A type Joint-stock company , Listing on the exchange Base Founders German Labor Front Location Germany: Wolfsburg, Switzerland: Lausanne Key figures Matthias Müller (Chairman of the Board), Herbert Diess
(CEO),
Kfaus Kennburg (Executive Director) Industry Automotive Products Passenger cars and commercial vehicles Turnover ▲ € 235.849 billion (2018) Operating profit ▲ € 13.920 billion (2018) Net profit ▲ € 11.844 billion (2018) Assets € 458.156 billion (2018) Capitalization ▲ € 117.11 billion (2018) Number of employees 655,722 people (2018) Affiliated companies Audi AG,
Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A (subsidiary of Audi AG) ,
Bentley Motors Ltd.
Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. (subsidiary of Volkswagen France) , Scania AB
SEAT S.A.
Skoda Auto a.s.
Volkswagen Marine
Porsche
Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. (subsidiary of Audi AG)
ItalDesign Giugiaro Website volkswagenag.com (German) (English) Media files at Wikimedia Commons

The Volkswagen Group consists of 342 companies engaged in the production of automobiles and related services. As of September 2011, Porsche Automobil Holding SE (also known as Porsche SE) owns 50.73% of the voting shares of Volkswagen AG. In turn, Volkswagen AG owns 49.9% of the ordinary shares of the intermediate holding Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH (the remaining 50.1% is owned directly by Porsche SE), and Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH owns 100% of the shares of the prestigious car manufacturer Porsche AG. Negotiations are underway to merge into a single VW-Porsche structure. Until September 2015, Martin Winterkorn was simultaneously the Chairman of the Management Board of Porsche SE and Volkswagen AG.

According to the results of 9 months of 2009, it was the world's largest car manufacturer. Ranked 14th in the Fortune Global 500 in 2009. The leader of the European car market (over 25%).

History

The concern traces its origins to the company founded by "Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH" ("Society for the preparation of the German people's car" under the National Socialist organization "Strength through joy") Ferdinand Porsche in 1937 in Berlin. In early 1938, construction began on the first Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg; On September 16 of the same year, the company was renamed Volkswagenwerk GmbH. After the Second World War, the factories came under the control of the British military administration.

On August 22, 1960, the limited liability company Volkswagen Zavody was founded, which after the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany came to belong to the state of Lower Saxony. By decision of the Annual General Meeting in 1985, the name of the company was changed to "Volkswagen AG". In addition to the automotive and motorcycle industries, the concern provided financial and logistics services and had a small food business.

In the early 1990s, the concern experienced great difficulties. Ferdinand Piëch, who was appointed chairman of the board in 1993, proved to be an excellent crisis manager. He practically saved the concern by transferring it to a four-day work week. Until 2015, Piëch played one of the key roles in the concern. It was he who achieved outstanding success, choosing an offensive policy and acquiring a whole galaxy of popular car brands.

