The Volkswagen concern is by far the largest in the world. VW Group owns many 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, since 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 company 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, which 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 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 the 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 that this is a temporary phenomenon.

About thirty years ago, the famous American manager Lee Iacocca said that by the beginning of the 21st century only a few players will remain on the global automotive market. The ex-president of Chrysler and Ford saw through and through the trends in the further development of the auto industry, so it is not at all surprising that his predictions are confirmed.

The world's largest auto concerns and alliances

At first glance, it may seem that there are many independent car manufacturers in the world, but in fact, most car companies belong to various groups and alliances.

Thus, Lee Iacocca looked into the water, and today there are actually only a few automakers left in the world, sharing the entire world car market among themselves.

What brands belong to Ford

Interestingly, the companies he headed - Chrysler and Ford - the leaders of the American car industry, suffered the most serious losses during the economic crisis. And in such serious troubles they had never been before. Chrysler and General Motors went bankrupt, and only a miracle saved Ford. But for this miracle, the company had to pay too high a price, because as a result, Ford lost its premium division Premiere Automotive Group, which included Land Rover, Volvo and Jaguar. Moreover, Ford lost Aston Martin, the British supercar manufacturer, a controlling stake in Mazda and liquidated the Mercury brand. And today only two brands remain from the huge empire - Lincoln and Ford itself.

What brands belong to General Motors

General Motors suffered equally serious losses. The American company lost Saturn, Hummer, SAAB, but its bankruptcy still did not prevent it from defending the Opel and Daewoo brands. Today, General Motors has brands such as Vauxhall, Holden, GMC, Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick. In addition, the Americans own the Russian joint venture GM-AvtoVAZ, which produces the Chevrolet Niva.

Carmaker Fiat and Chrysler

And the American concern Chrysler now acts as a strategic partner of Fiat, which has brought together such brands as Ram, Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler, Lancia, Maserati, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo under its wing.

In Europe, things are somewhat different than in the United States. Here the crisis also made its own adjustments, but the position of the monsters of the European car industry did not shake from this.

What brands belong to the Volkswagen group

Volkswagen is still accumulating brands. After buying Porsche in 2009, the Volkswagen Group has nine brands - Seat, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Bentley, Porsche, Audi, truck manufacturer Scania and VW itself. There is information that Suzuki will soon be included in this list, 20 percent of which is already owned by the Volkswagen Group.

Brands that belong to Daimler AG and BMW Group

As for the other two "Germans" - BMW and Daimler AG, they cannot boast of such an abundance of brands. Under the wing of Daimler AG, there are Smart, Maybach and Mercedes brands, and the history of BMW includes Mini and Rolls-Royce.

Renault and Nissan Automotive Alliance

Among the world's largest automakers, one cannot fail to mention the Renault-Nissan alliance, which owns brands such as Samsung, Infiniti, Nissan, Dacia and Renault. In addition, Renault owns 25 percent of AvtoVAZ shares, so Lada is also not an independent brand from the French-Japanese alliance.

Another major French car manufacturer, PSA, owns Peugeot and Citroen.

Japanese carmaker Toyota

And among Japanese automakers, only Toyota, which owns Subaru, Daihatsu, Scion and Lexus, can boast of a "collection" of brands. Also in the Toyota Motor is the truck manufacturer Hino.

Who Owns Honda

Honda has more modest achievements. Apart from the motorcycle department and the premium Acura brand, the Japanese have nothing else.

Successful auto alliance Hyundai-Kia

In recent years, the Hyundai-Kia alliance has been successfully breaking through into the list of leaders in the global automotive industry. Today it only produces cars under the Kia and Hyundai brands, but the Koreans are already seriously engaged in creating a premium brand that could be called Genesis.

Among the acquisitions and mergers in recent years, we should mention the transfer of the Volvo brand under the wing of the Chinese Geely, as well as the acquisition of the British premium brands Land Rover and Jaguar by the Indian company Tata. And even the most curious case is the purchase of the famous Swedish brand SAAB by the tiny supercar manufacturer Spyker from the Netherlands.

