 2018]).
4. ↑ Waiting for the newcomers: transfer of power in the two families behind VW . April 7, 2017 ( industriemagazin.at [accessed August 4, 2018]).
5. ↑ Largest Car Manufacturers Worldwide 2018. Accessed September 29, 2019 . 
6. ↑ The ten largest automakers. In: Capital.de. January 12, 2018, accessed September 29, 2019 . 
7. ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Volkswagen remains the world's largest car maker. January 17, 2018, accessed September 29, 2019 . 
8. ↑ oica.net (PDF)
9. ↑ The model range of the Volkswagen Group - an overview and links to the brands' international websites. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 2, 2011 ; Retrieved June 15, 2011 . 
10. ↑ Volkswagen AG - reporting structure. In: volkswagenag.com. Retrieved April 2, 2020 . 
11. ^ Jürgen Lewandowski: VW Types and History, Steiger-Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-89652-126-8 , p. 8.
12. ↑ Hans Mommsen , Manfred Grieger : The Volkswagen factory and its workers in the Third Reich. P. 198.
13. ↑ Hans Mommsen, Manfred Grieger: The Volkswagen factory and its workers in the Third Reich. P. 251.
14. ↑ Hans Mommsen, Manfred Grieger: The Volkswagen factory and its workers in the Third Reich. P. 253.
15. ↑ Bernd Wiersch: The Beetle Chronicle, The story of a car legend. 2nd Edition. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld, ISBN 978-3-7688-1695-3 .
16. ↑ Hans Mommsen, Manfred Grieger: The Volkswagen factory and its workers in the Third Reich , Düsseldorf 1996.
17. ↑ ^{a b} Hans Mommsen: The Volkswagenwerk and the "Zero Hour": Continuity and Discontinuity In: dhm.de , accessed on December 12, 2017.
18. ↑ Hans Mommsen; Manfred Grieger: The Volkswagen factory and its workers in the Third Reich. Econ Verlag, Düsseldorf 1996, p. 927.
19. ↑ Winand von Petersdorff: The mission of Ferdinand Piëch. In: FAZ.net . November 13, 2006, accessed February 17, 2015 . 
20. ↑ Hans Mommsen, Manfred Grieger: The Volkswagen factory and its workers in the Third Reich , Düsseldorf 1996.
21. ↑ Hans Mommsen, Manfred Grieger: The Volkswagen factory and its workers in the Third Reich. P. 954.
22. ↑ VW-Werkschronik "Das Werk der Briten ", ISBN 3-935112-00-9
23. ↑ Rüdiger Etzold: The Beetle - A Documentation . Volume 1, Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-7168-1582-9 , p. 8.
24. ↑ H. Leyendecker, K. Ott: History “inadequate”. (No longer available online.) Süddeutsche Zeitung GmbH, June 13, 2009, archived from the original on June 15, 2009 ; Retrieved June 13, 2009 . 
25. ↑ Arne Stuhr: Auto-Aktien: Why the Porsche boss needs a kink. In: manager-magazin.de. August 23, 2002, accessed February 17, 2015 . 
26. ↑ Hedwig Richter, Ralf Richter: On the strike of the Italian migrant workers in the Volkswagen factory in 1962. in: Yearbook for research on the history of the workers' movement , issue I / 2008.
27. ↑ Peter Birke: Wild strikes in the economic miracle. Campus Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-593-38444-3 , p. 118 ( limited preview in Google book search).
28. ↑ The year 1975 in the picture. Carlsen, Hamburg 1975, p. 94.
29. ↑ Until Christmas . In: Der Spiegel . No. 50 , 1977 ( online ).
30. ↑ Slowdown in auto sales expected in China - People's Daily Online. In: english.people.com.cn. January 30, 2010, accessed February 17, 2015 . 
31. ^ Martin Posth: 1000 Days in Shanghai. Singapore 2008, ISBN 978-0-470-82388-0 .
32. ↑ Gregor Haake: Local production: Volkswagen fights for China with billions. ( Memento of April 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: Financial Times Deutschland , April 26, 2010.
33. ↑ Courtesy shown . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 1987 ( online ).
34. ↑ Volkswagen Chronicle
35. ↑ Volkswagen Group: Volkswagen Group garcia_sanz . In: volkswagenag.com . Archived from the original on April 5, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
36. ↑ Heinz Blüthmann: The López affair is about to reach a new high point: In Germany there is a threat of industrial espionage charges . In: Die Zeit , No. 47/1996
37. ↑ Cooperation instead of war? In: Der Spiegel . No. 49 , 1996 ( online ).
38. ↑ Suspects at Opel, Oracle and Ferrari. In: welt.de . May 12, 2007, accessed February 17, 2015 . 
39. ↑ Heinz Blüthmann: López did more than harm to VW . In: Die Zeit , No. 4/1997
40. ^ Call in the Cavalry: IP Issues in Business Transactions . In: Findlaw . Retrieved September 26, 2015.
41. ↑ Auto industry: VW wants to overturn the 28.8 hour week. In: Spiegel Online . June 12, 2006, accessed February 17, 2015 . 
42. ↑ DPA / AP: VW: Back to the 35-hour week. In: stern.de . June 12, 2006, accessed February 17, 2015 . 
43. ↑ Publication of voting rights on March 28, 2007 ( Memento of April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
44. ↑ Hilke Janssen and Ann-Katrin Johannsmann: VW pays for studies that help the auto industry In: ndr.de , February 9, 2016, accessed on October 8, 2018.
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