Corporate structure

Financial department In March 1991, in order to optimize the organizational structure, Volkswagen forms an internal division called Volkswagen Finanz, which in January 1994 gains independence within the concern as a closed joint stock company Volkswagen Financial Services. 100% of the share capital belongs to Volkswagen AG. As a banking and financial structure, Volkswagen Financial Services gains access to international financial markets and the opportunity to finance projects on favorable terms. Currently, the financial division of the Group, Volkswagen Financial Services, is the largest financial operator in the European automotive market, headquartered in Braunschweig. The assets of Volkswagen Financial Services at the end of 2009 amounted to more than 60.2 billion euros. Volkswagen Financial Services employs over 5,000 people worldwide, including 3,600 in Germany itself. The division deals with: financing of production and purchase of cars for private and corporate clients (Volkswagen Bank); providing banking services to private and corporate clients (Volkswagen Bank direct / Audi Bank direct); provision of insurance services to private and corporate clients (Volkswagen Bank GmbH / Volkswagen-Versicherungsdienst: Volkswagen Bank, Audi Bank, Seat Bank, Škoda Bank); provision of leasing services to private and corporate clients (Volkswagen Leasing); fleet management (Volkswagen Leasing / LeasePlan Corporation); Activities In 2010, the revenue of the Volkswagen AG concern amounted to € 57.243 billion, net profit - € 1.55 billion. In 2009, despite the global crisis and a general decline in car sales, the company managed to increase car sales worldwide by 0.6%. This is a record of sales, which reached the level of 6.23 million vehicles. In 2006, the concern sold 5.72 million vehicles worth € 104.9 billion (net profit for this period was € 2.75 billion). More than 370 thousand people worked at the enterprises of the Group. In 2005, the concern produced 5.22 million and sold 5.19 million vehicles. 7.5% of sales were in Germany, 44.7% in Europe, 15% in North America, 6.6% in Asia Pacific, 4.4% in South America and 1.8% in Africa. Revenue in 2005 amounted to € 95.3 billion, an increase of 7% compared to 2004, VW's net profit - € 1.12 billion (€ 697 million in 2004). In April 2019, information appeared that Volkswagen, together with the Chinese company Anhui Jianghuai Automobile (JAC), were planning to build a new plant for the production of electric vehicles in China. According to preliminary data, the construction of a new production will require about $ 750 million. Production The Volkswagen AG concern owns 48 automotive factories in 15 European countries and six countries in America, Asia and Africa. More than 370 thousand people work at the enterprises of the group, more than 26 600 cars are produced daily, authorized sales and service of cars are carried out in more than 150 countries of the world. Volkswagen in Russia In Russia, Volkswagen Group Rus LLC is the official distributor of Volkswagen, Audi, ŠKODA, Bentley, Lamborghini, Ducati and Volkswagen Commercial vehicles. The company's activity as a single importing company dates back to 2003. The CEO is Markus Ozegovich. In 2014, Volkswagen Group Rus became the official partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi. To organize the transfer of guests, the company provided the Sochi-2014 Organizing Committee with more than 3,000 cars of Volkswagen, Audi, Škoda and Volkswagen-Commercial vehicles, most of which were produced at the company's Russian factories. In March 2016, the company put into operation a new warehouse of spare parts and accessories in the city of Chekhov near Moscow. In February 2018, the company's plant won the Transformer of the Year award for the best performance among Volkswagen plants in the world. In July 2018, the company expanded the boundaries of its activities and received the status of an official importer of Volkswagen brands - passenger cars and Volkswagen-Commercial vehicles in Kazakhstan. In November 2018, the Volkswagen Group Rus plant in Kaluga produced the 500,000th Volkswagen Polo sedan in the Drive configuration with a 1.6-liter 110 hp engine. from. and a 6-speed automatic transmission. This car was transferred to the Russian car-sharing operator Delimobil. In 2018, the company's sales in the Russian market amounted to 211,800 vehicles. The market share at the end of 2018 reached 11.8%. Sales of all brands of the Volkswagen Group in Russia amounted to 229,800 (including the results of sales of the brands Porsche, MAN and Scania). In 2018, 200,000 vehicles were produced at the company's production sites: 143,500 vehicles - at the company's plant in Kaluga and 56,500 vehicles - at the production site in Nizhny Novgorod. Engine production totaled 161,000 engines, 44,000 of which were exported to production sites in Spain and the Czech Republic. Factory in Kaluga On May 29, 2006, the company signed an investment agreement with the administration of the Kaluga Region and the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia on the construction of an automobile plant near the city of Kaluga, in the Grabtsevo technopark. The initial investment in the project was 570 million Euros. Initially, the plant, opened on November 28, 2007, produced Škoda Octavia cars using SKD technology. In October 2009, the plant launched a full cycle production of bodies, including welding and painting. At the end of October 2009, Volkswagen Group Rus announced work on a budget B-class sedan project based on the Volkswagen Polo hatchback specifically for the Russian market. At the beginning of June 2010, it became known about the practical readiness of the car, named Volkswagen Polo sedan. The car was put into production at the plant in Kaluga in the summer of 2010. The plant currently produces Volkswagen Tiguan, Volkswagen Polo and Škoda Rapid models. In 2013, the level of localization of production was estimated at 50%. In November 2016, a new body shop with an area of \u200b\u200b12,000 square meters was opened at the plant in Kaluga. m. Additional capacities of the enterprise allowed organizing the production of the second generation Volkswagen Tiguan. The Volkswagen Group's total investment in the production of the new Tiguan was € 180 million. In June 2017, the production of the updated Škoda Rapid started at the plant in Kaluga. Engine plant In 2015, a plant for the production of 1.6 MPI engines of the EA211 series was opened in Kaluga. The plant's capacity is 150 thousand engines per year. In February 2016, the millionth car rolled off the assembly line in Kaluga, which was the Volkswagen Polo Allstar with a locally produced engine. In October 2016, the 200,000th 1.6 MPI EA211 series engine was produced since the opening of the engine manufacturing plant. In 2018, 161 thousand engines were manufactured, of which 44 thousand were exported. Production in Nizhny Novgorod Since 2012, the company has started producing cars at the GAZ Group production site in Nizhny Novgorod. The contract assembly agreement with the Russian GAZ Group was signed on June 14, 2011. ... In accordance with the agreement, a full cycle of production of Škoda Octavia and Škoda Kodiaq cars is currently organized at GAZ. In June 2017, Volkswagen Group and GAZ Group signed a cooperation agreement in three areas: Extension of contract production of passenger cars at a plant in Nizhny Novgorod; Supply of Volkswagen engines for GAZ light commercial vehicles; An agreement of intent to consider the possibilities of a strategic partnership between Volkswagen Truck & Bus and GAZ Group.

