some interesting definitions for vw models [Archive]

Digital K

03-18-2006, 06:35 PM

got this on the tex, thought it was cool

VAG stands for Volkswagen AktienGesellschaft. The google translation for aktiengesellschaft is corporation. In German, it obviously means it\'s a large, publicly held firm that has a management board and a board of directors.

Now for your previous request:

Rabbit - Should be for the North American market, just calling the car Rabbit because its quick and agile.

Scirocco - This wind comes from a collision of cold and warm air streams over the desert, which blow to the north in the direction of Europe. The wind carries sand for some way across the Mediterranean resulting in reduced visibility. Arabs call this wind Ghibli, Chili or Chamsin. [Two of those names should be familiar to car buffs.]
The wind picks up moisture on its way to Europe where the Italians call it Scirocco.

Corrado - The VW Corrado Club of Great Britain say it\'s Spanish for wind current or Jet Stream. Corrado is derived from the Spanish verb Correr, which means to Run or to Sprint.

Jetta - The Jetstream. An upper-tropospheric band of winds in the sub-tropic to middle latitudes. Frequently used in aviation to gain significant ground speed.

Golf - (From German) Gulf stream. A warm ocean current running along the Gulf of Mexico and the North American eastern coastline, running at around 35 degrees North latitude until it reaches the southern end of the English Channel. A branch of the current passes by the Iceland on the way to Spitzbergen.

Gol - Don\'t know...never heard of this model.

Fox - Should be for the North American market, meaning it is just a Fox.

GTI- I have heard it means Grand Tourisme Injection or \'Gran Turismo Injezione\' for the Italian version.

That covers most of your list. Now here are some others I found.

Lupo - Italian for wolf.

Polo - Named after the northern Polar wind.

Vento - Italian for wind.

Bora - The US Navy defines the Bora as either of two winds blowing from the area of the Balkans into the Adratic, Ionian and Aegean Seas. It also shows maps of the region. Generally speaking, the Bora can be a nasty piece of work howling at up to gale force down from the mountains at speeds in excess of 100 mph. Flow to the Aegean is channelled through the Dardanelles.

Passat - A significant trade wind (German). A constant, perennial wind in the sub-tropics on both sides of the equator. The wind reaches to an altitude of about 2km, above which forms an inversion leading to the formation of cumulus clouds. The Passat is part of a global circulation system, especially evident above the oceans.

Phaeton - An open four-wheeled carriage for one or two horses. Also, named after Phaeton who, in Greek mythology, bragged to his friends that his father was the sun-god. His friends refused to believe him and so Phaeton went to his father Helios, who swore by the river Styx to give him anything he should ask for. Phaeton wanted to drive his chariot (the sun) for a day. Though Helios tried to talk him out of it, Phaeton was adamant. When the day came, Phaeton panicked and lost control of the white horses that drew the chariot. First it veered too high, so that the earth grew chill. Then it dipped too close, and the vegetation dried and burned. He accidentally turned most of Africa into desert; burning the skin of the Ethiopians black. Eventually, Zeus was forced to intervene by striking the runaway chariot with a lightning bolt to stop it, and Phaëthon plunged into the river Eridanus (the Po).

teddymac

08-24-2006, 12:30 AM

Yeah, this is an old topic but I just wanted to add a bit about the history of the VAG and it\'s current CEO. This is taken from my final college paper, on the CEO of VAG, Bernd Pischetsrieder. I took out the class-related, not very interesting parts.

Being that I’ve been interested in automobiles for the majority of my life, specifically Volkswagen, it would only be fitting that I analyze the current CEO of the Company for this leadership paper. Even though he isn’t a well known leader as the rest of the class has chosen, he has still made his mark on our world. From his engineering background to being the CEO of two major automotive firms, as well as recently being voted number three among the top 50 most influential people in the automotive industry, Bernd Pischetsrieder has played a major role in the automotive industry, shaping much of what we see on the road today.

