Understanding The History
Volkswagen Group (pronounced [ˈfɔlksˌvaːgən gʁuːp], or Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, pronounced [ˈfɔlksˌvaːgən ˈʔakt͡si̯əngəˌzɛlʃaft]) and its subsidiaries, is a German multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. It designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial vehicles, motorcycles, engines, and turbomachinery and offers related services including financing, leasing and fleet management. In 2012, it produced the third-largest number of motor vehicles of any company in the world, behind General Motors and Toyota.[5] It has maintained the largest market share in Europe for over two decades.[6] As of 2013, it ranked ninth in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest companies.[7]
Volkswagen Group sells passenger cars under the
Audi,
Bentley,
Bugatti,
Lamborghini,
Porsche,
SEAT,
Škoda and
Volkswagen marques; motorcycles under the
Ducati brand; and commercial vehicles under the
MAN,
Scania,
Neoplan and
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles marques. It is divided into two primary
divisions, the Automotive Division and the Financial Services Division, and has approximately 340 subsidiary companies. The company has operations in approximately 150 countries and operates 100 production facilities across 27 countries. It holds a 19.9% non-controlling shareholding in Suzuki and has two major joint-ventures in China (
FAW-Volkswagen and
Shanghai Volkswagen).
Volkswagen was founded in 1937 to manufacture the car which would become known as the
Beetle. The company's production grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and in 1965 it acquired
Auto Union, which subsequently produced the first post-war Audi models. Volkswagen launched a new generation of front-wheel drive vehicles in the 1970s, including the
Passat,
Polo and
Golf; the latter became its bestseller. Volkswagen acquired a controlling stake in SEAT in 1986, making it the first non-German marque of the company, and acquired control of Škoda in 1994, of Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti in 1998, Scania in 2008 and of Ducati, MAN and Porsche in 2012. The company's operations in China have grown rapidly in the past decade with the country becoming its largest market.
Corporate affairs[edit]
Ownership[edit]
Under the
Volkswagen Law, no shareholder in Volkswagen AG could exercise more than 20 percent of the firm's voting rights, regardless of their level of stock holding.
[48] In October 2005,
Porsche acquired an 18.53 percent stake in the business, and in July 2006, Porsche increased that ownership to more than 25 percent. Analysts disagreed as to whether the investment was a good fit for Porsche's strategy.
[49]
On 26 March 2007, after the
European Union moved against a German law that protected Volkswagen Group from takeovers,
[50] Porsche took its holding to 30.9 percent, triggering a takeover bid under German law. Porsche formally announced in a press statement that it did not intend to take over Volkswagen Group, setting its offer price at the lowest possible legal value, but intended the move to avoid a competitor taking a large stake, or to stop hedge funds dismantling Volkswagen Group, which is Porsche's most important partner.
[51] On 3 March 2008, Porsche announced that it has decided to increase its Volkswagen AG stake up to 51 percent, which would be completed before the end of the year. This was announced just hours after VWAG declared it would take a majority stake in the Swedish truck and engine maker
Scania.
[52] On 16 September 2008, Porsche announced that the company had increased its stake in Volkswagen AG to 35 percent.
[53] As of October 2008, Porsche held 42.6 percent of Volkswagen AG's
ordinary shares, and holds
stock options on another 31.5 percent.
[citation needed] On 28 October 2008, Porsche announced that they effectively held over 74 percent; 42.6 percent actual shares, and the rest as convertible options. It was announced on 7 January 2009 that Porsche now owns 50.76 percent of Volkswagen AG.
[54] Volkswagen AG briefly became the world's most valuable company, as the stock price rose to over €1,000 per share as
short sellers tried to cover their positions.
[55]
The current share ownership of Volkswagen AG is distributed as follows:
[56]
Stock market listings[edit]
Volkswagen AG shares are primarily traded on the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange,
[57] and are listed under the 'VOW' and 'VOW3'
stock ticker symbols. First listed in August 1961, the shares were issued at a price of
DM 350 per DM 100 share,
[57] Volkswagen AG shares are now separated into two different types or classes: '
ordinary shares' and '
preference shares'.