The Volkswagen concern is by far the largest in the world. The VW Group owns many of the most popular car companies and produces amazing cars that are in demand in all developed countries. Well, more should be said about this largest concern.

Concern “Volkswagen”, or rather its headquarters, is located in Germany, in Wolfsburg. This name is translated as "people's car". It is very symbolic, because these cars are really in great demand.

Interestingly, as of September 2011, the voting shares of the concern in the amount of 50.73% belong to a no less famous German holding. Which, as you might have guessed, is the Porsche SE. However, it should be noted that the Volkswagen concern owns all 100% of the common shares of this holding. For a long time, negotiations were underway to unite VW and Porsche into a single structure. It was planned that it will be called so - VW-Porsche. But this did not happen (more on this later).

Interestingly, Martin Winterkorn was of both one and the second concern. But in September last, 2015, it ceased to be such.

Concern "Volkswagen" is as many as 342 companies that are engaged in the production of cars and provide other services related to cars. This is really impressive.

The beginning of the story

So, before talking about the composition of the Volkswagen concern, it is worth briefly telling about its history. Its creator is Ferdinand Porsche. The first VW plant was built in 1938. Naturally, this was in Wolfsburg.

In 1960, on August 22, an LLC appeared under the name "Volkswagen Plants". After the FRG was founded, this society began to belong and the name was changed. On the traditional, which remains unchanged to this day. After that Volkswagen AG began to engage not only in the manufacture of cars and motorcycles, but also in the provision of logistics and financial services. Moreover, even a small enterprise producing food products was owned by this concern.

Further activities

The nineties were difficult for many countries. Germany was no exception, and the concern even more so. Volkswagen cars continued to be popular, but the company still experienced certain difficulties. But Ferdinand Piëch, hired as a crisis manager, literally saved the firm. Until 2015, he was in charge of financial processes. And it was this man who made the decision to expand the Volkswagen concern. The composition that we know today might not have existed if Piëch had not been so adventurous and forward-looking.

In the late nineties, the company became even more famous, as then the Volkswagen Bentley division appeared, which produced Rolls-Royce cars. True, together with the Munich BMW, which then owned the rights to this brand. Since 2003, Volkswagen is no longer involved in this - the BMW concern finally bought the Rolls-Royce brand.

Agreement with "Suzuki"

The brands of the Volkswagen concern are diverse, but many were surprised by the fact that in December 2009 the German company decided to create an alliance with the Japanese company Suzuki. But nothing special happened. Concerns simply exchanged shares (1/5 of all shares of the Japanese firm were transferred to the German company). And then they made an announcement on the joint development of special cars that can be safely classified as environmentally friendly. But the alliance did not last long. Not even two years had passed when the press officially announced that the companies had decided to break off business relations. It happened in 2011, in September.

Units created in the 20th century

The Volkswagen concern in Germany is the largest. Its main division is considered directly Volkswagen, which produces high-quality passenger cars. This group is not registered as a subsidiary joint stock company. This company reports directly to the management of the concern itself.

One of the most popular brands is also “Audi”. The Wolfsburg concern bought it from Daimler-Benz for a very long time - in 1964, to be more precise. Then, another company entered the Audi Division, bought five years later, in 1969. And that was NSU Motorenwerke. True, it did not exist on its own so long - only until 1977.

