volkswagen

Ferdinand Porsche created the Volkswagen beetle in 1933. He built a car called the volks auto with an air-cooled rear-engine, torsion bar suspension, and a rounded front hood resembling a beetle shape. When Hitler wanted to offer an affordable car to the masses, he decided to sponsor a state-owned factory that produced cars based on Porsche’s design. The car was originally called the kdf-wagen, which translated to strength through joy in its long-form. 

Volkswagen was sued prior to world war II over the VW beetle design. Ferdinand Porsche was inspired by the catcher cars created by Czechoslovakian car maker Hans Lanka. He bought the beetle design, which was a little too similar to his T97 car so he sued Porsche. However, the lawsuit was abandoned when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and Patra was forced to halt production.

After world war II the lawsuit was reopened. Eventually, Volkswagen ended up paying Katra 3 million Deutschmarks, which is around $6 million at today’s valuation. After world war II, Ford turned down an offer to take over Volkswagen free of charge. After the war, the fate of the company was uncertain. Their commercial vehicles didn’t have much of a chance to take off before they turned to producing solely military vehicles, so the company didn’t seem to have much value after the world war was over. The company was rejected by representatives from American, British, Australian, and French motor industries. It was even offered to Ford, free of charge, but Henry Ford II turned it down after the chairman of the board of the ford motor company advised him that the company wasn’t worth a dime.

Porsche tried to stage a takeover of VW in 2008. They planned to quietly buy up shares of Volkswagen so they could ultimately overtake the company. When details of the plan were made public, Porsche denied it for months. The Volkswagen group owns some of the most luxurious car brands in the world. It is the largest automaker by worldwide sales as of 2016. The car brands which fall under the VW group include Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, and Lamborghini. Ducati motorcycles are also included on this list. Volkswagen had to pay a $120,000 fine to the Environmental Protection Agency in 1973. VW was caught using defeat devices to disable pollution control systems in their cars. 

VW plans to take absolute full advantage globally, they expect to spend nearly $50 billion over the next four years to develop and build EVs and develop the digital services and infrastructure around them. The company plans to sell 22 million EVs across the globe through 2028. The first VW electric vehicle will be seen in the United States by late next year. By 2025 as a global automaker, VW has set a goal to reduce the CO2 footprint by 30%. By 2050 the company plans to be co2 neutral, which means dismissing the carbon footprint produced by their cars. As an automaker, the company understands its responsibility towards the customer’s peace of mind and safety but also for society and the environment as a whole. VW will be the company that brings electrification to the people. The company is always connected with the people ready to lead a change in a new direction. After the diesel gate issue, it’s a greater responsibility to make electrification happen. VW has to gain back the loyalty, which took a bit of a leap due to this issue.