VOLKSWAGEN PREF

Overview

Volkswagen AG, the company underlying Volkswagen Pref, is the parent company of the Volkswagen Group and develops vehicles and components for its brands while also producing and selling vehicles. The Group is organized into two divisions: Automotive and Financial Services. Its automotive activities cover passenger cars, commercial vehicles and power engineering, while its financial services activities include dealer and customer financing, leasing, banking and insurance, fleet management and mobility services [1]+2.

Volkswagen is defined by a broad multi-brand portfolio. Its Core brand group includes Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Škoda, SEAT/CUPRA and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles; its Progressive brand group includes Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati; and its Sport Luxury brand group consists of Porsche [4]. The Group serves individual, corporate and fleet customers in the major automotive markets worldwide, including Europe and other markets, North America, South America and Asia-Pacific [5].

Strategically, Volkswagen says its vision is to be “The Global Automotive Tech Driver,” and it describes itself as an innovative and sustainable mobility provider for commercial and private customers worldwide [6][7]. In 2024, the Group reported turnover of about €325 billion and a year-end workforce of 614,082 employees, reflecting its substantial global scale [8][9]. [1]+8

Products & services

Volkswagen AG’s product offering spans passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks and buses, motorcycles, genuine parts, mobility solutions, and automotive software and batteries. In passenger cars, the group says its portfolio runs from compact cars to luxury vehicles, while its commercial-vehicle portfolio ranges from light vans to heavy trucks and buses. It also sells technical components including chassis, axle systems, steering, transmissions, electric drivetrains, electric drivetrain thermal-management systems, and battery systems. Related services include genuine parts, technical service, maintenance contracts, workshop service, financing, leasing, insurance, fleet management, mobility services, and charging-related offerings.[10]+5

Specific model lines highlighted in 2024 included refreshed Volkswagen Golf derivatives, upgraded Tiguan and Passat variants based on the enhanced Modular Transverse Toolkit, including new plug-in hybrid versions, the Tayron SUV with up to seven seats, the sporty ID.3 GTX, and the ID.7 Tourer plus GTX variants for the saloon and estate car. Audi introduced the all-electric Q6 e-tron on the PPE platform, updated the A5 family and Q5, and refreshed the A3 and e-tron GT. Porsche revamped the Macan, 911, Panamera and Taycan. Škoda launched the new Superb, Kodiaq and Kodiaq RS, updated the Octavia, Scala and Kamiq, and added the all-electric compact SUV Elroq. SEAT/CUPRA highlighted the Formentor and Ibiza and launched the all-electric CUPRA Tavascan, the CUPRA Terramar and the new CUPRA Leon. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles said the new Transporter would add further derivatives and, for the first time, an electric drive system.[16]+5

On technology, Volkswagen says its battery-electric vehicles are produced at 18 sites in Europe, China and the US, with the MEB and PPE platforms as the main current BEV architectures and SSP under development for future electric vehicles across brand groups. The company also says combustion engines will remain an important part of the drivetrain mix, supported by the Premium Platform Combustion, more advanced exhaust-gas purification, greater hybridization, and vehicle-efficiency measures such as improved aerodynamics and lower rolling resistance. Software is treated as a core product capability: CARIAD enabled Audi and Porsche launches on the E³ 1.2 electronic architecture, provides scalable software across PPE and PPC vehicles, and delivered regular software releases and over-the-air updates for existing architectures. By delivery mix in 2024, Volkswagen Passenger Cars represented about 55.2% of group deliveries, Audi 19.2%, Škoda 10.7%, SEAT/CUPRA 6.4%, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles 4.7%, and Porsche 3.6%.[22]+5 [10]+17

Geographic presence

Volkswagen AG is based in Wolfsburg, Germany.[28] Its production network encompasses 115 sites, including Chinese joint ventures, of which 70 are vehicle production plants, and this manufacturing footprint extends across Europe, North America, Asia, South America and South Africa.[29][30] Geographically, Europe/Other Markets is the company’s largest reported revenue base: 2024 sales revenue was €194.1 billion there, versus €67.7 billion in North America, €44.1 billion in Asia-Pacific and €19.0 billion in South America; relative to group sales revenue of €324.7 billion, that is roughly 60%, 21%, 14% and 6%, respectively.[31] Reported unit sales were 4.204 million vehicles in Europe/Other Markets, 3.147 million in Asia-Pacific, 1.080 million in North America and 606 thousand in South America.[31]

