hey everyone in today's video we are
going to quickly explore the ins and
outs
ups and downs of the volkswagen brand
volkswagen despite being one of the most
well-known companies in the world
is also a bit of a mystery this company
owns many different car brands and
models which
may come as quite a surprise to people
you would be intrigued to know that the
volkswagen group supplies every fourth
car
sold in europe the volkswagen beetle is
the first ever model for this company
today it is recognized as the longest
running brand in the market
as it has been around since before world
war ii
this is not the only exciting thing
about this secretive company
stay tuned for more interesting facts
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let us first explore the meaning of
volkswagen
in 1937 only one out of every 50 germans
could afford to own a car
volkswagen set out to correct this by
creating automobiles that the average
german could afford
this resulted in volkswagen's name which
translates from german to english as
the people's car
now let's explore who was the founder of
volkswagen
the founder of this famous brand was
named ferdinand porsche
whose last name is pronounced porsche
born in northern bohemia in 1875
which today is located in the czech
republic
ferdinand's father was a master panel
beater he repaired vehicle bodies at a
factory
and he introduced the beetle for
volkswagen which was the baby of
ferdinand porsche
let's take a look at some of the early
achievements of the founder
to understand the brand we must
understand the brand's creator
porsche was considered a free thinker
and a non-conformist from a very young
age
he had a creative eye and an excellent
mind for design
in the year 1900 while still a teenager
ferdinand designed the first
carriage-like car known as the edgar
lorner
the anger had two electric motors in the
front wheel hubs
powered by two batteries he received
many awards and commendations for this
design and was even welcomed into
society's upper echelons due to this
porsche had a habit of sneaking into the
local university whenever he could
even though he did not receive any
formal engineering education
even archduke franz ferdinand who was
the heir to austria-hungary's throne
owned one of porsche's cars for over 10
years
ferdinand porsche left his mark in the
civilian vehicles
automotive racing and the aircraft
engines industry
even more noteworthy is that this
designer created the first
ever gasoline hybrid electric car
so why did porsche start a new company
porsche started his new company out of
necessity
after several rejections he tried
getting european companies to use his
idea of small
rear engine affordable cars but none
would
ferdinand's dedication to making car
ownership something for the everyday man
was somewhat of a passion
and was his primary motivation for
starting a new company
he wanted to build luxurious yet
affordable cars
suited by the appropriate financial
backing this was not
easy but after several attempts he found
a way to accomplish his dreams
controversial supporter behind vw
in 1933 porsche was introduced to adolf
hitler by a friend
hitler had just been elected german
chancellor and leader of the national
socialist german workers party
he wanted to expose the world to nazism
through engineering
hitler placed 250 000 reich marks up for
grabs to anyone who could build a race
car for the grand prix season
porsche engineer designs won the 1934
racing season
and he was given the contract to make
three vehicles for the german government
the volkswagen beetle was a result of
these government vehicles
however the creator confessed that he
did not willingly create the cars for
hitler
but he feared for his life
now why did vw get destroyed so severely
as the story continues in 1939 hitler
invaded poland
and thus began world war ii when this
happened the company only had a few cars
completed
and customers did not receive their
orders from volkswagen
the company itself had to start making
military vehicles to help with the war
efforts
they made a prototype of the beetle in
an amphibious version
and a v1 flying bomb in order to destroy
the military's manufacturing efforts
this factory became a target to
germany's enemies
by the end of the war the volkswagen
factory was ruined
they even found an undetonated bomb
stuck between the main power generators
of the factory
this to some was a sign that the factory
was meant to exist
owner ferdinand at age 72 was imprisoned
in france for working with hitler
while this looked like the end of this
auto designer's dream
he did not give up yet so we know that
volkswagen is still around today
so how did the resurrection happen after
porsche was finally released from prison
he headed right back to the
manufacturing floor to get back to work
he ensured to listen to his workers and
absorbed all of their ideas
the conditions of germany was terrible
at this time and many germans were at a
point of starvation
a surge of jobs was needed for the
middle class to revive the economy and
get people working again
a british army man known as major ian
hurst repaired the already destroyed
factory
and thus production started up hence
after restarting the production line
helping and rolling out the very first
beetle in germany
the first batch was made for the german
postal service
by the year 1948 porsche was no longer
directly involved in creating the
beatles
but started to work on his porsche model
instead
but how did volkswagen grow to be so
famous
in 1950 after getting much success in
europe
volkswagen took over the american
markets as well with the beetle model
being its main feature
as the bulk of orders started to flow in
the beetle began to acquire recognition
globally people were drawn to the beetle
for its reliability
high quality engineering and excellent
quality control
by the year 1955 over 1 million beetle
cars had been produced
and by the early 1960s customers had to
wait between 12 and 18 months before
receiving their vehicle
by the year 1973 the beetle sale began
declining
bringing a new generation of cars to
life these models included the golf car
the polo and the passat cars even now
the volkswagen company is one of the
largest companies in the world
in 2019 volkswagen ranked 7th on the
list of fortune 500 global
companies the market cap of the company
was over 99 billion dollars as recently
as 2019
at the beginning of this video we
mentioned that volkswagen owns many
other companies as well
and what is a company without its
acquisitions volkswagen 2 has its
investments
for example in the 1980s the company
acquired over 75
shares of the spanish car manufacturer
known as seat
volkswagen also managed to acquire audi
in 1965
thanks to its success in the beetle
sales bentley
lamborghini and bugatti were also added
under volkswagen's umbrella in 1998
in the year 2000 the skoda brand was
also added
quite an exciting catch for this company
but it does not stop there
italdesign gui gario the italian
automotive design house was also
acquired by volkswagen in 2010
a massive acquisition by the company in
case you were wondering the italian
design house was responsible for
designing cars for brands such as
aston martin hyundai ferrari chevrolet
fiat ford lexus lotus bmw
alfa romero mitsubishi and other brands
that were not disclosed
the work by these designers was not only
futuristic but also
classic and flashy of all these models
the delorean dmc-12
seemed to stand out the most you may
know this car from the 1981 trilogy back
to the future
but oh no we are not done yet in 2012
audi a subsidiary of volkswagen
purchased an italian motorbike maker
known as ducati
this purchase even more concreted the
volkswagen holdings in the automotive
industry
the company also owned the famous and
luxurious company porsche
and the man trucks company to sum it all
up the volkswagen company holds over 340
subsidiaries worldwide
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now let's explore how many employees
volkswagen has today
this company has over 671
205 employees by comparison
ford and general motors have only 354
000 workforce combined worldwide and the
company's biggest competitor
toyota has around 359 542 employees
the volkswagen company has an employee
force more extensive than the armed
forces of norway
italy australia and croatia combined
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now we move on to the company's infamous
scandal
environmental protection is an essential
concern to everyone
and car companies have been compelled to
comply to new regulations
however between 2008 and 2015
the volkswagen company was reported for
cheating on the us air pollution tests
the leading german manufacturers were
said to be altering car performance by
using
software and providing false results
that were in their favor
the real output measured a whopping 10
to 40 times the legal amount
this scandal was based mainly on the
company's diesel range
experts were concerned that any fuel or
diesel added to the cars below
environmental standards might affect the
fuel efficiency
performance and even the vehicle speed
manufacturers at the company are looking
to avoid the negative impact that the
company may have caused by being
dishonest
about their standards this is the end of
us
exploring the volkswagen company make
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channel
for more exciting episodes like this one
and we'll see you in the next video
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you