In 1986 a new acquisition was made. The concern bought out Seat companies (53 percent). Today the Wolfsburg corporation owns 99.99% of all these shares. That is, in fact, the Spanish company became the property of the German concern. Then, in 1991, VW also bought a Skoda.

Subdivisions that emerged in the late 90s

I would also like to say about Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. It is an independent division controlled by the VW Group. However, it became such only after 1995, thanks to the efforts of the previous chairman of the group's board, who was Bernd Weideman. Prior to this, the current division was part of the VW Group. Today it produces tractors, buses and minibuses.

In 1998, the concern acquired a company that is one that produces truly luxurious and rich cars. And this is a Bentley. The German concern acquired the British company together with Rolls-Royce, which was then sold to BMW (as described above).

Immediately after the Bentley, the Bugatti and Lamborghini were acquired. The Italian company was bought not by Volkswagen itself, but by its subsidiary Audi. 1998 was remembered for really weighty and significant transactions.

Other divisions

Volkswagen cars are known all over the world. The tycoon produces really good, high quality, reliable, comfortable and beautiful cars. But the concern also sells dump trucks, buses, trucks, tractors and diesel engines. They are manufactured by Scania AB, which the VW Group bought in 2009. About 71% of the company's shares belong to the Wolfsburg concern.

Another equally well-known manufacturer of truck tractors and other vehicles is MAN AG. His controlling stake is also owned by a German company, and for the past five years.

Now about Porsche. It was mentioned at the beginning, but it is worth returning to this topic. 49.9% of the shares of this company were owned by the VW Group in 2009. Then negotiations were held to merge these two powerful companies into a single whole. But that didn't happen. VW Group bought Porsche after all. Thus, the popular manufacturer became the 12th brand within the concern. The purchase cost the Wolfsburg representatives nearly 4.5 billion euros. I also had to “attach” one of my shares (ordinary) from above.

The company also owns the most popular manufacturer Motor Holding S.p.A.) and the ItalDesign Giugiaro studio. It was also bought not by VW Group, but by Lamborghini. The rest of the shares (9.9%) continued to be the property of the relatives of Giorgetto Giugiaro (one of the founders of the atelier).

2015 case

In September last year, the biggest scandal around the Volkswagen concern happened. Then it turned out that about 11 million cars running on diesel units had software that was activated during testing. This software significantly reduced the amount of harmful gases released into the atmosphere. It turned out that the level of emitted nitrogen oxides is actually very high. This scandal around the Volkswagen concern flared up very quickly. The company, by the way, admitted its guilt.

This software was installed on models with TDI units (288, 189 and 188 series). The cars were produced for 7 incomplete years - from 2008 to 2015. Such "defective" models turned out to be the well-known "Golfs" of the sixth generation, "Passat" (seventh), as well as "Tiguan", "Jetta", Beetle and even "Audi A3".

The violation was discovered while a research team from the University of West Virginia was studying the composition of exhaust gases that entered the atmosphere while driving.

Fine and Punishment

Naturally, Volkswagen was fined for this. In total, the amount was about $ 18 billion. The calculation was made based on the number of cars. And the amount to be paid for one “defective” car is approximately $ 37,500. Yes, a considerable fine was awarded to the Volkswagen concern.

Another of the consequences can be noted a significant decrease in prices set for the shares of the concern. Many experts said that this case could affect the engineering industry throughout the country. Allegedly, the confidence of potential buyers can significantly drop in relation to the machines produced in Germany, and the famous "German quality" will no longer be so benchmark.

However, so far such predictions have not come true. And they are unlikely to come true. After all, German companies produce cars that are really good in all respects. Volkswagen has been a fiasco so far. Some recessions are still observed - sales due to the incident with this scandal fell by 5.2 percent at the end of last winter. It's in Germany. Worldwide sales fell two percent. However, no one doubts - this is a temporary phenomenon.

Today we'll talk about Volkswagen aktiengesellschaft, which literally translates from German as Volkswagen joint stock company. Yes, this is how VAG stands for, although in our country everyone is used to thinking that VAG is the Volkswagen Audi Group, but this is more of a popular name.

VAG is also sometimes called Volkswagen Konzern, Volkswagen Group, VW Group.

