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Volkswagen, abbreviated as VW, is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-World War II by the British Army Officer Ivan Hirst, it is known for the iconic Beetle and serves as the flagship brand of the Volkswagen Group, the largest automotive manufacturer by worldwide sales in 2016 and 2017. The group's biggest market is in China, which delivers 40 percent of its sales and profits. Its name is derived from the German-language terms Volk and Wagen, translating to "people's car" when combined.
The Volkswagen Jetta is a compact car/small family car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen since 1979. Positioned to fill a sedan niche 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.
The Volkswagen Polo is a supermini car (B-segment) produced by the German car manufacturer Volkswagen since 1975. It is sold in Europe and other markets worldwide in hatchback, saloon, and estate variants throughout its production run.
The Volkswagen Passat is a series of large family cars manufactured and marketed by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973, and now in its eighth generation. It has been marketed variously as the Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Magotan, Corsar and Carat. The successive generations of the Passat carry the Volkswagen internal designations B1, B2, etc.
The VR6 engines, commonly referred to as the “staggered six” is a 6-cylinder engine configuration developed by VW. The name VR6 comes from the combination of German words “Verkürzt” and “Reihenmotor” meaning “shortened inline engine”. It was developed specifically for transverse engine installations and FWD vehicles. The VR6 is a highly compact engine, thanks to the narrower angle of 10.5 to 15-degrees between cylinder banks, as opposed to the traditional V6 angles ranging from 45 to 90-degrees. The compact design is cheaper to manufacture, since only one cylinder head is required for all 6 cylinders, much like a traditional inline-6 engine.
The Škoda Superb is a mid-size/large family car (D-segment) that has been produced by the Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto since 2001.
The SEAT Toledo is a small family car produced by the Spanish manufacturer SEAT, part of Volkswagen Group. The Toledo name was first introduced to the SEAT line up in May 1991 being named after a Spanish city with the same name, with the fourth generation being introduced at the end of 2012, for the model year of 2013. Production ended in February 2019, and the nameplate is currently not in use.
A direct-shift gearbox is an electronically-controlled, dual-clutch, multiple-shaft, automatic gearbox, in either a transaxle or traditional transmission layout, with automated clutch operation, and with fully-automatic or semi-manual gear selection. The first dual-clutch transmissions were derived from Porsche in-house development for the Porsche 962 in the 1980s.
The Volkswagen Group B platform is a mid-size automobile platform from the Volkswagen Group. It has been used for saloon cars/sedans, estate cars/station wagon, and coupés - under the Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT and Škoda marques.
Walter Maria de Silva is an Italian car designer and former head of Volkswagen Group Design, until 2015. Since beginning his car design career in 1972 as trainee car designer for Fiat's Style Centre. De Silva has also worked as a designer at I.DE.A Institute, and as head of design for Alfa Romeo, SEAT and the 'Audi brand group'. He is presently President of the Design Studio Walter De Silva & Partners.
The Volkswagen Group A0 platform is a series of automobile platforms shared among superminis of various marques of the Volkswagen Group.
Volkswagen Derby was the name first given by German automaker Volkswagen for the commercialization of the booted saloon (three-box) version of its Volkswagen Polo Mk1 supermini, between 1977 and 1981 in Europe. Later, the Derby name was used by the Mexican Volkswagen subsidiary for the Polo Classic Mk3 saloon on its domestic market in the mid-1990s.
The EA827 family of petrol engines was initially developed by Audi under Ludwig Kraus leadership and introduced in 1972 by the B1-series Audi 80, and went on to power many Volkswagen Group models. This is a very robust water-cooled engine configuration for four- up to eight- cylinders. In Brazil this engine was produced under the name Volkswagen AP AP.
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.
Volkswagen has marketed estate/station wagon variants of its Golf model since its third generation in 1993, through its current eight generation.
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 world, with a labor force of over 857,336 (2016) working in the industry.
References
- Notes
- ↑ "2014 Audi TT". topspeed.com. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
- Bibliography
- "Im Fokus: Volkswagen" (PDF). Automobil-Produktion (in German). March 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
- Fulthorpe, Mark (April 2002). "Europe's slight rise & anticipated decline - Auto by the Numbers - car sales, production in Western Europe - Illustration - Statistical Data Included". CBS Interactive Business UK. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
