76 Facts About Volkswagen

Volkswagen was established in 1937 by the German Labour Front in Berlin.

Volkswagen built a car named the "Volksauto" from the ground up in 1933, using many popular ideas and several of his own, putting together a car with an air-cooled rear engine, torsion bar suspension, and a "beetle" shape, the front bonnet rounded for better aerodynamics.

Volkswagen wanted a car every German family would be able to afford.

One of the first foreigners to drive a Volkswagen was the American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, who had the use of a captured Volkswagen for a few days after the Allied victory in Tunisia in May 1943.

From 1948, Volkswagen became an important element, symbolically and economically, of West German regeneration.

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Production of the Type 1 Volkswagen Beetle increased dramatically over the years, the total reaching one million in 1955.

Volkswagen do Brasil was accused of spying on workers during the time of the military dictatorship in the 1970s and informing police on oppositional activities.

In 1964, Volkswagen acquired Auto Union, and in 1969, NSU Motorenwerke AG.

In 1973, Volkswagen introduced the military-themed Type 181, or "Trekker" in Europe, "Thing" in America, recalling the wartime Type 82.

Rudolf Leiding, recently made head of Volkswagen, cited noise, heat, and servicing problems with the mid-engine layout, as well as the difficulty of making it a station wagon.

Volkswagen knew that Beetle production had to end, but faced a conundrum of how to replace it.

Motor Trend named the GTI its Car of the Year for 1985, and Volkswagen rose in the J D Power buyer satisfaction ratings to eighth place in 1985, up from 22nd a year earlier.

Volkswagen entered the supermini market in 1975 with the Volkswagen Polo, a stylish and spacious three-door hatchback designed by Bertone.

At the beginning of 1988, the third generation Passat was the next major car launch and Volkswagen did not produce a hatchback version of this Passat, despite the rising popularity of the hatchback body style throughout Europe.

In 1991, Volkswagen launched the third-generation Golf, which was European Car of the Year for 1992.

In 1994, Volkswagen unveiled the J Mays-designed Concept One, a "retro"-themed concept car with a resemblance to the original Beetle, based on the platform of the Polo.

Volkswagen began introducing an array of new models after Bernd Pischetsrieder became Volkswagen Group CEO in 2002.

Sixth-generation Passat and the fifth-generation Jetta both debuted in 2005, and Volkswagen announced plans to expand its lineup further by bringing back the Scirocco by 2008.

Volkswagen maintained North American sales of 224, 195 in 2005.

Volkswagen is in the process of reconfiguring an automotive assembly plant in Belgium.

Volkswagen partnered with Daimler AG and other companies to market the BlueTec clean diesel technology on cars and trucks from Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and other companies and brands.

Volkswagen has offered a number of its vehicles with a TDI engine, which lends class-leading fuel economy to several models.

Volkswagen long resisted adding a SUV to its lineup, but relented with the introduction of the Touareg, made in partnership with Porsche, while they worked on the Porsche Cayenne and later the Audi Q7.

Volkswagen set plans to add a compact SUV with styling influences from the "Concept A" concept vehicle introduced at the 2006 Geneva Auto Show, and on 20 July 2006, Volkswagen announced that the new vehicle called the Tiguan.

Since the discontinuation of the T4 in 2003 and the decision not to export the T5 to the United States, Volkswagen, coincidentally, lacked a van for its North American lineup.

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In September 2006, Volkswagen began offering the City Golf and City Jetta only for the Canadian market.

In May 2011, Volkswagen completed Chattanooga Assembly in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

On 14 September 2016, Volkswagen announced its partnership with three Israeli cybersecurity experts to create a new company, Cymotive, dedicated to automotive security.

On 6 March 2017 at the Geneva Motor Show Volkswagen presented its prototype for a fully autonomous car, Sedric.

In September 2018, Volkswagen announced that it would discontinue production of the Beetle in 2019.

Also in September 2018, Volkswagen announced its $100 million investment in Silicon Valley-based solid-state battery startup QuantumScape, becoming the startup's largest automotive investor and gaining representation on its board.

In February 2019, Volkswagen announced that it would launch an entry-level Jetta sub-brand in China aimed at young buyers.

In September 2019 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Volkswagen officially unveiled a refreshed logo and new sonic branding, which will accompany the newly launched ID.

In September 2019, Volkswagen announced a program to allow old Beetle models to be converted to run on electric power.

In November 2020, Volkswagen announced that, trying to remain the world's largest carmaker in the green era, it has increased its investment in electric and self-driving cars to $86 billion over the next five years.

In March 2021, Volkswagen announced that it would stop developing new internal combustion engines, although it would keep tweaking existing engines to comply with stricter emission rules.

On May 11, 2022, Volkswagen confirmed the relaunch of its Scout off-road vehicle brand, this time as an EV.

In July 2022 Volkswagen noted the development of the first of their own Gigafactories.

