Posted:13 January 2021 | Category: General,News

Who does Volkswagen own?

Volkswagen range

In the automotive industry, most brands are connected to each other in some way or another. There are a lot of links between the big brands, which you might know about.

A lot of manufacturers of cars have been around for a long, and have been through many changes. Lots of these manufacturers have been owned and sold by lots of other manufacturers and groups, so two manufacturers with no obvious connection could be owned by the same group.

One of the biggest names in the car world is the Volkswagen Group. It has the largest market share in Europe and is one of the biggest automakers in the world.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen was created in 1937 in Germany, by the Nazi Party, to be the “people’s car.” a town was built specially to house the first factory and its workers. Only a few cars were produced before the war started, and none of these cars were ever delivered, except one Type 1 Cabriolet, which was given to Hitler as a 55th birthday gift.

After the war, Volkswagen played a big part in the work to regenerate Germany. They made their first purchase in 1965, of Auto Union. The only remaining part of Auto Union is Audi. This was the beginning of Volkswagen’s buying of different car brands.

Audi Range

Audi

Volkswagen bought Auto Union GmbH Daimler-Benz, the parent company of Auto Union. The new subsidiary produces the first post-war models of Audi. This first car was the Audi F103.

In 1969, NSU Motrenwerke AG was merged into Auto Union. This merge is what created Audi NS Auto Union AG.

These acquisitions became something of a saviour for the Volkswagen group. By the 1970s, the Beetle had fallen out of fashion, and the type 3 and 4 Volkswagen’s weren’t selling in very large numbers. Luckily, the influence of Audi was able to help Volkswagen get back on track. Several new cars were launched during this period, including Scirocco, Passat, Gold, and Polo.

Suzuki Range

Suzuki

Buying up brands doesn’t always succeed. In 2010, Volkswagen bought 19.9% of Suzuki Motor Corporation’s shares, apparently not satisfied with all the brands they already owned. Suzuki, however, resisted. A lawsuit was filed in arbitration court in London, requesting that the stake was returned by Volkswagen.

Suzuki also paid $3.8billion to complete a stock buy-back from Volkswagen. Unfortunately, this happened just before the news broke out about the emissions scandal.

Volkswagen Brand Group vs Audi Brand Group

Between 2002 and 2007, Volkswagen went through a process of restructuring, which formed two different major brand groups.

The Volkswagen Brand Group focuses on Volkswagen, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, and Porsche. The Audi Brand Group focuses more on brands that are associated with sports, including Audi, SEAT, and Lamborghini.