Volkswagen

Volkswagen (VW) is a German car brand that was founded in 1937 by the "German Labour Front" (which was National Socialist German Workers Party or "Nazis") organisation following Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Volkswagen is most commonly known for the iconic Beetle.

Volkswagen (VW) is a German car brand that was founded in 1937 by the "German Labour Front" (which was National Socialist German Workers Party or "Nazis") organisation following Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Volkswagen is most commonly known for the iconic Beetle.

Volkswagen means "The Peoples Car" and came about from Adolf Hitler in 1934 when he ordered German enterprise and automakers to make a car for the people of Germany. It was designed be Ferdinand Porsche (Porsche car maker) and the initial KDF-Wagen was produced and by 1938 it was branded Volkswagenwerk GMBH.

The Factory in Wolfsberg became a political strong hold during the war and one of which the American and British armies had to seize as this was the source of the German Military productions as well as a centre that was "forcibly"holding people to work in the factory.

When the factory was seized and F. Porsche  arrested for war crimes, a British Major named  Ivan Hirst, was but in charge of the factory and became instrumental in reviving Volkswagen into a major postwar automotive manufacturer.

The Beetle was revived after the war and started to it's journey to worldwide stardom. This was shortly followed by the Karmann as well as a van, a camper and pickup. By the 1970's it was to produce the VW Golf which would replace the Beetle and extend the range with the Scirocco, Corrado Polo and Passat.

With the success of the Beetle and Golf, VW went on to buy Auto Union (Audi) in 1965, took a controlling  stake in SEAT in 1986, Benetley, Bugatti and Lamborghini in 1998 before going on and acquiring Scania in 2008 and Dcuati, MAN and Porsche in 2012.

Now one of the biggest Automotive Groups producing some of the finest mainstream premium brands, it also has a purse of around £250 Billion. It's future intentions are to become the latgest Automotive maker and leaders in the electrification of cars.

After the emission scandal (Dieselgate) in 2015, Volkswagen were found to have a cheating device in around 11 million cars, VW faced a bill of fines and compensation that is around £30 Billion. and this figure is also likely to increase.

In response to this damage in reputation, Volkswagen fought back and showcased their future intentions of moving away from diesel and that they would launch a whole new range of electric cars, the Volkswagen ID range. They will invest around £30 Billion into electrification, including converting production plants to produce the battery platforms, whilst investinting in infrastructure and development of it's own battery source.

The purchasing of the ID range (and even the future of any electric car purchasing) will also revolutionise. The buying journey will be a little like that of purchasing a smart phone. You will select a model size like an iphone X/ pro, you will then selct your battery range like the 64/120gb memory in a smartphone and then you will select some options, like apps in your smartphone. We will even subscribe to the vehicles like we do with a smartphone.

Did you know:

1. By February 1972 VW claimed the world record for the most single model vehicles produced in history with the Beetle with it's 15,007,034 car sold.
2. Porsche, although owned by VW, still hold around a 31% subcribed capital and around 53% in Voting rights.
3. Most Volkswagens are named after oceonic currents or prevailing winds. The Golf is named after the Golf stream, the Jetta is named after the Jetstream and the Passat is a German term for trade winds.
4. The VW Beetle is in the Guiness book of records for the most people in a car. It had 57.
5. The most popular Beetle is Herbie.