Volkswagen

Volkswagen was the world’s second-biggest carmaker in 2021. The German brand has been around since the 1930s when its ‘People’s Car’ engineering project was led by Ferdinand Porsche under Adolf Hitler’s direction.

Early Volkswagen is defined by the resulting Type 1 – affectionately known as the ‘Beetle’ – which ended up as a symbol of alternative hippy culture in the ’60s. Beetles were assembled in Australia between 1954-1976.

It wasn’t until 1974 that VW struck gold again with the Golf. The people’s car philosophy lived on in the Golf, a car broadly credited with starting the hot hatch craze.

Eight generations later, VW’s Golf still exists, next to the Polo city car, Passat and Arteon passenger cars, and T-Cross, T-Roc, Tiguan, and Touareg SUVs in its Australian showroom line-up.

The Wolfsburg-based brand also has a strong commercial vehicle presence with Caddy and T6.1 vans, as well as the important Amarok ute.

Electrification is next on the cards for Volkswagen after confirming the ID4 and ID5 EVs for local launch in 2023, with the ID3 hatch set to follow.