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Volkswagen Group
Enlarge picture
VW Group
Public
(ISIN: DE0007664005, Xetra: VOW)
(FWB: VOW)
Founded1937
HeadquartersWolfsburg, Germany
Key peopleMartin Winterkorn, Chairman
IndustryAuto and Truck Manufacturers
ProductsAuto and Truck Manufacturers
Revenue €104.9 Billion (2006)[1]
Operating income €15.4 Billion (2006)[1]
Net income €2.75 Billion (2006)[1]
Employees344,902 (2005)
SubsidiariesAudi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, Škoda, Volkswagen
SloganDriving Ideas
WebsiteVolkswagen International


Volkswagen Group (ISIN: DE0007664005, TYO: 7659 ) is a German automobile manufacturer and currently the 4th largest automobile manufacturer in the world. Its core market is the European Union and its major subsidiaries include well-known brands like Audi, Bentley, Škoda, Lamborghini, Bugatti, SEAT and the brand Volkswagen itself. The Volkswagen Golf is the third bestselling car in the world, selling over 25 million cars through 2006. In 2006 the Volkswagen group sold 5.734 million automobiles claiming a 9.7% share of the world passenger car market.

Volkswagen's second-largest market is China where its subsidiary, Volkswagen Group China is by far the Second largest Joint venture automaker.

History

VW was founded in 1937 as a public concern by the then National Socialistic government to sell the became Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft (Aktiengesellschaft, abbreviated AG, being equivalent to the English Corp[oration] or American Inc[orporated]). The name was changed to VOLKSWAGEN AG on 4 July 1985, to reflect the company's increasing global diversification from its headquarters and main plant, the Volkswagenwerk in Wolfsburg, Germany.In October 2005, Porsche acquired an 18.53% stake in the business. In July 2006, Porsche increased their ownership to more than 25%. Press reports presume this was done to prevent a foreign takeover. Later that year Porsche further increase their ownership to 30.9%, forcing them to launch the mandatory takeover required by German law, however Porsche expects this takeover to fail. However, many commentators argued that this investment in VW fits well to Porsche's strategy.

In Sept of 2007 reports have surfaced that Porsche is looking to further increase it's share of VW as EU courts are challenging the 47-year-old German law that gives any investor with at least a 20 percent stake the ability to block major decisions. See: Porsche May 'Significantly' Boost Volkswagen Stake.

Leadership

Brands

Enlarge picture
Schematic of Volkswagen's extended financial relationships.
The company owns eight active automotive based brands. These are the inactive brands of Volkswagen AG:
  • Auto Union (although the Auto Union badge is still used on all Audi models)
  • DKW
  • Horch
  • NSU (although the small amount of Audi shares not owned by VW trade under the ticker symbol NSU)
  • Wanderer

Heavy truck investments

Volkswagen is also the largest shareholder in Scania AB with a capital stake of 20.03% and 35.31% of voting rights. Prior to the increase of the stake in March 2007 they held a capital stake of 16.5% and a voting stake of 33.4%.

On October 4, 2006, Volkswagen acquired a 15.1% stake in German truck maker MAN AG, later increased to 29.9%, who had launched an offer to acquire Scania (which was eventually withdrawn). Previous Volkswagen CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder, and his successor Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, plan to organise a three-way merger between MAN, Scania, VW's own Brazilian heavy truck division and possibly their Light truck and van division as well. Due to VW's stakes in MAN and Scania, it is expected that VW will have a blocking minority stake of at least 25.1% in the merged entity.

Possible strategic partnership with Proton

On 26 January 2007 Malaysian news has announced Volkswagen AG has signed an agreement to buy a 51% stake in Proton Auto Division. It was later discovered that this had not occurred and discussions between Proton and Volkswagen are continuing. Proton is also in discussions with General Motors Corp. The deal still has yet to be finalised as of April 2007. And the Prime Minister of Malaysia said he won't wait forever for the Volkswagen chairman to meet him to discuss the possible strategic partnership with Proton. [1]

Investors

Institutional Investors in Volkswagen AG are:

Notes

1. ^ [2]
[3]

See also

External links

A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its securities (stock, bonds, etc.) for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange.
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An International Securities Identifying Number (ISIN) uniquely identifies a security. Its structure is defined in ISO 6166. Securities for which ISINs are issued include bonds, commercial paper, equities and warrants.
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For other meanings of XETRA see XETRA.


Xetra ("Exchange Electronic Trading") is a worldwide electronic securities trading system based in Frankfurt, Germany.
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Frankfurt Stock Exchange (German: FWB® Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse) is a stock exchange located in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one of the biggest and most efficient exchange places in the world.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
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Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII
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Wolfsburg

Coat of arms Location

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Anthem
"Das Lied der Deutschen" (third stanza)
also called "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit"
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Martin Winterkorn (born May 24, 1947 in Leonberg, Germany) is the chairman of Volkswagen AG and Scania AB. He succeeded Bernd Pischetsrieder as chairman of Volkswagen AG on January 1, 2007. Prior to that, he had been the CEO of Volkswagen's Audi brand.
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Industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent, industrious"), is the segment of economy concerned with production of goods. Industry began in its present form during the 1800s, aided by technological advances, and it has continued to develop to this day.
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The automotive industry is the industry involved in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of motor vehicles. In 2006, more than 69 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide.
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Aspinwall Classification System (Leo Aspinwall, 1958) classifies and rates products based on five variables:
  1. Replacement rate (How frequently is the product repurchased?)
  2. Gross margin (How much profit is obtained from each product?)

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The automotive industry is the industry involved in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of motor vehicles. In 2006, more than 69 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide.
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Revenue is a business term for the amount of money that a company receives from its activities in a given period, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers.
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Euro
Ευρώ (Greek)
Евро[1]
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million (1,000,000), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001.

In scientific notation, it is written as 106[1]
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In financial and business accounting, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) is a measure of a firm's profitability that excludes interest and income tax expenses.[1]

EBIT = Operating Revenue – Operating Expenses + Non-operating Income
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Euro
Ευρώ (Greek)
Евро[1]
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million (1,000,000), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001.

In scientific notation, it is written as 106[1]
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Net income is equal to the income that a firm has after subtracting costs and expenses from the total revenue. Net income can be distributed among holders of common stock as a dividend or held by the firm as retained earnings.
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Euro
Ευρώ (Greek)
Евро[1]
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million (1,000,000), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001.

In scientific notation, it is written as 106[1]
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20th century - 21st century - 22nd century
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Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has
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A subsidiary, in business, is an entity that is controlled by another entity. The controlled entity is called a company, corporation, or limited liability company, and the controlling entity is called its parent (or the parent company).
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Audi AG

Public (Xetra: NSU )
Founded 1910
Founder August Horch
Headquarters Ingolstadt, Germany

Key people Rupert Stadler, chairman
Industry Automotive
Products Luxury Automobiles, Engines
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Bentley Motors Limited

Subsidiary of Volkswagen Group
Founded January 18, 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley
Headquarters Crewe, Cheshire, United Kingdom

Key people Dr.
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Bugatti is one of the fastest marques of automobile and one of the most exclusive car producers of all time. The company is legendary for producing a few of the fastest sports cars in the world.
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