[57] The ordinary shares are now traded under the
WKN 766400 and ISIN DE0007664005 listings, and the preference shares under the WKN 766403 and ISIN DE0007664039 listings.
[57]
Volkswagen AG shares are also listed and traded on other major domestic and worldwide
stock exchanges. In Germany's domestic exchanges, since 1961 these include those in
Berlin,
Düsseldorf, Hamburg,
Hanover,
Munich and
Stuttgart. International exchanges include those in
Basel (listed in 1967),
Geneva(1967),
Zürich (1967),
Luxembourg (1979), London (1988), and
New York (1988).
[57]
Since the start of trading in 1961, Volkswagen AG shares have been subjected to two
stock splits – the first was on 17 March 1969 when they were split at a ratio of 2:1, from a DM 100 share to a DM 50 share. The second split occurred on 6 July 1998, the DM 50 share being converted into a share of no overall nominal value, at a ratio of 1:10.
[57]
From 23 December 2009, Volkswagen AG preferred shares replaced its ordinary shares in the
DAX index.
[58]
Leadership[edit]
Sales and market share[edit]
Top 3 Automakers Global, 2012[5]
| Group | Units |
|---|
| Toyota | 10,104,424 |
| G.M. | 9,285,425 |
| Volkswagen | 9,254,742 |
| Top 3 automakers 2012 by global volume, based on OICA data. |
The worldwide ranking of automakers is compiled once per year by the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers OICA.
[5]
In 2013, Volkswagen Group's largest single country market was
China with 3.27 million units delivered, followed by Germany with 1.16 million units. Divided by regions, Western Europe was the largest market of the Volkswagen Group with 3.65 million units in 2013, followed by Asia-Pacific with 3.64 million, and South America with 908,000 units delivered in 2013.
[61]Top 3 Automakers EU27, 2013[62]
| Group | Units | share |
|---|
| Volkswagen | 2,957,653 | 25.0 |
| PSA | 1,311,406 | 11.1 |
| RENAULT | 1,076,367 | 10.4 |
| Top 3 automakers 2013 by EU27 new passenger car volume, based on ACEA data |
The European ranking of automakers is compiled monthly by the European Auto Manufacturers' Association ACEA.
[62] Volkswagen has held the top spot in Europe uninterrupted for more than two decades.
[63]
The company narrowly missed being the top global automaker in the first half of 2014, selling 5.07 million vehicles in the six months ending June 30 2014, just behind
Toyota which notched up 5.1 million vehicle sales.
[64]
Car tuning is modification of the performance or appearance of a vehicle. For actual "tuning" in the sense of automobiles or vehicles, see
engine tuning. Most vehicles leave the factory set up for an average driver's expectations and conditions. Tuning, on the other hand, has become a way to personalize the characteristics of a vehicle to the owner's preference. Cars may be altered to provide better fuel economy, produce more power, or to provide better handling.
Car tuning is related to
auto racing, although most
performance cars never compete. Tuned cars are built for the pleasure of owning and driving. Exterior modifications include changing the aerodynamic characteristics of the vehicle via side skirts, front and rear bumpers, spoilers, splitters, air vents and light weight wheels.
Engine tuning[edit]
Main article:
Engine tuning
Engine tuning is the process of modifying the operating characteristics of an engine. In a typical engine set-up, there are various mechanical and electronic elements such as the intake manifold, spark plugs,
Mass air flow/ Volume air flow, etc. Modern engines employ the use of an
ECM to provide the best balance between performance and emissions. Via the
OBD communications protocol, the electronically controlled aspects of the engine can be modified in the process known as 'mapping'. Mapping can either be performed by changing the software within the ECU (chip tuning via firmware modification), or by providing false data via plug-in hardware (
piggybacking). Mechanical components can also be replaced, such as turbochargers or superchargers.
