Volkswagen (abbreviated VW) is one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers. The company is headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Volkswagen is the original marque within the Volkswagen Group, which includes the car marques Audi, Bentley Motors, Bugatti Automobiles, Automobili Lamborghini, SEAT, Škoda Auto and heavy goods vehicle manufacturer Scania.
Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, in which it is pronounced [ˈfɔlksˌvaːɡən]. Its current tagline or slogan is Das Auto (in English The Car). Among its largest owners are the Porsche family, the Emirate of Qatar and the state of Lower Saxony. For a long time, Volkswagen has been Europe's largest automobile manufacturer with a market share over 20 percent. Worldwide, Volkswagen officially ranks as the 3rd largest manufacturer as measured by OICA in 2009. Volkswagen is aiming to become, sustainably, the world's largest car maker by 2018.
Volkswagen is a publicly traded company, which issued ordinary shares and preferred shares. The ownership structure is complex. The following table shows the current shareholder structure. Note that neither the Porsche Automobil Holding nor the Porsche GmbH are identical with the Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, which is responsible for the production of Porsche sports cars. The Porsche Automobil Holding is owned by the Porsche family, the Emirate of Qatar, 49.9% are owned by the Volkswagen AG. The Porsche GmbH was sold to the Volkswagen AG.
Volkswagen has always had a close relationship with Porsche, the Zuffenhausen-based sports car manufacturer founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche, the original Volkswagen designer and Volkswagen company founder. The first Porsche car, the Porsche 64 of 1938, used many components from the Volkswagen Beetle. The 1948 Porsche 356 continued using many Volkswagen components, including a tuned engine, gearbox and suspension.
Volkswagen has been selling low sulphur diesel-powered engines for the European market since 2003. VW developed Turbocharged Direct Injection (TDI) technology for diesel engines, and it offers a wide array of TDI powertrains. As modern diesel fuel economy is 30 percent higher than gasoline engines, a proportional reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is achieved with clean diesel technology. Volkswagen is also developing hybrid technology for diesel-electric. A VW Golf turbo-diesel hybrid concept car was exhibited at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, which has a fuel economy of 70 mpg (3.3 litres per 100 km).
Volkswagen and Sanyo have teamed up to develop a battery system for hybrid electric vehicles. Volkswagen head Martin Winterkorn has confirmed the company plans to build compact hybrid electric vehicles. He has stated "There will definitely be compact hybrid models, such as Polo and Golf, and without any great delay", with gasoline and diesel engines. For example, Golf is the ideal model to go hybrid as the Golf 1.4 TSI was recently awarded the “Auto Environment Certificate” by the Oko-Trend Institute for Environmental Research, and was considered as one of the most environmentally friendly vehicles of 2007. Also underway at Volkswagen's Braunschweig R&D facilities in Northern Germany is a hybrid version of the next-generation Touareg.
VW intends all future models to have the hybrid option. “Future VW models will fundamentally also be constructed with hybrid concepts,” VW head of development Ulrich Hackenberg told Automobilwoche in an interview. Hackenberg mentioned that the car based on the Up! concept seen at Frankfurt Motor Show, as well as all future models, could be offered with either full or partial hybrid options. The rear-engine up! will go into production in 2011. Nothing has been said about plug-in hybrid options.
Volkswagen announced at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show the launch of the 2012 Touareg Hybrid, scheduled for 2011. VW also announced plans to introduce diesel-electric hybrid versions of its most popular models in 2012, beginning with the new Jetta, followed by the Golf Hybrid in 2013 together with hybrid versions of the Passat.
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