Well-known global brands are Mercedes Benz, BMW, Adidas, Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen, Bayer, Bosch, Lufthansa, SAP, and Nivea.

A short time later he moved to Audi, and pursued his career through the entire company, up to and including, the Volkswagen Group boards.

The company has always had a close relationship with, initially, the Volkswagen ( VW ) marque, and later, the Volkswagen Group ( which also owns Audi AG ), because the first Volkswagen Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche.

The two companies collaborated in 1969 to make the VW-Porsche 914 and 914-6, whereby the 914-6 had a Porsche engine, and the 914 had a Volkswagen engine, in 1976 with the Porsche 912E ( USA only ) and the Porsche 924, which used many Audi components, and was built at Audi's Neckarsulm factory.

The Cayenne, introduced in 2002, shares its entire chassis with Volkswagen Touareg and Audi Q7, which is built at the Volkswagen Group factory in Bratislava.

At the time, Volkswagen lacked an internal research and design division, and Porsche was doing the bulk of the company's development work, per a deal that went back to the 1950s ; in keeping with this history, Porsche was contracted to develop a new sporting vehicle with the caveat that this vehicle must work with an existing VW / Audi I4 engine.

The original design used an Audi-sourced four-speed manual transmission for the 924 mated to VW's EA831 2. 0 L I4 engine, subsequently used in the Audi 100 and the Volkswagen LT van ( common belief is that the engine originated in the LT van, but it first appeared in the Audi car ), as well as in the AMC Gremlin, Concord, and Spirit.

Typical models include Audi Q5, Buick Encore, Ford Escape, Jeep Compass, Honda CR-V, Range Rover Evoque, Toyota Rav4, Volkswagen Tiguan and Volvo XC60.

Manufacturers represented by privateers include BMW, Vauxhall, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen and Audi.

Well known beyond Germany's borders are trademarks such as Horch, Audi, Trabant and Volkswagen.

The Niello family's Niello Auto Group owns many of the car dealers in this area including Audi, BMW, Land Rover, Jaguar, Maserati, Mini, and Volkswagen.

Alfa Romeo, AMC, Aston Martin, Audi, Austin, Bentley, BMW, Cadillac, Caterham, Checker, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Citroen, DeTomaso, Dodge, Ferrari, Fisker, Ford, GMC ,, Hillman, Holden, Honda, Hummer, Infiniti, Isuzu, Jaguar, Jeep, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Lotus, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mercury, MG, Mini, Mitsubishi, Morgan, Nissan, Oldsmobile, Opel, Plymouth, Pontiac, Porsche, Renault, Rolls-Royce, Saab, Scion, Shelby, Smart, Studebaker, Subaru, Toyota, TVR, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, Volvo, Yamaha

Its platform was developed by Porsche and is shared with the Volkswagen Touareg and the Audi Q7.

It is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of the German Volkswagen Group, as a member of the now-defunct Audi Brand Group, together with Audi and Lamborghini, and marketed as a car maker with a youthful sporty profile.

Within the Volkswagen Group and under the Audi Brand Group, the SEAT brand itself has been developed as a group with subsidiary companies ( SEAT Group ) and ' SEAT, S. A .' as the parent company.

Examples include " Estate " ( Mercedes-Benz ), " Avant " ( Audi ), " Touring " ( BMW ), " Break " ( Citroën ), Kombi or Variant ( Volkswagen and Saab ) and " Sports Tourer " ( Opel ).

< sup > 1 </ sup > AMC contracted with Volkswagen to buy tooling for the Audi 2. 0 L OHC I4.

They were prevented from using the Volkswagen or Audi names in association with the AMC assembled version by contractual agreement.

* HIS ( automotive group ), an interest group consisting of the car manufacturers Audi, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Porsche and Volkswagen

During the takeover battle in 1998 between BMW and Volkswagen Group for ownership of Rolls Royce and Bentley Motors, BMW had threatened to stop supply of their engines if Volkswagen Group won.

The design of the car is now completely independent from Rolls-Royce cars, because of separate parent companies ( Bentley is held by the Volkswagen Group and Rolls-Royce is held by BMW ).

The Phaeton's platform, the Volkswagen Group D1 platform, is shared with the Bentley Continental GT and Bentley Continental Flying Spur.

The W8 was used in the B5. 5 Volkswagen Passat and the W12 is used in the Volkswagen Phaeton, the Volkswagen Touareg, the Audi A8, and the Bentley Continental GT — though in the latter application, the engine has been highly modified by Bentley, and fitted with twin turbochargers.

Volkswagen Group went on to produce a W16 engine prototype which produced for the Bentley Hunaudières concept car.

