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Volkswagen
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Volkswagen Group (VW Group) is a German automobile company which is currently ranked
as the 4th largest automobile manufacturer in the world after GM, Toyota and Ford
respectively. In 1937 the Volkswagen was founded and at that time it was known as
"Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH. Nobody on earth would
have dreamt of making this company world class as its current state. In 2005 Porsche
acquired an 18.53% stake in Volkswagen group. Subsequently in 2006 this shareholding
was increased to 25% and currently owns 30.9% stake in VW group.
The subsidiaries
of the Volkswagen group would include world renowned brands like Audi, Bentley,
Skoda, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Seat and Volkswagen itself. Apart from the above, the
group also manufactures commercial vehicles like pickups, buses and heavy trucks.
Each brand has its own values and functions as an independent unit in the respective
markets. The product portfolio ranges from low-end economy to high-end luxury class
vehicles.
The VW group is the largest carmaker in Europe and has subsidiaries in
emerging automobile markets like China. In Western Europe, the largest car market
in the world is being dominated by the VW group and it’s been said nearly every
fifth new car comes from Volkswagen. I.e. VW group holds nearly 20% of the Western
Europe market share which is a remarkable achievement.
One of the major successes
of Volkswagen is rest with its historic car Beetle. The original Volkswagen Beetle
was first introduced into America in 1949. Its simple design, handy appearance and
economies were the major selling points for its unprecedented success in the automobile
industry. It was considered as the most popular car in American history with sales
peaking to 423,000 units in 1968. Even though it sales faded after three years and
curtailed its production VW was able to rejuvenate the life cycle of this car in
1998 by introducing New Beetle.
The success of VW is a blend of many factors. The
introduction of Beetle was a landmark in the VW automobile history. Apart from that,
brands like Golf, Polo, Passat, Jetta, Eos, Phaeton, Touran and Touareg also have
contributed toward its successful automobile history. The Volkswagen Golf is renowned
as the third bestselling car in the world, selling over 25 million cars up to 2006.
In 2006 alone VW group registered a sale of 5.734 million automobiles claiming a
9.7% share of the world passenger car market.
Acquisition of Audi was another landmark
for the Volkswagen’s success. Audi was bought over by Volkswagen in 1964 and many
important competitive synergies were enormously helpful to build new generation
of Beetle. Even though the Beetle was introduced before the acquisition, the car
made its full potential after the revamp of Beetle by mixing up with Audi expertise.
This Audi influence paved the way for a new generation of Volkswagen series which
encompasses Polo, Golf and Passat.
Volkswagen Golf has been a major strategic business
unit in the VW Group from its inception. The success largely being attributed to
its mechanical superiority compared with its other models. Up to now there have
been five generations of Volkswagen Golf introduced under different brand extensions
since its inception in 1974.
In 1980s Volkswagen faced a huge crisis of dropping
of sales in its history. During this period the sales in the United States and Canada
fell drastically which led to a decline in market share in North American continent.
One of the main root causes for this drop in sales can be largely due to the bad
reputation derived through “Rabbit”. The model Rabbit was having some shortcomings
and suffering with bad electrical systems and oil burning. This has prompted the
sales to drop to 177,709 in 1984 from 293,595 in 1980.
Volkswagen Group is a far
more than a just carmaker. It is a collection of world famous automobile icons which
comes under one formula. It is a great challenge to manage these brands under VW
group and VW is committed to maintain their individual uniqueness in each brand
in their common quest in the automobile industry.
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Volkswagen Beetle |
Volkswagen Golf |
Volkswagen Passat |
Volkswagen Touareg |
Volkswagen W12 Concept |
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