Let's see what Volkswagen aktiengesellschaft is. This joint-stock company includes 342 companies that are engaged in the production of cars and everything connected with it. There is a small legal confusion within the company that does not provide a clear picture of the owner of the concern. Volkswagen is partially owned by Porsche automobil Holding SE, to be more precise 50.73%. In turn, Volkswagen AG owns 49.9% of the Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH holding. That is, today it is such an automobile giant consisting of Volkswagen and Porsche. The company is even negotiating a merger into a single Volkswagen Porsche structure.

And yet, how did it happen that one company owns so many car brands? The thing is that at the end of the last century Volkswagen was experiencing serious financial difficulties. In 1993, Ferdinand Piech was appointed chairman of the board of the concern, who helped the company to get out of the deepest crisis.

He managed to optimize the work of the enterprise well and get out of the crisis while buying up weak car brands at that moment.

Which brands are included in the Volkswagen aktiengesellschaft?

1. - manufactures cars

2. - the company was bought from daimler-benz in 1964.

3. - the company was acquired in 1991.

4. is an Italian brand of passenger cars that was purchased from the state in 1986.

5.Bentley - cars of the premium segment, the brand was purchased in 1998.

6.Lamborghini is a supercar car company owned by Audi, which bought it in 1998.

7.Porsche - We have already said about the confusion with shares, but it is still believed that Porsches are part of Volkswagen.

8.Ducati Motor is a brand little-known in the CIS, but very popular abroad, is engaged in the production of premium motorcycles, also acquired by Audi in 2012.

Scania AB - 70% of the shares were acquired in 2009, the company manufactures truck tractors and trucks, which, by the way, are in great demand in the Russian Federation

Man - 56% acquired in 2011 - The company also manufactures truck tractors, trucks, dump trucks and buses.

There is another company called Volkswagen comercial Vehicles that manufactures commercial vehicles. These are cars like the Volkswagen Crafter.

Some facts about VAG

2005 the concern produced 5.22 million cars

In 2006, the concern sold 5.72 million vehicles, net profit for this period amounted to 2.75 billion euros (Hello AvtoVAZ)

Who owns the car brands

The automotive industry has always suffered from the fact that the relationship between manufacturers was very difficult to understand. After the global financial crisis severely crippled it in almost all countries, European and American auto giants began to frantically resell their brands. In this confusion, it became unclear who is now responsible for the famous brands. Let's trace the complex history of relationships between the largest automotive brands.

German Porsche is owned by the Porsche and Pich families - the heirs of the founder of the company Ferdinand Porsche and his sister Louise Piech. The family clan owns key decision-making shares in the company and a minority of preferred shares listed on the German stock exchanges. By the way, the cunning little family has a very significant effect on the German car market. For example, Ferdinand Pich (grandson of Ferdinand Porsche), from 1993 to 2002, headed Volkswagen.

In 2009, the family concern acquired its first major foreign shareholder, the Qatari Emirate, which bought out 10% of the holding's shares. By the way, Volkswagen itself is actually owned by Porsche, and vice versa - since 2009, Volkswagen has owned 49.9% of the shares of Porsche AG. Initially, the Volkswagen carmaker was state-owned. It was reorganized into a joint stock company only in 1960, and the federal government of Germany and the government of Lower Saxony received 20% of the shares in its capital.

In addition to its own production, the Volkswagen Group's divisions are currently: Audi (acquired from Daimler-Benz in 1964), Seat (since 1990, the Volkswagen Group owns 99.99% of the shares), Škoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini (the company was acquired subsidiary of Audi in 1998)

The Japanese Toyota Motor Corp., whose president is the grandson of the company's founder Akio Toyoda, owns 6.29% of The Master Trust Bank of Japan, 6.29% - Japan Trustee Services Bank, 5.81% - Toyota Industries Corporation, 9% treasury shares.

Of all the Japanese automakers, only Toyota has a good collection of brands - Lexus, Scion, Daihatsu and Subaru. In addition, the truck manufacturer Hino is part of Toyota Motor.

Honda's achievement is much more modest. Apart from the premium brand Acura and the motorcycle department, the Japanese have nothing more to brag about.

The Peugeot-Citroen carmaker is still 30.3% (45.1% of the voting shares) owned by the Peugeot family. The shares are also owned by the employees of the concern (2.76%), there are also treasury shares (3.07%). The rest of the shares are in free float.

