Volkswagen

Posted on May 17, 2013 By Peter Brown Brands, Cars

About

A pioneer in the automobile industry, Volkswagen is located in Wolfsburg, Germany. The eponymous brand is the top selling one among other brands of the Volkswagen Group (Audi, Bentley, Buggati, Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Skoda). Volkswagen was founded in 1937 by then current Nazi trade union after manufacturers realized that luxury cars market was not a profitable one. In early 1930’s, the German auto industry mostly manufactured expensive car and motorcycles models, thus only 1 out of 50 Germans had the luxury of buying a car. This plan for creating a cheap ”people’s car” was initiated by Hitler himself. In 1938 the company was renamed in ”Volkswagewerk GmbH”. This represented the start of mass production of Hitler’s dream family car for the average German. But with the start of WWII, Hitler’s plans couldn’t be realized as the plant was overtaken by enemy forces – British, to be more precise. It was the British major, Ivan Hirst, who had taken the control over the company after the war and started the production of Wolkswagen Type 1, commercially known as the Beetle. Clever marketing saved the company from financial crisis as the Beetle gained popularity among young masses from 1945-55. Success followed throughout the 60s and 70s with Volkswagen Beetle becoming the most popular car after surpassing Ford Model T in sales. In the next decades, several new successful models were produced and some major acquisitions were made as Audi, Seat and Skoda became part of the Volkswagen family. Today Volkswagen is a successful group and a separate brand that is making progress in the battle to reduce CO2 emissions and offer fuel efficient technologies.

Products

Hatchback – Design to best suit city traffic, hatchbacks are becoming more and more popular because of their practical use in urban areas. Volkswagen has several models in this category all different in engine specifications and size. The models in this category are: Polo, The new Golf, Golf Cabriolet, Golf plus, The Beetle (Convertible), Scirocco and Eos. All these models have shown success on the market not only because of their beautiful concept but also because they have the sign VW on front.

Saloons/Sedans – Although sedans are considered to be a little bigger than hatchbacks, these models are also designed to be driven in urban areas and on highways as well. In this category, Volkswagen currently has four models available for purchase. They are the famous Passat, Volkswagen CC, Jetta and Phaeton. All these models are perfect family vehicles designed for 5 persons with a large trunk suitable for longer trips. Concerning the price, the Passat, Volkswagen CC and Jetta are more affordable, while the Phaeton is considered to be a luxurious car.

Estate cars – Estate cars or station wagons are vehicles that are perfect for long family trips. The ability to convert back seats into a larger trunk offers passengers larger capacity and flexibility. Volkswagen has only three models available in their newest catalog: Passat Estate, Passat Altrack and Sharan. They are all similar in design but different in engine specification and fuel consumption.

SUV’s – In this, recently popular category of vehicles, Volkswagen offers the famous Touareg and Tiguan. Even though SUVs were originally made as vehicle for off road infrastructure, in the past decade they quickly gained popularity among many households. Because of their large capacity and smooth driving experience they can be as good on the highway as on damaged and difficult roads.