Volkswagen
- A Brief History –

Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, (abbreviated VAG, Aktiengesellschaft is the equivalent to the English corporation) started in 1937 with a goal to produce a “functional car for ordinary people”, which was actually designed by Ferdinand Porsche, who went on to start the Porsche company. During World War II Volkswagen produced weapons and armor for the German war machine. Employed in the VW factories were approximately 20,000 slaves that the Nazis provided from forced labor camps, concentration camps, and prisoner-of-war camps.

At the end of the war, when VW was producing automobiles again, Volkswagen changed the way it did business. This change allowed it to push its operations beyond Europe, “exporting VW’s took place under Dutch oversight in 1949. In that same year the British military government of Germany transferred trusteeship of VW to the federal government of West Germany.” This influenced the development of VW’s corporate culture, as the post-war government was more interested in securing jobs, than profiting from its products. In 1960 VW was partially privatized when 60% of its shares were sold to the public, hence Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft.

In 1972 the Beetle became the most-produced car model of all time and the following year production stopped at most factories. The beetle was replaced by the golf in 1974, which was the start of the unified chassis (multiple variations of cars based on the same chassis). For the next 25 years the VW model line consisted of the Golf, Jetta, and Passat. Currently VAG has many models of vehicles under multiple brands, including SEAT, Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini. It still uses the unified chassis’ throughout its model lineup.

Bernd Pischetsrieder
- Personal and Professional History -

Bernd Pischetsrieder was born in 1948 on the 15th of February in Munich Germany. As a child he attended a “humanistic gymnasium”, which is a strictly formal school that emphasized classical knowledge. At this school he studied Latin, Ancient Greek, English, French, and Italian. In 1968 he began his education in mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Munich. After he received the degree of “Diplom-Ingenieur” (engineering) in 1972 he had planned to start his own business hoping to become either an entrepreneur, or a consultant.

Even though he has a passion for cars, in the beginning he had no interest in going to work for an automotive company, although, there were some automotive connections in his family (Most notably, his uncle, Alex Issigonis who designed the legendary Austin Mini cooper.). But, in 1973 he was lured to Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) as a Production Planning Engineer, where he “expected to stay for a year or so. But couldn’t resist the temptation.” and didn’t leave. Even with his love of learning, Pischetsrieder doesn’t have a PhD, his career and success with BMW seemingly derailing any possibility of continuing his formal education. By the time he was 27 he ran his own department, and by 40 he sat on the BMW board. In 1993 Pischetsrieder was named chairman and CEO of BMW. While there it has been said that he was the only person that knew the entire plan for the company. He took it upon himself to communicate with the separate “cells” of the organization, allowing them to know what they needed to, “that way no one knew too much.” When BMW purchased Rover (1994), there wasn’t a single rumor in the automotive community. Knowledge of the purchase was limited, most of all at Honda, who thought they had a pseudo partnership with Rover. In fact he notified Honda’s chairman personally, just as the deal was completed. He also frequently walked the BMW campus to personally make sure, through direct communication that things were going to his plan. He says that “the art of management can’t be anything but communication”...”Most people think that communication is what happens when they talk. I think Communication is when you have an exchange of information with others. At the end of the day, you have to know who you can trust, and you’ll never know that through a memo.”

During his 20 years with BMW Pischetsrieder solidified their position in the luxury car market with a solid sporting and engineering reputation, assuring the quality of premium automobiles targeted at a wealthy public. He also secured a US location for a BMW factory, through a trip through the Deep South, under an assumed name as to not give away is $500 million plans. In the end, his decision to purchase the Rover group in 1994 led to his demise with BMW. A mere 6 years after its purchase, BMW sold its loser, Rover to Ford and kept the revived Mini. BMW soon there after fired its CEO, Pischetsrieder, for his decision. It has been said that “the years Berndt was with BMW, BMW created the best automobiles, and since then the brands offerings haven’t been as accepted as they were in Pischetsrieder’s reign.”