Other standalone engine management systems are available. These systems replace the factory computer with one that is user programmable.
Poorly executed modifications can have a detrimental effect on performance as well as mechanical and electronic components. An example would be the use of an air compressor such as a turbocharger to increase the volume of air used in power stroke of the
otto cycle. In a typical chemical reaction, the air-fuel ratio must be a minimum of 14:1 (see
Stoichiometry). If higher ratios are used, higher pressures and temperatures are observed in the cylinders. Depending upon the build of the engine, such operating parameters can lead to premature failure such as warped cylinder heads and walls (temperature related), cracked connecting rods and crankshafts (excessive torque applied), engine seizing and blowouts.
Suspension tuning[edit]
Suspension tuning involves modifying the springs, shock absorbers, swaybars, and other related components of a vehicle. Shorter springs offer greater stiffness and a lower center of gravity at the possible cost of unwanted changes of suspension geometry. Stiffer
shock absorbers improve the dynamic weight shifting during cornering and normally have shorter internals to stop them from bottoming out when shorter springs are used. Stiffer
sway bars reduce body roll during cornering, thus improving the grip that the tires have on the surface by reducing suspension geometry changes caused by roll; this also improves handling response due to faster weight shifting (similar to stiffer springs.) The danger with overly stiff swaybars is the lifing of the inner wheel, which changes traction of that end at a discontinuous rate. By increasing the roll resistance of on end,
weight transfer is concentrated at that end, causing it to slip more than the other. This effect is used to control the over/under steer characteristic as well as to reduce roll. Other components that are sometimes added are
strut bars, which improve the body stiffness and help better maintain the proper suspension geometry during cornering. On some cars certain braces, anti-roll bars, etc., can be retrofitted to base model cars from sports models.
For
offroad vehicles, the emphasis is on lengthening the suspension travel and installing larger tires. Larger tires, with or without larger wheels, increase ground clearance, ride over short obstacles and holes more smoothly, provide more cushioning and decrease ground loading which is important on soft surfaces.
These suspension modifications are in contrast to
Lowriders with hydraulic or pneumatic suspensions. Lowriders use another type of suspension tuning in which the height of each individual wheel can be rapidly adjusted by a system of rams which, in some cases, makes it possible to "bounce" the wheels completely clear of the ground.
Body tuning[edit]
Body tuning involves adding or modifying
spoilers and a
body kit in order to improve the aerodynamic performance of a vehicle. Through the generation of downforce, cornering speeds and tire adhesion can be improved, often at the expense of increased drag. To lighten the vehicle, bodywork components such as hoods and rear view mirrors may be replaced with lighter weight components.
Often, body modifications are done mainly to improve a vehicle's appearance, as in the case of non-functioning scoops, wide arches or other aesthetic modification. Aftermarket spoilers or body kits rarely improve a car's performance. The majority, in fact, add weight and increase the
drag coefficient of the vehicle, thus reducing its overall performance.
Increasing the wheel track width through spacers and wide body kits enhance the cars cornering ability. Lowering the center of gravity via suspension modifications is another aim of body tuning. Often, suspension tuners unfamiliar with
spring dynamics will cut stock springs, producing a harder, bouncy ride. It is also common to lower the car too far, beyond the optimal height for performance, purely for appearance.
Competition cars may have light weight windows, or the windows may be completely removed, as auto glass adds significant weight high up. Plastic windows are much more vulnerable to scratches which reduces service life.
Tires have large effects on a car's behavior and are replaced periodically, therefore tire selection is a very cost-effective way to personalize an automobile. Choices include tires for various weather and road conditions, different sizes and various compromises between cost, grip, service life, rolling resistance, handling and ride comfort.
Detuning[edit]
Detuning is returning a modified car to its original factory status or reducing its performance in a particular area of tuning. For example, a car may be "detuned" to allow increased traction where the track grip is not sufficient to handle the increased power of the tuned engine.
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