If you believed that the Mini Cooper was initially a symbol of Britain, you should know that BMW, a German luxury automaker, owns and manufactures Mini automobiles. Following a deal with Volkswagen Group, who now have custody of Bentley, BMW is now the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, another British luxury car brand that attracts attention everywhere it travels.
In 1917, the engine manufacturer Rapp Motorenwerke changed its name to Bayerische Motoren Werke, and in 1922 it amalgamated with the aircraft manufacturer Bayerische Flugzeug-Werke. It initially began selling aviation engines before extending its manufacture to include motorcycles and cars in the future.
In relation to the Volkswagen group, numerous well-known automobile brands are owned by this German automotive behemoth. Volkswagen currently owns all of Audi, Scania, and Porsche, as well as Skoda Auto, Lamborghini, and Ducati in its entirety. The Volkswagen Group obviously makes great decisions when selecting its auto brands because they can claim to hold some of the best and most recognizable auto brands in the world.
In order to mobilize its populace for the future, the brand needed to have a car for the masses. Only a few of the models were produced before the start of World War II, at which point the factory shifted its focus to producing military vehicles.
Following the war, production of the company’s iconic Beetle began to pick up again, eventually reaching a total of over 21 million. Volkswagen’s corporate headquarters are in Wolfsburg, Germany. These assets are within the corporation’s control:
- Volkswagen
- Bentley
- Audi
- Bugatti
- Porsche
- SEAT
- Lamborghini
- Skoda
- MAN
- Scania
- Ducati
In This Article...
A Guide to Automobile Companies
The major automakers with present presences in the United States are listed below, along with the brands they sell.
BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce are all owned by BMW Group. Smart and Mercedes-Benz are owned by Daimler AG. Lincoln and Ford are owned by Ford Motor Co. Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, and Cadillac all belong to General Motors. Hummer is back as a GMC subsidiary brand. In order to co-develop EVs, GM and Honda have an official collaboration. Acura and Honda are owned by Honda Motor Co. It collaborates with GM. Sony Honda Mobility is the name of the electric vehicle firm they founded with Sony. Genesis, Hyundai, and Kia are all owned by Hyundai Motor Group. Mazda is owned by Mazda Motor Corp. Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Infiniti are all owned by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. Following the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot S.A., a new company called Stellantis was created. According to the explanation, the word is derived from the Latin verb “stello,” which means “to dazzle with stars.” Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, and Ram are now under Stellantis and are FCA brands that are offered in the United States. Other Stellantis automobile brands include Citroen, DS Automobiles, Opel, Peugeot, and Vauxhall. Subaru is owned by Subaru Corp. Jaguar and Land Rover are owned by Tata Motors. Owned by Tesla. Lexus and Toyota are owned by Toyota Motor Corp. Additionally, it owns stock in Suzuki and Subaru. The automotive brand VinFast, along with VinHomes, VinBigData, VinBioCare, and VinBrain, are all owned by VinGroup. Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Scout, and Volkswagen are all brands owned by Volkswagen AG. Volvo, Polestar, and Lotus are all brands owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (ZGH).
Bentley
Bentley is a brand of Bentley Motors, a British luxury car manufacturer that is a member of the Volkswagen Group in Germany. Since 1998, Bentley has been a part of VW, with its headquarters in Crewe, United Kingdom.
Walter Owen Bentley and his brother Horace Miller Bentley established Bentley in 1909. In 1931, during the Great Depression, the car manufacturer entered receivership and was bought by British Central Equitable Trust, which eventually turned out to be a front for Rolls-Royce.
In order to isolate the production of Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles from the vitally important Rolls-Royce aerospace sector, the British government nationalized Rolls-Royce in 1971 after which Rolls-Royce Motors was established in 1973. Vickers, a multinational engineering company, acquired Rolls-Royce Motors in 1980.
Vickers chose to sell in 1997. Volkswagen AG significantly outbid BMW, with the transaction concluding in 1998. Ferdinand Piech, the head of Volkswagen, believed he had acquired all of the assets of Rolls-Royce and Bentley, but the fine print showed that Rolls-Royce plc, the aerospace company, actually owned the Rolls-Royce brand and mark and had only licensed it to the automotive business. Even worse, it then opted to transfer the license to BMW, its business partner in the production of commercial aircraft engines.
Given that BMW provided the engines for the Rolls-Royce Seraph and Bentley Arnage, Volkswagen had little leverage. Volkswagen produced Rolls-Royce vehicles for BMW between 1998 and 2003, when the company had finished developing the brand-new Phantom.
The Bentley Bentayga, its first SUV, the Continental GT, and the Flying Spur are some of its most recent models. Bentley employs certain VW plants across Europe in addition to Crewe, where it assembles the majority of its vehicles.
Here are some of the most notable companies that own ultra-luxury and performance carmakers, including Lamborghini, Volkswagen, Rolls-Royce, and BMW.
- Several of the priciest, most opulent, and most powerful supercars on the market today are produced by subsidiaries of much larger corporations.
- For instance, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Bugatti are all owned by the Volkswagen Group.