Smart, open to new ideas and challenges, Pischetsrieder “landed at the other end of Germany” hired on by, then, CEO Ferdinand Piech. He was put in charge of SEAT, and given the task to turn around the brand. Pischetsrieder, decided the best way to make the economy brand more desirable was to market it as a performance brand instead. This worked so well that Piech selected Pischetsrieder as the successor to his position, which was a big surprise to the automotive community. This turnover was a big change for VW, as Piech had a top down style of management, and Pischetsrieder has a bottom up style of management. The other big difference is that Piech was a person, if whose decisions were not agreed with, that would force managers and employees into dead-end positions. Whereas Pischetsrieder bases much of his decisions on what management and employees think.

“In his brief tenure at VW, Pischetsrieder has been forced to address a series of challenging issues, from lagging quality to sagging sales.”1 “After he joined Volkswagen in 2000, the engineer-turned-manager began to change the image cultivated by decades of lowest-common-denominator \"people\'s car\" advertising. Pischetsrieder pushed for the introduction of luxury lines into a company that had made its reputation building small cars for ordinary people. His new car models, some inherited from his predecessor Ferdinand Piech, included the Phaeton, which ranged in price up to $95,000.”3 “Industry analysts were surprised by Pischetsrieder\'s early assertion of his independence from Piech. They had expected him to follow Piech\'s orders even after his predecessor had been moved up to chairman of the supervisory board of VW. Piech had been described as \"autocratic,\" a man whom it was not wise to cross.”3 It’s important to note that Volkswagen AG isn’t just the “peoples car” brand we know here in the US, as stated previously VWAG also owns Audi, , Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Skoda, and SEAT. “Mr. Pischetsrieder has bold plans for VWAG\'s future. In a meeting with analysts in August ‘05, he said he would restructure VW into two groups consisting of \"conservative\" brands; Bentley, Skoda and VW, and \"aggressive\" brands including Audi, SEAT, Bugatti and Lamborghini.”2 Currently VW is attempting to go back to it’s roots with a re-introduction of the Volkswagen Rabbit, which was originally produced in the mid-80’s. It was a car that united loyalists like no other has. Pischetsrieder, and VW are attempting to rekindle that loyalty with the current model line up.

Timeline
- 1948, Born in Munich, Germany
- 1968 – 1972, Educated at the Technical University of Munich, received Diplom-ingenieur
- 1973 – 1975, Production planning engineer at BMW
- 1975 – 1977, Head of operations control department at BMW
- 1978 – 1981, head of work preparation division of the Dingolfing factory at BMW South Africa
- 1982 - 1985, director of production, development, purchasing and logistics at BMW
- 1985 - 1987, head of quality assurance at BMW
- 1987 - 1990, head of technical planning at BMW
- 1990 - 1993, department member on the board of management and production at BMW
- 1992 – “Top Secret” mission to find a place for a US BMW factory (worth a half billion dollars)
- 1993 - 1999, chairman of the board and CEO of BMW and Rover Group holdings
- 1994 – First US BMW Factory built outside Spartanburg North Carolina
- 1994, Purchased Britain’s last independent automaker, Rover from British Aerospace
- 1994 – 1995, Chairman of the board with BMW/Rover
- 1999, Fired from BMW for the Rover acquisition
- 2000, BMW sold Rover, keeping the revived MINI
- 2000 - 2003, Chairman-elect at Volkswagen
- 2003 –, Succeeded Ferdinand Piech as CEO of Volkswagen

Conclusion

Although the beginning of his life started out somewhat similar to the majority of the world, Bernd Pischetsrieder’s drive to succeed pushed him up the ranks at BMW to the CEO position, where he instilled a loyalty in the company’s customers. He continues to do this at VAG, where it is blatantly apparent that he’s taking the company back to its roots with the re-introduction of the Volkswagen rabbit. Being voted into the top 50 most influential people in the automotive industry will only make this man more determined to succeed, and keep his plans secret, especially while under the watchful eye of the media.