Volkswagen Group: Portrait of An Automotive Icon

This is the story of how a company founded to build a single, affordable "people's car" grew into a sprawling, multi-brand empire that has shaped the modern world. It charts the epic journey of the Volkswagen Group, an industrial colossus that produces everything from sensible family hatchbacks and commercial vans to the most exclusive and powerful hypercars on the planet. From the humble Beetle to the outrageous Bugatti, from the heavy-duty Scania truck to the iconic Ducati motorcycle, this book explores the common thread that unites these vastly different machines and the strategic vision that brought them all under one roof.

Beginning with Ferdinand Porsche's original vision and the company's controversial birth in 1930s Germany, the narrative follows Volkswagen's improbable post-war survival and its Beetle-fueled rise to global stardom. It details the pivotal acquisitions that saved the company and defined its future: the masterstroke purchase of Auto Union that led to the rebirth of Audi, the integration of Spain's SEAT and the Czech Republic's Skoda, and the audacious, high-stakes campaign to add the crown jewels of Bentley, Lamborghini, and Bugatti to the corporate portfolio. It also unravels the dramatic, decades-long family power struggle that culminated in the final, complex integration of Porsche itself.

This portrait delves into the engineering-led culture that defines the Group, from Audi's revolutionary "Vorsprung durch Technik" and Quattro all-wheel drive to the industry-changing MQB modular platform strategy. It unflinchingly examines the company's darkest hour-the "Dieselgate" emissions scandal-a crisis of its own making that shattered its reputation, cost it tens of billions, and threatened its very existence. Finally, it chronicles the aftermath: the painful period of crisis management and the dramatic, bet-the-company pivot towards an electric future with the ID. family, charting the immense challenges and ambitions of becoming a leader in a new era of software-defined, sustainable mobility.