Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg,Lower Saxony,Germany. Established in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party,it was revitalized into the global brand it is today after World War II by British Army officer Ivan Hirst. The company is well known for its iconic Beetle and serves as the flagship marque of the Volkswagen Group,which became the world's largest automotive manufacturer by global sales in 2016 and 2017.
Volkswagen AG,known internationally as the Volkswagen Group,is a German public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of passenger and commercial vehicles,motorcycles,engines and turbomachinery. Headquartered in Wolfsburg,Lower Saxony,Germany,and since the late 2000s is a publicly-traded family business owned by Porsche SE,which in turn is half-owned but fully controlled by the Austrian-German Porsche and Piëch family. The company also offers related services,including financing,leasing,and fleet management. In 2016,it was the world's largest automaker by sales,and keeping this title in 2017,2018,and 2019,selling 10.9 million vehicles and was the largest automaker by revenue in 2022. It has maintained the largest market share in Europe for over two decades. It ranked seventh in the 2020 Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest companies. In 2023,Volkswagen Group was the largest company in the European Union and the largest car manufacturer in the world by revenue.
The Volkswagen Jetta is a compact car/small family car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen since 1979. Positioned to fill a sedan niche slightly above the firm's Golf hatchback,it has been marketed over seven generations,variously as the Atlantic,Vento,Bora,City Jetta,Jetta City,GLI,Jetta,Clasico,and Sagitar.
Volkswagen Group China is the Chinese subsidiary of the German automotive concern Volkswagen Group in the People's Republic of China.
China FAW Group Corp.,Ltd. is a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Changchun,Jilin. Founded on 15 July 1953,it is currently the second largest of the "Big Four" state-owned car manufacturers of China,together with SAIC Motor,Dongfeng Motor Corporation and Changan Automobile.
Volkswagen Group of America,Inc.,is the North American operational headquarters,and subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group of automobile companies of Germany. VWoA is responsible for six marques:Audi,Bentley,Lamborghini,and Volkswagen,and in addition is the exclusive importer and distributor of Bugatti and Rimac cars in the U.S. It also controls VW Credit,Inc.,Volkswagen's financial services and credit operations. The company is headquartered in Reston,Virginia.
The automotive industry inmainland China has been the largest in the world measured by automobile unit production since 2008. As of 2024,mainland China is also the world's largest automobile market both in terms of sales and ownership.
SAIC Volkswagen Automotive Co.,Ltd.,formerly known as Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co.,Ltd. is an automobile manufacturing company headquartered in Anting,Shanghai,China and a joint venture between SAIC Motor and Volkswagen Group. It was founded in 1984 and produces cars under the Volkswagen,Škoda and Audi marques. It is the second automobile manufacturing joint venture in China after American Motors and the first German car manufacturer to enter China.
FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co.,Ltd. is a joint venture between FAW Group and Volkswagen Group which manufactures Audi and Volkswagen marque passenger cars for sale in China. It was founded on 6 February 1991.
The Volkswagen Group MQB platform is the company's strategy for shared modular design construction of its transverse,front-engine,front-wheel-drive layout automobiles. It was first introduced in the Volkswagen Golf Mk7 in late 2012. Volkswagen spent roughly $8bn developing this new platform and the cars employing it. The platform underpins a wide range of cars from the supermini class to the mid size SUV class. MQB allows Volkswagen to assemble any of its cars based on this platform across all of its MQB ready factories. This allows the Volkswagen group flexibility to shift production as needed between its different factories. Beginning in 2012,Volkswagen Group marketed the strategy under the code name MQB,which stands for Modularer Querbaukasten,translating from German to "Modular Transversal Toolkit" or "Modular Transverse Matrix". MQB is one strategy within VW's overall MB program which also includes the similar MLB strategy for vehicles with longitudinal engine orientation.
The automotive industry in Germany, is one of the largest employers in the country,with a labor force of over 857,336 (2016) working in the industry.
The electric vehicle industry in China is the largest in the world,accounting for around 58% of global production of electric vehicles (EVs) and more than 1.5 million exports in 2023. In 2023,CAAM reported China had sold 9.05 million passenger electric vehicles,consisting 6.26 million BEVs and 2.79 million PHEV. China also dominates the plug-in electric bus and light commercial vehicle market,reaching over 500,000 buses and 247,500 electric commercial vehicles in 2019, and recording new sales of 447,000 commercial EVs in 2023.
The Chinese version of the Volkswagen Jetta is manufactured by the joint venture FAW-Volkswagen since 1991. In 2019,the name was split out from Volkswagen to become its own marque and the model became known as the Jetta VA3.
The Volkswagen Jetta (A7) is a compact car,the seventh generation of the Volkswagen Jetta and the successor to the Volkswagen Jetta (A6). The 2018 Jetta debuted at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit,Michigan,on 14 January 2018,after Volkswagen released an exterior design sketch in December 2017. The Jetta is based on Volkswagen's MQB platform,which underpins other Volkswagen vehicles including the Volkswagen Golf and the Volkswagen Atlas. The A7 Jetta marked the discontinuation of the nameplate in the European market and right-hand-drive markets.
The Jetta VS5 is a compact crossover SUV jointly developed by FAW Group and Volkswagen Group for its China-exclusive brand,Jetta,and mainly manufactured by FAW-Volkswagen,a joint venture between the two companies since 2019.
The Jetta VS7 is a mid-size crossover SUV manufactured by FAW-Volkswagen for its China-exclusive brand,Jetta since 2020.
OOO Volkswagen Group Rus was a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG,which grew from an investment agreement signed on 29 May 2006. Its main factory was in Kaluga,approximately 170 kilometres (110 mi) southwest of Moscow.
Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co.,Ltd.,trading as Leapmotor,is a Chinese startup automobile manufacturer headquartered in Hangzhou,China,specializing in developing electric vehicles. The company was founded in 2015,and sold its first vehicles in 2019. In 2023,Stellantis acquired 20 percent stake of Leapmotor,and plans to sell Leapmotor vehicles in Europe.
There are currently about 150 active brands in the Chinese automobile market. Among them are 97 Chinese domestic brands and 43 joint venture (JV) brands. Before 2010,the traditional "Big Four" refers to the four major state-owned car manufacturers,SAIC,FAW,Dongfeng and Changan. Other Chinese car manufacturers,both from public and private sectors,like Geely,BAIC,BYD,Chery,GAC,Great Wall,JAC and Seres emerged as the major players with the expansion of Chinese automotive industry.
