Volkswagen

“Volkswagen” means “people’s car” in German, its owners are made up of the likes of the Porsche Family, Emirate of Qatar and the state of lower Saxony. Volkswagen has become one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, Volkswagen is the original marque within the Volkswagen Group, which includes the car marques Audi, Bentley Motors, Bugatti Automobiles, Automobile Lamborghini, SEAT, Skoda Auto and commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania.

Volkswagen (VW) was originally formed in 1937 by the National Socialist trade union German Labour Front. VW has always had a close relationship with Porsche, the Zuffenhausen-based sports car manufacturer founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche.

 

The first ever Porsche, the Porsche 64 (1938) used many components from the VW Beetle, the 1948 Porsche 356 continued using many Volkswagen components, including a tuned engine, gearbox and suspension.

Most recent collaborations include the 2002 Porsche Cayenne, it shares its entire chassis with VW Touareg and Audi Q7, which are built at the Volkswagen factory in Bratislava. These collaborations are evident at dealerships, for example Volkswagen Taunton also has an Audi and SEAT dealerships.

In September 2005, Porsche announced it would increase its 5% stake in Volkswagen to 20% at a cost of €3 billion, on 26 October 2008, Porsche finally revealed its plan to assume control of VW. As of that day, it held 42.6 percent of Volkswagen's ordinary shares and stock options on another 31.5 percent finally on 6 May 2009 the two companies decided to join together, in a merger.