By the way, Peugeot SA acquired 38.2% of Citroën's shares back in 1974, and two years later increased this share to 89.95%. So today "Peugeot" almost completely controls the previously independent "Citroen".

Another major global automaker is the Renault-Nissan alliance, which owns brands such as Renault, Dacia, Nissan, Infiniti, Samsung. In addition, Renault-Nissan has owned 50% + 1 share of AvtoVAZ since December 2012, so now the Lada brand actually belongs to the French-Japanese alliance.

Over the past 60 years, the Renault concern is gradually getting out of state control. Until 1945 Renault was 100% privately owned. However, during the war, the company's factories were destroyed, and Louis Renault himself was accused of collaborating with the Nazis and condemned. A large businessman died in prison, and his company was successfully nationalized. However, over the years, the state share began to decline. And if in 1996 Renault was state-owned more than half, then in 2005 it already owned only 15.7% of the shares. In 1999, Renault and Nissan forged what is arguably the most solid automotive alliance ever. Nissan is 44.4% owned by the French manufacturer, and Renault, in turn, gave 15% of the shares to the Japanese.

The fifth largest automobile concern DaimlerChrysler is very fond of the Arabs. The owner of the top brands Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG and Smart, has the Arab investment fund Aabar Investments (9.1%) as the main shareholder, the government of Kuwait owns 7.2% of the shares, and about 2% belongs to the emirate of Dubai. It is surprising to see our KAMAZ next to such brands, 10% of shares of which Daimler acquired in 2008. The German carmaker paid for the shares of KAMAZ $ 250 million immediately and left 50 million until 2012. As a result of the transaction, Daimler received one seat on the board of directors of KAMAZ. In February of this year, the concern bought another 1% stake in a truck manufacturer.

The Bavarian concern BMW, which in 1959 virtually single-handedly saved Herbert Quandt from the sale, is still dependent on his family. In the late 50s, a rival company Daimler-Benz became interested in the unprofitable German brand, but Quandt did not sell it, and invested himself. Today his widow Joanna Quandt and children Stefan and Suzanne control a 46.6% stake in BMW and are doing quite well. Stefan Quandt even served as deputy chairman of the company's board for some time. Despite the fact that at various times Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Honda and Fiat offered very lucrative deals, Quandt's heirs refuse to sell, because they consider the preservation of the brand with the family a matter of honor.

In recent years, the Hyundai-Kia alliance has been rapidly breaking out into the ranks of the leaders of the global automotive industry. The alliance currently produces cars under the Hyundai and Kia brands, but the Koreans are planning to create a premium brand in the near future. According to unconfirmed information, it will be called Genesis.

Hyundai Motor was "lifted from its knees" by a single person - Chung Mong Ku, the eldest son of the founder of the Hyundai industrial group. In the late 90s, he took the quality of cars seriously. For some 6 years, the Korean has been able to increase sales in the US market by 360% and take the fourth place among the imported brands.

Ford Motor is run by William Ford Jr., great-grandson of the famous Henry Ford. Henry Ford himself always dreamed of being the sole owner of the company. In 1919, Henry and his son Edsel bought out the shares of the company from other shareholders and became the sole owners of their brainchild. There is no doubt that the shares were sold to them without problems, because the first shareholders were: a coal dealer, his accountant, a banker who trusted a coal dealer, two brothers who had a workshop for the manufacture of engines, a carpenter, two lawyers, one clerk , the owner of a dry goods store and the man who made wind turbines and air rifles.

Until recently, Ford boasted two more British brands - Jaguar (in 1989, Ford bought Jaguar for $ 2.5 billion) and Land Rover (in 2000, it was bought by Ford for $ 2.75 billion). dollars from BMW). In 2008, both brands were put up for sale due to huge debts. In June 2008 they were bought by Indian Tata Motors.

Today, in addition to cars with its own name, Ford Motor owns the Lincoln and Mercury brands. Ford also owns 33.4% of Mazda and 9.4% of Kia Motors Corporation.

General Motors, which has long held a leading position in the automotive market, is currently controlled by the state (61% of the shares). Its main shareholders are: the government of Canada (12%), the United Auto Workers Union of the USA (17.5%). The remaining 10.5% of the shares were divided among the largest creditors.

The famous auto concern still owns the brands Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac and Opel. More recently, he also owned a controlling stake in the Swedish company Saab (50%), but after the crisis, in January 2010, he sold the company to the Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker Cars.