The once powerful British auto industry has made a long life. All prominent British car manufacturers have long since lost their independence. Their example was followed by small English firms, which passed to foreign owners. In particular, the legendary Lotus now belongs to Proton (Malaysia), and the Chinese SAIC bought MG. By the way, the same SAIC previously sold the Korean SsangYong Motor to the Indian Mahindra & Mahindra.

All these strategic partnerships, alliances, mergers and acquisitions once again proved Lee Iacocchi's right. Solitary firms are no longer able to survive in the modern world. Yes, there are exceptions, like the Japanese Mitsuoka, the English Morgan or the Malaysian Proton. But these companies are independent only in the sense that absolutely nothing depends on them.

And in order to have annual sales in the hundreds of thousands of cars, not to mention millions, one cannot do without a strong "rear". In the Renault-Nissan alliance, partners provide support to each other, and in the Volkswagen Group, mutual assistance is provided by the number of brands.

As for such companies as Mitsubishi and Mazda, they will face more and more difficulties in the future. While Mitsubishi can get help from partners from PSA, Mazda will have to survive alone, which in the modern world is becoming more difficult every day ...

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 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 from now on 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 formed 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 was 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 KAMAZ shares $ 250 million immediately and left 50 million until 2012. As a result of the deal, 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 live 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 for a long time 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, 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 an abbreviated version of VOLKSWAGEN, while the other 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 the Volkswagen Group have 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 vehicle 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 service of cars are carried out in more than 150 countries of the world.

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.

Volkswagen is currently the largest car manufacturer in Europe and the second in the world.

Today, the German group, which once started with the release of ultra-budget "Zhukov", offers products for any buyer. All this thanks to the unification of several brands under a single leadership.

The corporate portfolio of the group includes eight legendary brands, most of which at one time found themselves in a difficult financial situation. The companies were forced to enter into an alliance with the German manufacturer as it was a matter of their survival.

Volkswagen

The brand was founded by Adolf Hitler in 1938. Today it specializes in the mass segment. The most famous models: Golf, Passat, Polo, Tiguan.

Audi

Specializes in the premium segment. The brand was joined to Volkswagen in 1964. The most famous models: A4, A6, R8. In 1993, the management company Audi AG acquired the Ducati and Lamborghini brands, while remaining the property of Volkswagen.

Porsche

Specializes in premium and super premium segments. Although he was one of the founders of the first Volkswagen plant, the merger of the company he created to the German giant took place only in 2007. Today the allies are mutual shareholders. The most famous models: Cayenne, Panamera.

Bentley

In 1929, the English premium car manufacturer was sold to Rolls-Royce. In 1997, after the financial crisis, the Rolls-Royce brand was sold to BMW, and the Bentley brand went to Volkswagen. The most famous models: Continental GT, Flying Spur.

Skoda

This brand survived the German occupation, the Soviet era and was merged with Volkswagen in 1991. The change of the strategic partner allowed to increase production by 5 times. Today Skoda specializes in the mass budget segment. The most famous models: Octavia, Fabia, Yeti.

SEAT

In 1986, due to financial difficulties, the Italian concern FIAT sold 99.9% of the shares of the Spanish automaker to the Volkswagen group. Today the brand specializes in the mass segment. The most famous models: Ibiza, Leon.

Lamborghini

At the turn of the 60-70s. last century, the Italian sports car manufacturer changed owners several times. In 1998, the brand was bought by Audi AG and found itself under Volkswagen's wing. The most famous models: Aventador, Huracan.

Bugatti

In 1956, this legendary brand actually ceased to exist. In the late 80s, Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli revived production and in 1998 sold the asset to the Volkswagen concern. Today the brand specializes in the super premium segment. Best known model: Veyron

What other companies does Volkswagen own?

• MAN - manufacturer of trucks, truck tractors, dump trucks, buses, hybrid and diesel engines;
• Scania - a manufacturer of trucks, truck tractors, dump trucks, buses and diesel engines;
• Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles - manufacturer of commercial vehicles (buses, minibuses, tractors);
• Ducati motor - motorcycle manufacturer;
• ItalDesign Giugiaro - automotive design studio.

For some time, there were rumors about Volkswagen's intention to buy the Italian-American Fiat-Chrysler alliance to become the world's largest automaker, but the deal never materialized.