The History Of Volkswagen

Volkswagen AG engages in the manufacture of

automobiles. It operates through following segments:
Passenger Cars, Commercial Vehicles, Power Engineering, and
Financial Services. The Passenger Cars segment covers the
development of vehicles and engines, the production and sale
of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, and the
corresponding genuine parts business. The Commercial
Vehicles segment comprises the development, production and
sale of light commercial vehicles, trucks and buses, the
corresponding genuine parts business and related services. The
Power Engineering segment consists of the development and
production of large-bore diesel engines, turbo compressors,
industrial turbines and chemical reactor systems, as well as the
production of gear units, propulsion components and testing
systems. The Financial Services segment engages in dealer and
customer financing, leasing, banking and insurance activities,
as well as fleet management. The company was founded in May
28, 1937 and is headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. The First
car manufactured car by Volkswagen became known as the
Beetle. The company's production grew rapidly in the 1950s
and 1960s, and in 1965 it acquired Auto Union, which
subsequently produced the first post-war Audi models.
Volkswagen launched a new generation of front-wheel drive
vehicles in the 1970s, including the Passat, Polo and Golf; the
latter became its bestseller. Volkswagen acquired a controlling
stake in SEAT in 1986, making it the first non-German marque
of the company, and acquired control of koda in 1994, of
Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti in 1998, Scania in 2008 and
of Ducati, MAN and Porsche in 2012. The company's operations
in China have grown rapidly in the past decade with the country
becoming its largest market.
Volkswagen is a public company and has a primary listing on
the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, where it is a constituent of the
Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index, and secondary listings on

the London Stock Exchange, Luxembourg Stock Exchange, New

York Stock Exchange and SIX Swiss Exchange. The state of
Lower Saxony holds 12.7% of the company's shares, granting it
20% of the voting rights. Volkswagen held a 19.9% noncontrolling shareholding in Suzuki between 2009 and 2015.