In the summer of 2008, General Motors decided to sell the Hummer brand, and for almost a year tried to sell it to the Chinese, then the Russians, then the Indians. As a result, the only promising deal with the Chinese Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co fell through, and on May 26, 2010, the last SUV of the brand rolled off the assembly line of the General Motors plant in the American city of Shreveport.

Since January 1, 2011, the Fiat Group has split into two subsidiaries in two sectors: Fiat SpA (light vehicles) and Fiat Industrial (industrial vehicles).
Among the mergers and acquisitions of recent years, I would like to note the transfer of the Volvo brand under the control of the Chinese Geely and the purchase of the British premium brands Jaguar and Land Rover by the Indian Tata Motor. The most curious in this row is the acquisition of the Swedish brand SAAB by the tiny Dutch supercar manufacturer Spyker.

From the once powerful British car industry, there are now only memories. The most famous British carmakers lost their independence long ago, but even small English firms passed to foreign owners. The legendary company Lotus belongs to Malaysian Proton, and MG was bought by the Chinese company SAIC. At the same time, SAIC sold Korean SsangYong Motor to Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra.based on materials hhttp: //www.km.ru

In this article, we have systematized the information so that you can easily find out what isVAG (VAG) and what is included in its structure, as well as what brands of cars are included in the concern VAG.We drew brief conclusions on education and functioning VAG on December 1, 2019.

In the automotive world, it is customary to use various abbreviations that not everyone can decipher the first time. After all, most of these abbreviations apply to automotive companies and concerns.

VAG has remained one of the most common and well-known abbreviations for several years. The opinions of the inhabitants on the issue of its decryption were divided. Many believe that this is simply a shortened version of VOLKSWAGEN, another part claims that all German cars, including Mercedes and BMW, belong to the VAG.

Let's try to figure out how things really are.

How does VAG stand for?

Previously, the abbreviation VAG stands for Volkswagen Audi Gruppebut currently it is Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft (Volkswagen AG)... The second word in the title means "joint stock company".

At the moment there is one official German company name - Volkswagen Konzern, which translates as "Volkswagen Concern", and in English-speaking sources it is the Volkswagen Group (Volkswagen group of companies). The group's headquarters are located in Wolfsburg, Germany.

What car brands are included in the VAG concern?

Today, the VAG concern includes 12 separate car brands: Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen, MAN, Scania, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Ducati.

At the end of summer 2009. Porsche SE and Volkswagen Group reached an agreement whereby Volkswagen and Porsche AG decided to merge by 2011.

By this time, about 50% of VAG shares belonged to the PORSCHE holding. In turn, VAG owns 100% of the shares of the intermediate holding Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH, which has the right to manufacture PORSCHE AG vehicles.

The Volkswagen group includes car brands of the following brands:

• Audi is the last car brand of the Auto Union group acquired from Daimler-Benz in 1964.
• NSU Motorenwerke - was purchased in 1969 and entered the Audi Division. Not used as an independent brand since 1977.
• Seat - a controlling stake in the company (53%) was acquired from the state in 1986. Since 1990 the brand is practically the property of the Volkswagen Group, which owns 99.99% of the company's shares.
• Škoda - purchased in 1991.
• Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge) - was part of Volkswagen AG, but in 1995, thanks to Bernd Weidemann, the previous chairman of the group, became an independent division within the Volkswagen Group. The division is engaged in the production of minibuses, buses and tractors.
• Bentley - (1998) purchased from the British concern Vickers together with Rolls-Royce, but cannot independently produce cars under this brand, since the brand itself was sold to BMW.
• Bugatti - (1998)
• Lamborghini - (1998)
• Porsche

The concern includes 342 companies engaged in the production of cars, motorcycles, special equipment, engines, etc.

The Volkswagen Group owns 48 car manufacturers in 15 European countries and six countries in America, Asia and Africa. More than 370 thousand people work at the enterprises of the group, more than 26,600 cars are produced daily, and authorized sales and maintenance of cars are carried out in more than 150 countries.

Thus, the concernVAG was created with the aim of acquiring smaller car brands by major car giants. In our opinion, this was done for the following reasons:

1. Create imaginary competition among car manufacturers;
2. Dictate your pricing conditions in the European automotive market.