Volkswagen: The World’s Largest Car Manufacturer

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I’m pretty sure that everyone who is reading this article already knows the car brand Volkswagen. The company is called Volkswagen Group or Volkswagen AG as it does not only make city cars such as the Golf, Jetta, Touareg, Arteon, Passat, Tiguan, Polo and Altas. But they also own multiple car brands that produce some of the most popular sports cars, supercars, and hypercars. People who don’t know much about the automotive industry tend to overlook Volkswagen and assume that Toyota the Japanese brand is the most popular car company because of the popularity and affordability of their cars.

The Beginning of Volkswagen

The history of Volkswagen is a grim one and I will touch on its history in a future article, but the company is one of the largest and most influential car manufacturers in the world. It was founded on May 28, 1937, by the German government in Berlin as a state-owned company to produce a low-priced “people’s car” under the supervision of Ferdinand Porsche. The first model that they produced was known as the Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagen named by Hitler which translated to English means “Strength Through Joy Car.” The production of the car was delayed due to World War II starting a year after it was first announced.

The Present of Volkswagen

Since then, Volkswagen has expanded its portfolio to include many other brands, such as Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Skoda, Seat, and Ducati. It also has a significant stake in the truck maker Scania and the commercial vehicle producer MAN. If you are familiar with cars, I’m sure you’ve noticed that Audis and Volkswagen cars are practically the same and have interchangeable parts.

Volkswagen operates a global production network in 153 countries although the company is headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. It has locations in countries such as South Africa, the United States, Brazil, China, and the United Kingdom.

The Numbers of Volkswagen

In 2022, the company produced 8.72 million vehicles globally, which is equivalent to about 22,700 cars per day, which is a 5.2% increase compared to the previous year (2021). Productivity increased by 1.2% as well. In the same year of 2022, they delivered about 8.3 million vehicles to customers worldwide. This was 7.0% or 619,116 units less than in the previous year.

The company’s main market is China, where they have two joint ventures with FAW and SAIC Motor, and there it sold 3.9 million vehicles in 2021. According to MarkLines, FAW-VW sold 1,802,000 vehicles in 2022 which is a slight increase over 2021 where they sold 1,801,000 vehicles. Through SAIC Motor they have sold about 1.07 million cars in 2023 which is down by -10.59% year-on-year compared to the 1.2 million vehicles sold in 2022.

Volkswagen also has a strong presence in Europe, where it holds the largest market share of 23.8% as of November 2021. In the United States, the company’s market share is much lower, at 2.4% in 2020, but it is growing steadily with the introduction of new models, especially electric ones which have increased in demand in the United States thanks to the popularity and success of Tesla.

Volkswagen AG’s annual revenue for 2022 was $294 billion, a 0.61% decline from 2021. Their annual revenue for 2021 was $296 billion which was a 16.27% increase from 2020. The company’s annual revenue for 2020 was $254.6 billion which was a 10.02% decline from 2019. The company ranked seventh in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest companies by revenue in 2020. It also ranked second in the list of the most valuable automotive brands by brand value in 2021, behind Toyota, with a value of 47.1 billion U.S. dollars.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Volkswagen is a giant in the automotive industry and not just a car brand that owns and operates just one brand. They have a wide reach in the automotive industry and own quite a big piece of the European car market. They also have great popularity in countries such as South Africa with the popularity of their Polo and Golf models. The next time you see a Lamborghini, Bentley, Porsche, or Bugatti remember that they are not the stand-alone brands that they used to be. Thanks for reading.

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