Volkswagen Vehicles

Overview

    A legacy of genius (Dr. Ferdinand Porsche) and lunacy (Adolf Hitler), Volkswagen began, as its name indicates, as a manufacturer of "People's Cars" that were quintessentially German in their engineering while being inexpensive to purchase and operate. The company emerged from the ashes in the post-war era, and US sales began in 1949 with a grand total of 2 vehicles. The 1200, known as the Beetle, soon became an icon for a generation (as well as one of the best-selling cars in history), and VW was off and rolling. Volkswagen of America was established in 1955. For a time, the company was one of the most successful import brands in the American market, until the rise of the Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, and was a pioneer of the minivan concept with its Transporter/Microbus series. Worldwide, Volkswagen owns Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Skoda, along with commercial vehicle lines and several discontinued brands (Auto Union, DKW, Horch, NSU, and Wanderer); the company also maintains a close relationship with Porsche. Volkswagen sales have fallen sharply in the United States as a result of intensified competition, pricing and marketing concerns, and quality-control issues. In the 00s, the company began to move upmarket with a more expensive Passat, and then with the Touareg SUV/CUV and the Phaeton luxury car. Volkswagen AG's headquarters are in Wolfsburg, Saxony, Federal Republic of Germany, but its cars are produced at Volkswagen plants worldwide (however, Volkswagen has not built any cars within the United States since the closure of its Westmoreland, Pennsylvania facility in 1988).

CARS

PICKUP CARS

MINIVANS

CROSSOVER VEHICLES

SPORT-UTILITY VEHICLES