Volkswagen Group (Germany)

Volkswagen Group is far and away Europe's top-ranking carmaker, with a broad portfolio which includes VW itself, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bentley and now Porsche. On the world stage, Volkswagen currently ranks third behind Toyota and GM, but could well move into second place by the end of 2009 following the break-up of its main American rival. Yet despite its range, Volkswagen has been struggling for several years to combat flat performance in its home market and in the US, as well as fierce competition in its #2 market, China. Many of those problems are now being addressed with an aggressive new expansion strategy initially inspired by luxury sports car manufacturer Porsche, which attempted to engineer an unsuccessful reverse takeover of Volkswagen in 2008. The tables were turned in 2009 after Porsche suffered the full force of collapsing credit markets, forcing it to concede the upper hand in a merger to Volkswagen. Yet that whole experience appears to have awakened a far more dynamic and combative spirit within Volkswagen Group itself, and there are clear signs that the group will continue to build upon its current strong performance. Advertising Age estimated global measured advertising expenditure of $1.7bn in 2007, making Volkswagen the world's #18 advertiser. 

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The Adbrands Company Profile of Volkswagen summarises the company's history and current operations. Subscribers may access the following website links: volkswagon

Volkswagen website

Volkswagen	VW Golf
Porsche	New Beetle
Audi	VW Bank Direct
Lamborghini	Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Seat	Gedas
Skoda	VW Immobilien
Autostadt	Bentley
Scania	Bugatti

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