Volkswagen is the founding and namesake member of the Volkswagen Group, a large international corporation in charge of multiple car and truck brands, including Audi, SEAT, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Scania, MAN, and Skoda.

In 2008, Volkswagen became the third-largest car maker in the world, and, as of 2016, Volkswagen was the second largest manufacturer worldwide.

Volkswagen has factories in many parts of the world, manufacturing or assembling vehicles for local markets.

In 2011, Volkswagen was named in the top 25 largest companies in the world by the Forbes Global 2000.

In January 2016, Volkswagen announced the launch of a new factory in Algeria during a summit between Angela Merkel and Algerian prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal.

Since 1985, Volkswagen has run the Volkswagen AutoMuseum in Wolfsburg, which is dedicated to the history of the company.

Volkswagen agreed in December 2011 to implement a rule passed by the company's Works Council aimed at improving work–life balance and avoiding burnout by restricting company email functionality on the firm's BlackBerry smartphones to working periods and the half-hour before and after working periods.

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The 1948 Porsche 356 continued using many Volkswagen components, including a tuned engine, gearbox and suspension.

Porsche formally announced in a press statement that it did not intend to take over Volkswagen, but intended the move to avoid a competitor's taking a large stake and to stop hedge funds from dismantling VW.

In October 2009 however, Volkswagen announced that its percentage in Porsche would be 49.

On 1 March 2011, Volkswagen has finalised the purchase of Porsche Holding Salzburg, Austria's leading specialty automobile distributor, for €3.

In January 2020, Volkswagen was overtaken by Tesla, Inc as the second-most valuable auto maker.

Volkswagen brand produces various models which consists of global products and regional products, specifically for large markets including Europe, China and Latin America.

Volkswagen has been one of the leading manufacturer in terms of hatchback production, which traditionally has been a popular segment in Europe.

Volkswagen started producing derivatives of its SUV models with a rear sloping roof marketed as coupe SUV which had gained popularity in China, the largest single market for the brand.

In 2019, every fourth vehicle delivered by the Volkswagen brand today is an SUV, with its top contributor being the Tiguan.

Volkswagen is a market leader in China, which is the largest single automotive market in the world.

In 1956, Volkswagen began by building a plant in Sao Bernardo do Campo, near Sao Paulo as its first manufacturing plant outside Germany as a response to the Brazil's ban on the import of completely assembled vehicles in 1950.

In 2018, Volkswagen accounted for close on 15 percent of the Brazilian car market.

Importance of the Brazilian market gave birth to several models developed and manufactured by Volkswagen do Brasil, which include the Fox, Gol, Nivus, Saveiro, Virtus and Voyage.

Volkswagen do Brasil produced and sold pure ethanol-powered vehicles in Brazil, and production was discontinued only after they were supplanted by more modern Flex Fuel technology.

Volkswagen has stated "There will definitely be compact hybrid models, such as Polo and Golf, and without any great delay", with petrol and diesel power.

Volkswagen announced at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show the launch of the 2012 Touareg Hybrid, scheduled for 2011.

In November 2009, Volkswagen announced it has hired Karl-Thomas Neumann as its group chief officer for electric traction.

Total cumulative sales of all Volkswagen brand electrified cars since the start of their respective production is expected to reach about 103, 000 by the end of 2016.

Volkswagen announced in October 2015 that "it will develop a modular architecture for battery-electric cars, called the MEB.

In February 2021, Volkswagen issued a statement that "vertical mobility" could be the next step after self-driving technology.

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In 1974 Volkswagen paid a $120, 000 fine to settle a complaint filed by the Environmental Protection Agency over the use of so-called "defeat devices" that disabled certain pollution-control systems.

In 1996, Volkswagen first implemented its seven environmental goals in Technical Development with themes involving climate protection, resource conservation, and healthcare, through objectives such as reducing greenhouse emissions and fuel consumption, enabling alternative fuels, and avoiding hazardous materials.

Volkswagen was the first car manufacturer to apply ISO 14000 during its drafting stage and was re-certified in September 2005.

In 2015, the Volkswagen group admitted to producing certain engine models with software that instructed those models to reduce CO2 emissions during approval testing.

Volkswagen admitted to using the defeat device, and has been ordered to recall approximately 482, 000 cars with four-cylinder 2.

Volkswagen disputed the EPA's findings, stating their software was legally permitted; however, shortly thereafter, Volkswagen issued a stop-sale for the EPA's disputed vehicles and additional models the EPA did not question.

On 11 January 2017, Volkswagen agreed to plead guilty to the emissions-cheating scandal and to pay $4.

In 2020, Volkswagen released a commercial that contained references to colonialism and appeared to show a racial slur.

Volkswagen was named the fourth most influential car of the 20th century in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, for its Volkswagen Type 1 "Beetle" model.

Volkswagen has produced four winners of the 50-year-old European Car of the Year award.

Volkswagen has already produced five winners of the recently developed World Car of the Year award.