While all three ultra-luxury marques share platforms and engines with other luxury brands from their parent auto company, Maybachs are built alongside the Mercedes-Benz S-Class flagship sedan, whereas Rolls-Royce and Bentley are assembled in England ( separate from the rest of BMW and Volkswagen Group's production plants ) and thus are regarded as being more " exclusive ".

When this attempt failed ( they were outbid by Volkswagen, and BMW later exercised an option to acquire the Rolls-Royce car brand ) they introduced the Maybach as a direct challenger in 2002, to the other companies ' Bentley Arnage and BMW Rolls-Royce Phantom.

This category refers to the British luxury car marque, Bentley, owned by the Volkswagen Group since 1998.

The W16 engine was introduced with the Bentley Hunaudieres concept car, a mid-engined sports car, which was never intended for production ( Bentley Motors Limited has been a Volkswagen Group holding since 1998 ).

Some automotive press outlets have also reported that the W16 engine has been considered for use in other Volkswagen Group products-specifically a Bentley.

The company's locally manufactured and imported vehicles are sold under various brand names such as Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, Škoda, Bentley, and Lamborghini in China.

British luxury carmaker Bentley ( owned by Volkswagen Group ) sells two true hardtop coupes, the Continental GT fastback, and the Brooklands coupe ( 2008 ).

The individual platforms may be utilised by one or more marques of the Group, including Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT, Škoda, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, or Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

Bentley is now owned by Volkswagen.

At the end of World War II in 1945, the Volkswagen factory at KdF-Stadt fell to the British.

Ferdinand lost his position as Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, and Ivan Hirst, a British Army Major, was put in charge of the factory.

( In Wolfsburg, the Volkswagen company magazine dubbed him " The British Major who saved Volkswagen.

In more recent times, Winston Churchill's government privatized the British steel industry in the 1950s, and West Germany's government embarked on large-scale privatization, including selling its majority stake in Volkswagen to small investors in a public share offering in 1961.

The vehicle is in some ways considered the British equivalent of its German contemporary the Volkswagen Beetle, which enjoyed similar popularity in North America.

The Volkswagen factory was handed over by the Americans to British control in 1945 ; it was to be dismantled and shipped to Britain.

Thankfully for Volkswagen, no British car manufacturer was interested in the factory ; " the vehicle does not meet the fundamental technical requirement of a motor-car ... it is quite unattractive to the average buyer ... To build the car commercially would be a completely uneconomic enterprise.

Following the British Army-led restart of production, former Opel manager ( and formerly a detractor of the Volkswagen ) Heinz Nordhoff was appointed director of the Volkswagen factory.

By the time of the Samara's launch, the British small family car market was effectively split into two segments: The large " mainstream " market was dominated by mass market manufacturers such as Ford, Vauxhall, and Volkswagen.

Since the late 1980s many British car marques have become owned by foreign companies including BMW, SAIC, TATA and Volkswagen Group.

Henman's next tournament was the Volkswagen National Championships in Telford, England ; he reached the quarter-final but lost to top-ranked British male player Jeremy Bates 7 – 5, 7 – 6.

Jim witnesses the dealership's British owner, Peter Thorndyke, being unnecessarily abusive towards a white Volkswagen Beetle that rolls into the showroom, and defends the car's honor, much to Thorndyke's displeasure.

The ACEA has its predessor in the CMMC ( Comité des Constructeurs du Marché Commun ) founded in October 1972 by French ( Citroën, Peugeot, Renault ), German ( Mercedes, Volkswagen ), Italian ( Fiat ) and British ( BLMC ) manufacturers.

The key factor that British Leyland can now be seen to have missed is that a much more useful and popular form of car, the hatchback, was emerging in Europe, with designs such as the Autobianchi A112, Renault 16, and Volkswagen Golf.

Hamburg was a central location for the British Military Government who recruited him for the position of Managing Director of the badly damaged Volkswagen plant at Wolfsburg.

Currently the HWA-tuned Mercedes and the Volkswagen engines dominate the British and European series, with Mugen, TOM ' S – Toyota, Opel and Fiat all being used by some teams.

The British company had high hopes for its newly acquired subsidiary at a time when, they reported to the UK press, Italian Innocenti sales were second only to those of Fiat, and ahead of Volkswagen and Renault: there was talk of further increasing annual production from 56, 452 in 1971 to 100, 000.

From the 1940s and into the 1960s, the Volkswagen Beetle played both roles throughout much of the world — in Germany and Latin America particularly — but its was let down by relatively high fuel consumption, such that British, French, Italian, and Japanese models, all with better fuel economy, could capture the maximum-economy position in their home countries ( which was also mainstream there ).

The Volkswagen factory at Wolfsburg became part of the British Zone in June 1945 and No. 30 Workshop Control Unit, REME, assumed control in July.

A number of imported models, notably the Volkswagen Beetle and various small British cars, were also marketed at " economy " cars during this time.