Asia-Pacific revenue understates the region’s full commercial importance because the reported €44.1 billion does not include sales revenue from the group’s equity-accounted companies in China, even though Chinese volumes are included in the region’s unit sales.[32] The workforce is also concentrated in Germany and the rest of Europe: at year-end 2024 the group employed 293,338 people in Germany and 203,424 in Europe/Other Markets, compared with 47,072 in North America, 38,508 in Asia-Pacific and 31,740 in South America.[33] [28]+5

Business segments

Volkswagen’s primary reported segment structure has two divisions: Automotive and Financial Services. Automotive is split into the Passenger Cars, Commercial Vehicles and Power Engineering business areas. Passenger Cars consolidates the group’s passenger-car brands plus Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and focuses on vehicle, engine, motor, software and battery development, passenger-car and light-commercial-vehicle production and sales, genuine parts and mobility solutions; Ducati is also allocated here via Audi. Commercial Vehicles focuses on trucks and buses, including related parts and services coordinated within TRATON. Power Engineering combines the large-bore diesel engines, turbomachinery and propulsion components businesses, while Financial Services covers dealer/customer financing, leasing, direct banking, insurance, fleet management and mobility services.[2]+4 Using 2024 sales revenue as the contribution measure, Automotive accounted for about 81.9% of group revenue and Financial Services about 18.1%; within Automotive, Passenger Cars represented about 66.3% of group revenue, Commercial Vehicles about 14.2%, and Power Engineering about 1.3%. On operating result, the corresponding shares were about 83.6% for Automotive and 16.4% for Financial Services, with Passenger Cars at about 59.8%, Commercial Vehicles 22.1% and Power Engineering 1.8% of group operating result.[36]

Volkswagen also presents a broader brand-group/business-field view. The Core brand group comprises Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Škoda, SEAT/CUPRA, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Tech. Components; the Progressive brand group comprises Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati; and the Sport Luxury brand group is Porsche Automotive. Separate business fields are shown for CARIAD, which pools software expertise and develops standardized software platforms; Battery, which combines battery-cell and broader battery value-chain activities; TRATON Commercial Vehicles; MAN Energy Solutions; Volkswagen Group Mobility; and Other.[4]+4 On 2024 revenue, these lines contributed approximately 43.1% for Core, 19.9% for Progressive, 11.2% for Sport Luxury, 14.2% for TRATON Commercial Vehicles, 1.3% for MAN Energy Solutions, 16.9% for Volkswagen Group Mobility, 0.4% for CARIAD and close to zero for Battery; the residual Other line was negative at about -7.1%. The same table also shows equity-accounted companies in China separately by vehicle sales, but not with a comparable revenue contribution line.[41] [2]+11

Company history

Volkswagen’s origins date to 28 May 1937, when the company created to develop the “German Volkswagen” was established in Germany. After World War II, the business was placed under British trusteeship in 1945 and civilian vehicle production resumed, laying the basis for its postwar recovery. In the 1950s, mass production and international expansion around the Beetle turned Volkswagen into one of West Germany’s best-known industrial companies, and in 1960 the company was privatized and converted into a joint-stock corporation under the Volkswagen Act.[42]+3

From the 1960s onward, Volkswagen expanded from a single-brand carmaker into a multi-brand automotive group. It acquired an initial 75.3% stake in Auto Union in 1965, establishing the basis for Audi within the group, and the 1974 launch of the Golf marked a major product and engineering shift toward water-cooled models. Volkswagen then broadened its European footprint by taking majority control of SEAT in 1986 and bringing Škoda into the group in 1991. In the 2000s and early 2010s, it further expanded in commercial vehicles and sports cars through stakes in Scania, majority ownership of MAN in 2011, and the integration of Porsche in 2012.[46]+8 [42]+12

Sources

• VOLKSWAGEN PREF — Full financial report (2024 Y)
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