Vw in China
Student Research Projects/Outputs
No.052
VW in China
Elisenda Pujol MBA 2010
China Europe International Business School 699, Hong feng Road Pudong, Shanghai People’s Republic of China
1
1. Overview of VW. a. History of the group b. The company today 2. China’s car industry 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. VW in China Recent Market car industry in China The fight for the market share VW current performance and future plans. Sources
1. Overview of VW History of the group VW Company was founded in 1937 during the Nazi dictatorship in Germany. In the early 1930s German auto industry was still largely composed of luxury models, and the average German rarely could afford anything more than a motorcycle. In 1933, Adolf Hitler declared his intentions for a state-sponsored "Volkswagen" program (Volkswagen literally means the car of the people). Hitler required a basic vehicle capable of transporting two adults and three children at 100 km/h (62 mph). The new vehicle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche. During Second World War, production changed to military vehicles. The company used 15000 slaves as a workforce. After the War, the British Army took control of the town of Wolfsburg, where the VW factory was; Ivan Hirst came from Britain and landed in Germany in the summer of 1945, where he had the original intention to scrap the factory and use the proceeds as war reparations. But Hirst found a pre-war prototype Volkswagen in a remote workshop on the site and realized that the factory could be used for producing cars for the British Army. He persuaded the British Army to place a vital order of 20000 cars. That saved the company. From 1948, Volkswagen became a very important element, symbolically and economically, of West German regeneration. In the 1950s and 1960s, the famous Beetle and the Volkswagen Bus helped turn the company into an international success story. On the 70s, Volkswagen broke the world car production record: the Beetle surpassed the
No.052
VW in China
Elisenda Pujol MBA 2010
China Europe International Business School 699, Hong feng Road Pudong, Shanghai People’s Republic of China
1
1. Overview of VW. a. History of the group b. The company today 2. China’s car industry 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. VW in China Recent Market car industry in China The fight for the market share VW current performance and future plans. Sources
1. Overview of VW History of the group VW Company was founded in 1937 during the Nazi dictatorship in Germany. In the early 1930s German auto industry was still largely composed of luxury models, and the average German rarely could afford anything more than a motorcycle. In 1933, Adolf Hitler declared his intentions for a state-sponsored "Volkswagen" program (Volkswagen literally means the car of the people). Hitler required a basic vehicle capable of transporting two adults and three children at 100 km/h (62 mph). The new vehicle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche. During Second World War, production changed to military vehicles. The company used 15000 slaves as a workforce. After the War, the British Army took control of the town of Wolfsburg, where the VW factory was; Ivan Hirst came from Britain and landed in Germany in the summer of 1945, where he had the original intention to scrap the factory and use the proceeds as war reparations. But Hirst found a pre-war prototype Volkswagen in a remote workshop on the site and realized that the factory could be used for producing cars for the British Army. He persuaded the British Army to place a vital order of 20000 cars. That saved the company. From 1948, Volkswagen became a very important element, symbolically and economically, of West German regeneration. In the 1950s and 1960s, the famous Beetle and the Volkswagen Bus helped turn the company into an international success story. On the 70s, Volkswagen broke the world car production record: the Beetle surpassed the