Company History
Originally pitched as a concept, rather than a make or model, the word Volkswagen translates to this in English
What is "the people's car"?
After the Allied victory, this Allied Military Government took control of VW operations, largely to supplement the lack of production at home
What is Britain?
A gasoline alternative which is extremely uncommon in the US, and is more efficient per unit of fuel
What is diesel?
VW, along with these three companies, make up 1/3 of the global automotive market
What are Toyota, General Motors, and Ford?
Not its own company at the time, Hitler commissioned this automotive designed to build the first VW
Who is Ferdinand Porsche?
The two organizations that make up VW's corporate structure
What are the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board?
The two US regulatory organizations involved in the investigation of VW
What are the EPA and CARB?
Though in different forms, each of VWs largest competitors pursued their sustainability goals through these types of vehicles
What are electric/fuel cell?
Following the war, the Allies placed an order for 20,000 vehicles, as opposed to doing this to the VW factory
What is decommission?
Like many of his predecessors, Winterkorn was known for leadership based on this.
What is fear?
While European regulators took a hard stance on CO2, their regulation of this emission type was more lax until recent years
What is NOx?
This large competitor of VW boasts that none of its factories are powered by coal, and that they increasingly rely on renewable energy
What is GM?
This well known VW model broke the global car production record in 1972, building 15,000,000+ units
What is the Beetle?
Representative of Europe's strong union relationships, 9 of 20 of the original supervisory board were these kinds of representatives
What are labor representatives?
To meet regulatory requirements in the US, VW originally partnered with this manufacturer for their emissions technology
What is Daimler?
This company has managed to hold the best-seller position of any vehicle in the US for 33+ years, all while reducing manufacturing emissions by 22%
What is Ford (its the F-150, now offered in all-electric!)
After finally gaining success in the US, VW began to lose market share in the 1980's to cars of this national origin, known for their reliability and fuel efficiency.
What is Japan?
Having established an official CSR group in 2006, VW was ranked first in the automotive sector for sustainability by this index, better known for being a general reference for the US economy
What is the Dow Jones Sustainability Index
During an independent study, numerous VW models failed this type of test, giving Nix emissions 35x higher than the EPA allowed
What are in-use (or actual road) tests?
This other German manufacturer is VW's main diesel competitor, though it is hardly competitive
What is BMW?