Volkswagen, translated as the “people’s car”, occupies a special place in German society.
The concept of the VW was commissioned in the 1930’s by Adolf Hitler who wanted an affordable car ,for the masses, copying the Fordism method of production. Nazi Germany, at the time, had underwent a decade of economic crisis, and there was not enough money in circulation to make car ownership plausible.
Besides, Nazi Germany needed economic auto-sufficiency and aspired to become a powerful economic nation, wanting to influence the World with its exportations and big corporations in a competitive global economic system. Thus, the first Volkswagen factory was opened in 1938 in the town of Wolfsburg, a city that grown around the German automaker.
However, the production of the fist main Volkswagen model began after the Second World War when the British forces re-opened the VW factories to help rebuild the West German economy. The corporation had a main influence on society as it became a national economic force, and the franchise was a national success.
Effectively, the enterprise boomed in the 1950s with the beginning of mass-consumption and the exportations of the VW Beetle model to Europe. Reasons for that was the low-cost price of the automobile and its excellent design and the creation of multiple other models.

In 1960s, the company ventured into the North American market, assembling one of the most produced model, the Beetles, from different parts of Germany in a capacity up to 1,100 vehicles per day. Hence it is no wonder when the company owner announced that it is the most produced automobile in the 1970s with its outstanding sale of 15 million cars. Although with the economic downturns and its Japanese competitor the sales inevitably slowed down, but in the following two decades, Volkswagen continuously produced new models, “Golf” for example, became the most popular cars that is repeatedly advertised in Hollywood films. The effect of media influence contributed in shaping it into a fashionable trend for youngsters so far as to take its logo and wear it as emblem at the time. Apart from producing many economical car models beloved by the masses, Volkswagen have made an effort in expanding its venues to luxury cars ever since the 1970s when it bought Audi, and by the turn of the century the Volkswagen have acquired Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini.

As of the 2000s, Volkswagen has risen to become the second-largest car manufacturer in the world, and the single largest in Europe. Its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, has furthermore carved out an automobile empire which comprises not just its flagship Volkswagens, but Audis, Porsches and Skodas (to name but a few other models), all churned out in over 60 production plants located across 20 countries. Although its vehicle sales jumped by roughly 50% in 2008 these sales were not distributed evenly across the globe, as Volkswagen faces stiff competition from manufacturers like Ford Motor Company in the continent of its birth, and has struggled to penetrate the American market where it accounts for a bare 5% of the market share as of 2018 (which it hopes to double in the next decade). A controversy in 2015 where it was discovered that Volkswagen cars in the US had been designed to cheat emissions tests did not endear the brand to a consumer public rapidly advancing in its awareness of global environmental issues - although the company has since declared its intention to develop 10 electrified models of car by 2020. In fact, the impressive leaps in Volkswagen’s global sales in 2008 can be explained by its increasing popularity in China, where both middle-range Volkswagen Golfs and high-end Porsches are sought out by the country’s rapidly expanding urban classes and aspiring elites respectively. SUV’s produced by Volkswagen are highly sought after by young, first time buyers for their prestige value. American and Japanese car manufacturers are attempting to elbow their way into this high-growth market, but the Volkswagen continues to outperform them in China, benefiting from its historic position as the first foreign carmaker to launch in China, and from the old business-connections which are the product of this timely entry into the Chinese market. It sold 3 million cars there last year alone.

Sources:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2013/04/17/volkswagens-mission-to-dominate-global-auto-industry-gets-noticeably-harder/#44d810293c46
https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news/stories/2018/04/volkswagen-in-china-a-long-lasting-friendship.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhH-oWHzzvQ

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130830-the-nazi-car-we-came-to-love

https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/timeline/index?decade=1960&q=&#list

https://www.fastcompany.com/1512941/history-volkswagen

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/04/peoples-car-bernhard-rieger-review