Brief Glance at Volkswagen History

Volkswagen, the premium Car manufacturer in Europe had its origin in the year 1937. Launched by the Nazi Trade Union, the German Labour Front, the vehicle was known as ‘people’s car’.
In 1933, in face of the growing development for the company products, Adolf Hitler, a member of the Nazi Trade Union expressed plans for a Volkswagen programme, which is sponsored by the state. Post war, the company was maintained under Major Ivan Hirst, REME – the British Army officer.
KdF-Stadt, and its facility that was bombed largely were captured by the Americans, in April 1945 and then passed on to the British. Hirst then took over the operations. The company was better known as “Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH”.
Commencing its operation from the 28 May 1937, the auto major changed its name to “Volkswagenwerk GmbH” on the 16th of September 1938. The company started to put up an automotive manufacturing facility at the place, which is the present Wolfsburg. This plant mainly manufactures the latest vehicles by Ferdinand Porsche.
Through out the Second World War, Volkswagenwerk started to manufacture arms and weapons. The staff at the facility included a few of the 20,000 compulsory labourers, prisoners of war, as well as prisoners from the concentration camps.
Volkswagen AG also set up a charitable finance in the September of 1998, in order to provide help for the compulsory labourers at the company. Meanwhile, following the conclusion of the II world war, amidst June 1945, Volkswagenwerk came under the British Military Government.

Models Launched
The company also started the mass manufacture of Volkswagen’s Beetle model, at this time, under Major Ivan Hirst’s supervision.
In the year 1956, the company also established another production facility for its model, the Transporter, at Hanover, thus creating a niche for itself in the commercial vehicle segment.
Volkswagen in addition reports a hike at a breathtaking manufacturing record of 15,007,034 units, on the 17 February 1972. Volkswagen Passat as well began manufacture in 1973.
In the January 1974, Volkswagen also started producing the model, Golf for the first time from the Wolfsburg facility. The foremost Golf GTI was introduced in 1976. Then, the second generation Golf was also under manufacture in June 1983.
Other models introduced are the Volkswagen Lupo 3L TDI in July 1999, Volkswagen Slovakia, fifth generation of Golf and so on. An additional plant was also set up in December 2002 at Wolfsburg, thus beginning the manufacture of Touran compact van.
Indian Presence
Volkswagen has established its presence in five continents. Volkswagen India established itself in India, starting from 2001, with Skoda’s launch followed by the Volkswagen and Audi in 2007. The automotive manufacturer has its head office in Pune, Mharashtra.
Volkswagen India, a subsidiary to Volkswagen AG is represented worldwide via the 9 brands such as Audi, Bugatti, Bentley, Lamborghini, Seat, Scania, Skoda, Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge for commercial vehicles.
The Group has about 60 manufacturing facilities operational, globally. The company also support over 370,000 staff with a production capacity of beyond 26,600 vehicles.
Volkswagen Vehicles running in India
The models to make its way India, thus making it presence felt in India starts with the Volkswagen Passat in 2007, the Jetta model in 2008, iconic New Beetle followed by its premium SUV, the Volkswagen Touareg in December 2009.
Volkswagen Phaeton hit the Indian roads and so do 2001 Volkswagen Skoda. Skoda is assembled at the Aurangabad facility, along with additional 8 variants, inclusive of Audi A6, Audi A4, the Passat and Jetta by Volkswagen. Skoda models launched are Fabia, Octavia, Superb, the Yeti, the Laura and such.
The automotive manufacturer also rolls out its Polo, the hatchback model from the latest Pune plant on 12th of December, 2 years back.
Now the Audi models catering to the Indian market are Audi A8, Audi Q7, the A6 model, Audi A4, the R8 model, Audi TT, Audi Q5, Audi Sportback Concept and such.
Volkswagen along with Audi and Skoda has nearly 120 dealers, countywide as well as the initial Group Logistics Service facility, thus reporting total sales of about 19,000 vehicles from January to December 2009, marking a hike of 1.4% from 2008.
The auto major company have put in nearly Rs, 38,000 crore to the Chakan Industrial park in Pune, thus expanding its presence in India.
Volkswagen Company in India has also bagged the award for the ‘Automotive Company of the Year 2010’ offered by Auto Bild India, the major automobile magazine at the ceremony of Inaugural Golden Steering Wheel Awards India.
Reference – wikipedia