- However, only a small number of supercar brands don’t have larger automotive parent corporations.
One might assume there are dozens upon dozens of automobile manufacturers fighting for our business based on the sheer number of various marques on the road.
However, despite their high prices and illustrious names, even the most upscale manufacturers of ultra-luxury and supercars sell the majority of their products through a small number of enormous corporations.
In reality, General Motors is where your car actually originates, whether you purchase it from Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, or Buick. Alfa Romeos, Fiats, Jeeps, and Dodges are all included in the considerably wider category of Fiat Chrysler. Contrary to popular belief, this also applies to the most opulent, costly, and potent cars money can purchase.
Continue reading to find out which bigger firms are the real owners of independent names like Bentley, Bugatti, and Rolls-Royce.
Automotive Group
- International Fleet of the Volkswagen Group the Volkswagen Group Vehicle Air Service
Industrial:
Automobile Industrial Motors
International:
- China’s Volkswagen Group India Volkswagen Group American Volkswagen Group Automotive Group of Australia Canadian Volkswagen Group Malaysian Volkswagen Group Brazilian Volkswagen Ireland Volkswagen Group Italian Volkswagen Group South African Volkswagen Taiwanese Volkswagen Group UK-based Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen AG, also known as the Volkswagen Group internationally and with its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, is a multinational automobile manufacturer. The business creates, produces, and sells motorcycles, passenger and commercial vehicles, engines, and turbomachinery in addition to providing related services including financing, leasing, and fleet management. It held the title of largest carmaker in the world in 2016 and continued to hold it in 2017, 2018 and 2019, selling 10.9 million vehicles. For more than 20 years, it has consistently held the greatest market share in Europe. On the 2020 Fortune Global 500 list of the biggest businesses in the world, it came in at number seven.
In addition to selling passenger cars under the Audi, Bentley, Cupra, Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Skoda, and Volkswagen names, the Volkswagen Group also sells motorcycles under the Ducati brand, light commercial vehicles under the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles name, and heavy commercial vehicles under the names of listed subsidiary Traton. The Automotive Division and the Financial Services Division are its two main divisions, and as of 2008, it had roughly 342 subsidiary businesses. FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen are two other significant joint ventures for Volkswagen in China. The business operates in about 150 nations and has 100 production sites spread across 27 nations.
In 1937, Volkswagen was established in Berlin and incorporated in Wolfsburg with the goal of producing the car that would come to be known as the Beetle. In the 1950s and 1960s, the company’s production increased significantly. It purchased Auto Union in 1965, which went on to build the first Audi vehicles after World War II. In the 1970s, Volkswagen introduced a new line of front-wheel-drive cars, including the Passat, Polo, and Golf, which went on to become its best-selling model. SEAT became Volkswagen’s first non-German brand when the corporation acquired a controlling interest in it in 1986. Volkswagen also gained ownership of Skoda in 1994, Bentley, Lamborghini, and Bugatti in 1998, Scania in 2008, and Ducati, MAN, and Porsche in 2012. Over the past ten years, the company’s operations in China have expanded significantly, making China its largest market.
Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft is a publicly traded business with secondary listings on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and SIX Swiss Exchange in addition to its principal listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, where it is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. Since 1988, it has been traded via American depositary receipts in the US; it is currently traded on the OTC Market. In 2013, Volkswagen ceased trading on the London Stock Exchange. 12.7% of the company’s shares are owned by the Lower Saxony government, giving it legally 20% of the voting rights.
Group
The Group consists of ten brands from five different European nations: Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Porsche, and Ducati. Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, A KODA, SEAT, and CUPRA are also included. The Volkswagen Group also has a large number of additional brands and business divisions, including financial services. Volkswagen Financial Services includes leasing, leasing for customers and dealers, banking, insurance, and fleet management services.
The Volkswagen Group is laying the groundwork for the biggest reform process in its history with its aNEW AUTO – Mobility for Generations to Comea Group strategy and future program: the realignment of one of the best automakers to become a leading provider of sustainable mobility on a global scale. To do so, the Group will change its core automotive business, which will include, among other things, the introduction of another 30 or more fully electric vehicles by 2025 and the expansion of battery technology and autonomous driving as new key businesses.
You might be astonished to learn that only a handful of parent firms control the majority of the world’s vehicle brands.
Most people are aware that BMW owns Mini and Lexus is Toyota’s premium division, but did you realize that Volkswagen-owned Audi also owns Lamborghini? Or that Holden initially made saddles before eventually failing to succeed as a car manufacturer?
Each major automaker’s current state is included below, along with a brief overview of its past and the date it was established.
The current owner’s nationality is typically a semantic issue. For instance, just because Jaguar is currently owned by Indians does not mean that the company is any less British than it has always been.
Regardless of who currently owns a certain brand, you’ll frequently discover that the head office, design centers, and perhaps even the factories remain in their various home countries.
It can be challenging to keep track of ownership changes at car firms since they occur more frequently than you might think, and part ownership shares occur even more frequently. This is how the world’s automotive market currently stands.