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Its parent company Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, (FWB: VOW3) sometimes referred to asVW AG or VWAG, develops vehicles and components for all marques of the whole Group, and also manufactures complete vehicles for the Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles marques. Volkswagen Group is divided into two primary divisions: the Automotive Division, and the Financial Services Division. The Group consists of 342 Group companies, which are involved in either vehicle production or other related automotive services.

Although it operates worldwide, Volkswagen Group's core market is primarily Europe. Of its automobile brands, Volkswagen Passenger Cars is its mainstream marque, and the Group's major subsidiaries also include well-known car marques like SEAT, Škoda, and the prestige marques of Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Bugatti. The Group also has operations in commercial vehicles, owning Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, along with a controlling stake in Swedish truck and diesel engine maker Scania AB, and a 29.9% stake in MAN SE.

Volkswagen's second-largest market is China, where its subsidiary, Volkswagen Group China (VGC), is the largest joint ventureautomaker, selling more than one million vehicles in 2008.[1] The Volkswagen Golf is the third bestselling automobile in the world, selling over 26 million units through 2008. In 2009, Volkswagen Group sold 6.31 million vehicles, claiming over 11% of the world passenger car market.

Volkswagen AG is heavily involved in sports sponsorship, with investments having included the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2014 Winter Games, as well as the David Beckham Academy. The company also wholly owns the Bundesliga football side VfL Wolfsburg. The company is also the shirt sponsor of Major League Soccer club, D.C. United.

In August 2009, Porsche SE and Volkswagen Group reached an agreement that Volkswagen AG and Porsche AG would merge in 2011.

History

Volkswagen was founded on 28 May 1937 as the Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH  ("Society for the preparation of the German People's Car", sometimes abbreviated to Gezuvor) by the Nazi Deutsche Arbeitsfront  (German Labour Front). The purpose of the company was to manufacture the Volkswagen Type 1, later better known as the Volkswagen Beetle. On 16 September 1938, the company was renamed Volkswagenwerk GmbH ("Volkswagen Factory limited liability company").

After the Second World War in June 1945, Major Ivan Hirst of the British Army Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) took control of the bomb-shattered factory, and tried to dismantle it and ship it home. However, no British car manufacturer was interested; "the vehicle does not meet the fundamental technical requirement of a motor-car ... it is quite unattractive to the average buyer ... To build the car commercially would be a completely uneconomic enterprise". As part of the Industrial plans for Germany, large parts of German industry, including Volkswagen, were to be dismantled. Total German car production was set at a maximum of 10% of the 1936 car production numbers. The company survived by producing cars for the British Army, and in 1948, the British Government handed the company back over to the German state, where it was managed by former-Opel chief Heinrich Nordhoff.

In 1960, upon the floatation of part of the German federal government's stake in the company on the German stock market, its name becameVolkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft (usually abbreviated to Volkswagenwerk AG).

On 1 January 1965, Volkswagenwerk acquired Auto Union GmbH from its parent company Daimler-Benz. The new subsidiary went on to produce the first post-war Audi models, the Audi F103 series, shortly afterwards.

Another German manufacturer, NSU Motorenwerke AG, was merged into Auto Union on 26 August 1969, creating a new company, Audi NSU Auto Union AG (later renamed AUDI AG in 1985).

From the late 1970s to 1992, the acronym V.A.G was used by Volkswagen AG for group-wide activities, such as distribution and leasing. Whilst there was no official meaning given for the V.A.G acronym, it was ascribed different meanings in different locations - in GermanyVolkswagen Audi Gesellschaft was assumed, whilst in the United Kingdom, Volkswagen Audi Group was used on official communications.[citation needed]

On 4 July 1985, the company name was changed again - to Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft (usually abbreviated to Volkswagen AG), to reflect the company's increasing global diversification from its headquarters and main plant, the Volkswagenwerk in Wolfsburg. In 1986, Volkswagen acquired a controlling stake in the Spanish car manufacturer SEAT, S.A. and in 1991, Škoda automobilová a.s. of Czechoslovakia became a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Three prestige automotive marques were added to the Volkswagen portfolio in 1998: Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti.