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<blockquote data-quote="digitalcom" data-source="post: 1042175" data-attributes="member: 18841"><p><strong>BMW </strong> </p><p>Subsidiary Mini (UK) - brand </p><p>Rolls-Royce (UK) </p><p>Triumph (UK), Riley (UK) - unused. Taken from Rover. </p><p></p><p>Introduction Undoubtedly, BMW has been one of the most desirable mass production marque since the 60’s. It has a proud record for being the only car maker recording a profit every year after World War II. </p><p>Despite of the challenge from Alfa Romeo, Audi and Lexus, BMW still builds the best sports sedans in the world. Alfa and Jaguar had been there decades ago but both of them ignored the potential of the sports sedan market. BMW took it with 02 series in the 60’s and never look back. </p><p></p><p>While it was still performing good, its subsidiary Rover was on the contrary. BMW purchased the Rover group in 1994, making it the 7th largest European car maker. The British group was declining since the 70s but it has a rich collection of many valuable marques, such as Austin, Healey, MG, Triumph and the King of off-roader, Land Rover. (Among these brands, only MG, Rover and Land Rover are now being used, plus the model Mini now sees as a brand name) However, group CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder gave the British arm too much independence, without sharing much cost with BMW itself. Moreover, flawed design of Rover 75, wrong market positioning of Rover 200 and 400, and build quality problems for Land Rover Freelander also contributed to the sales decline. As a result, Rover has recorded heavy loss for 2 successive years. </p><p></p><p>Therefore Bernd Pischetsrieder, together with the no. 2 man, Wolfgang Reitzle, were sacked in 1998. In April 2000, BMW eventually sold Rover (plus the marque MG, Austin, Healey, Morris and Wolseley) to a group called Phoenix. "Jewel of the crown" Land Rover was sold to Ford for covering the loss made by Rover. BMW only retains the Mini brand (plus Triumph and Riley) and the Crowley plant in which the production of new Mini takes place. </p><p></p><p>Apart from the various brands held by ex-Rover, starting from 2003 the famous Rolls-Royce name will also come under BMW's control. Although Volkswagen beat BMW to buy Rolls-Royce and Bentley in 1998, the former threaten to withdraw the "Rolls-Royce" brand name via the relationship with jet engine maker, Rolls-Royce Plc, which owns the rights to the brand and favoured BMW right from the beginning. Therefore the German rivals made an agreement : until 2003, RR will still be ran by VW; after that BMW will take back the name and produce RR in a new factory in Goodwood. See Rolls-Royce for more details.</p><p></p><p>Sales figure 2004 sales: 1.208 milion cars, 9.4% up from a year ago. </p><p>Model sales: </p><p></p><p>1-Series: 39,247 units </p><p>3-Series: 449,732 units (down from 528,358 units due to model changeover) </p><p>5-Series: 229,598 units (2003: 185,481 units) </p><p>7-Series: 47,689 units (2003: 57,899 units) </p><p>X3: 92,248 units </p><p>X5: 104,988 units (2003: 105,554 units) </p><p>Z4: 38,483 units (2003: 47,049 units) </p><p>Mini: 184,357 units (up 4.5%) </p><p>Rolls-Royce Phantom: 792 units (2003: 300 units) </p><p></p><p>Location Headquarters : Munich </p><p>Plant for Z3 : Spartanburg, USA. </p><p>(X3 is produced by OEM supplier Steyr at Austria) </p><p>Brief History Bayerische Motoren Werke (or Bavarian Motor Work) was established in 1913 as an aircraft engine maker although the name was not adopted until 1917. In the whole pre-war era its business was mainly concentrated to aircraft engines and motorcycles, which is now the biggest in Europe. </p><p>Its first production car was a simple and cheap car named "Dixi", which was simply an Austin Seven produced under licensed. However, it was the 2-litre sports car 328 which made reputation for the company in 1936. This elegant and aerodynamic efficient sports car had strong presence in motor racing and took a class victory in Mille Miglia. </p><p></p><p>After WWII and a 3-year ban of production by Allies, it started working on its own mass production car. The model 501 was presented in 1951. Then came the classic V8 sports car 507. However, BMW was not classified as a volume car maker by making these commercially unsuccessful models. What it needed is the model 1500 which appeared in 1962. The compact sport sedan pointed to the correct direction, which led to even more success in the following 02 series. With the powerful 2002 and even 2002 turbo, BMW emerged as an expert of sports sedans. </p><p></p><p>The Motorsport division was established in 1972 and developed the M-cars, starting from the mid-engined M1. At the same year, the business expanded to larger cars, 5-series. </p><p></p><p>When the 3-series was launched in 1975, there was still no one else realised the potential of the market opened by BMW. When Mercedes finally did it with the 190E in 1985, the 3-series had already entered its second generation. The third generation in 1991 was even more successful, it left a record that the current generation hard to match. </p><p></p><p>BMW continued going upmarket by introducing 7-series in the early 80’s. The first generation was not really as luxurious as Mercedes’ big model, but the second generation in 1987 really did that. It even introduced a V12. </p><p></p><p>However, BMW is not always successful. The replacement of 6-series by the big and expensive but cramped 8-series was a failure. The Z3 roadster also received many criticism about its handling as well as styling. Luckily, BMW did not make such mistakes in its main stream sedan models. </p><p></p><p>Another failure is the take over of Rover Group in 1994. The loss in Rover nearly offset the profit generated by its German mother company so that BMW eventually sold it in 2000.</p><p></p><p>Famous models 328 - the little sports car that made name for BMW </p><p>507 - a rare BMW V8 sports car, beautiful but slow. </p><p>2002 - started the success of making compact sports sedans </p><p>3.0CS - finest BMW coupe until today </p><p>M1 - the first and only one mid-engined sports car for BMW, 24 valves six evolved to power nearly every M-cars. </p><p>M3 (1987) - the first M3 is the lightest and offers the best steering </p><p>M5 (1990-92) - the second generation M5 is both elegant and exciting. </p><p>3-series E36 (1991) - the best 3-series </p><p>M5 (1998) - the first V8 M-car with 400hp under hood </p><p></p><p>------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p><strong>DaimlerChrysler</strong> </p><p>Subsidiary Mercedes-Benz (Germany) </p><p>Daimler-Benz (Germany) - truck</p><p></p><p>Chrysler (US) </p><p>Dodge (US) </p><p>Plymouth (US) </p><p>Jeep (US) </p><p>Daimler-Benz (Germany) - truck </p><p>MCC (Micro Car Corporation) (France) = Smart</p><p></p><p>AMG (Germany) - tuner </p><p></p><p>Introduction Mercedes-Benz is the oldest car maker in the world. It is also renowned for building the finest luxurious cars. While Rolls Royce was satisfying with building cars slowly by hands, Cadillac was going down market, M-B always keep moving forward. It keeps exploring new technology in virtually all area - aerodynamics, high tech engines, transmission (it builds its own automatic box), suspension and safety. Considering the medium production volume, its investment in R&D per car is probably the highest in the industry. It is never bounded to tradition - 190E, A-class, Smart and ML-class are the examples.</p><p></p><p>Mercedes-Benz is one of the main subsidiaries of Daimler-Benz, which is the largest industrial group in Europe and whose business also include making truck, rocket, satellite and railways. Because of the strong background, Daimler-Benz acquired America’s Chrysler in 1998 to form the 5th largest car maker in the world, DaimlerChrysler.</p><p></p><p>Sales figure 2004 sales figures: </p><p></p><p>DaimlerChrysler group vehicles (cars+ commercial vehicles): 4.7 million units, up 8%. </p><p>DaimlerChyrsler group passenger cars: 3,897,800 units, up 2.1%. </p><p></p><p>The following figures include only passenger cars: </p><p></p><p>Mercedes group (M-B, Smart and Maybach): 1,200,500 units, -0.8%. </p><p>Chrysler group (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep): 2,697,300 units, up 3.5%.</p><p>Mercedes brand: 1,060,900 units (world's no. 1 premium car brand) </p><p>Smart brand: 139,600 units</p><p></p><p>Model sales: </p><p></p><p>Mercedes A-Class: 52,700 units (since introduced in Sep) </p><p>Mercedes C-Class: 470,400 units </p><p>Mercedes E-Class: 287,100 units (no. 1 of its segment) </p><p>Mercedes CLS: 6,700 units (since Oct) </p><p>Mercedes S-Class: 84,100 units (no. 1 of its segment, 35% market share) </p><p>Mercedes M-Class: 70,200 units </p><p>Mercedes G-Class: 6,600 units </p><p>Mercedes SLK: 52,100 units </p><p>Mercedes SLR McLaren: 300 units</p><p>Maybach: 500 units </p><p></p><p></p><p>ocation Headquarters and R&D center : Stuttgart, Germany. </p><p>Plants in Germany : Rastadt (A-class), Sindelfingen (C, E, S-class), Bremen (C, CLK, SLK, SL-class) </p><p>Plants in France : Hambach (for MCC Smart) </p><p>Plants in USA : Vance, Allabama (ML-class) </p><p></p><p>Brief History Mercedes-Benz</p><p>Studying the history of Mercedes-Benz is similar to studying the history of motor cars. It is because the inventors of motor car, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, were also the founders of Mercedes-Benz. Therefore M-B is the world’s oldest car maker.</p><p></p><p>In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz created petrol internal combustion motorcycle and 3-wheeler, respectively. Daimler's car was very raw, basically was a wooden bicycle installed with his own motor. Benz's car appeared several months later but it included advanced design such as battery-powered ignition and differential, though it can barely reached 8 mph because the motor output less than 1 hp. Next year, Daimler further put his world-leading engine into a horse carriage, this became the first 4-wheel motor car in the world.</p><p></p><p>These 2 Germans were actually competitors although they worked just 60 miles apart. They established their own companies independently, that is, Benz and Daimler. The latter was renamed to Mercedes after the daughter of sales director Emil Jellinek. Daimler became the parent company which expanded into other industrial business.</p><p></p><p>However, the inventors started to lose leading edge. French maker Panhard Levassor and Peugeot pioneered many new concept. Ford started mass production in 1908 while Mercedes and Benz were still making luxurious cars in limited amount. When the sales of Model T exceeded 1 million units in the mid-20’s, Mercedes and Benz faced financial crisis as Germany lost the first world war. This forced them to merge into Mercedes-Benz.</p><p></p><p>In the 20’s, Austrian Ferdinand Porsche served M-B as chief engineer and gave birth to the supercharged S, SS and SSK sports cars. These cars brought M-B with motor racing heritage which would be followed by more GP cars from the 30’s to 50’s. The S series also established a prestige yet powerful image for the company. It might not be as elegant as Bugatti, but M-B always produced more cars to fulfil the demand from German Government officials and tycoons. Adolf Hitler was especially a loyal supporter of Mercedes.</p><p></p><p>The grand tourer 500K / 540K was perhaps the peak of the pre-war Mercedes. Their build quality and classical styling had gone out of the shadow of Bugatti. After WWII, Mercedes scaled up the production gradually and introduced medium size models. At the upper end, the 300SL gullwing and 300SLR of the 50’s still thrilled the motor racing world.</p><p></p><p>The 60’s saw M-B returned to radical idea with C111 concept car, a mid-engined sports car powered by rotary engine. Through the 70’s it started experimenting ABS, air bag, self tightening safety belt etc. </p><p>In the 80’s and 90’s, we saw the company expanded quickly. Model ranges spread to lower price sector, first with 190E, then further with A-class. It also produced its first road-use SUV, ML-class (G-wagen was initially made for military purpose). The sports cars family has added SLK, CE / CLK to the range topping SL.</p><p></p><p>There was a hard time in the early 90s. The strong Deustch Mark, the high salary, the reunion of Germany and the recession in US hit Mercedes hard. It had to change its "engineering first" philosophy and let accounting men to keep development budget tightly in control. The 1996 E-class saw the first downgrade in quality. In the following decade, Mercedes was troubled by sliding quality image (as shown in JD power's statistics) and faulty cars (as seen in large scale recalls).</p><p></p><p>Daimler-Benz group acquired Chrysler in 1998 to form the 5th largest car company in the world. Two years later, it bought 34% controlling stakes in Mitsubishi, which was in financial crisis. However, Mitsubishi did not stop bleeding since then, thus DaimlerChrysler finally withdrew in 2004.</p><p></p><p>Another unsuccessful investment is Smart. The Smart city car idea was originated by SMH, the Swiss group producing Swatch watches. Initially, Mercedes bought 51% of the company MCC (Micro Car Corporation) and helped putting the Smart into production. But the joint venture turned out to be a sales failure. Mercedes acquired all stakes of the company and tried to rescue it by expanding the Smart brand to a 3-model lineup (Fortwo, Roadster and Forfour), but it continued made loss. Eventually Mercedes decided to leave only the Fortwo survives and integrate Smart into Mercedes' own operation.</p><p></p><p>Famous models SSK - powerful and heavyweight sports car </p><p>540K - most elegant pre-war Mercedes </p><p>300SL Gull Wing - advanced lightweight sports car with gull wing doors </p><p>190E 2.5-16 Evo II - baby Mercedes attacked touring car racing by using Cosworth engine.</p><p></p><p>------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p><strong>Audi </strong> </p><p>Owned by Volkswagen </p><p>Subsidiary Seat (Spain)</p><p></p><p>Lamborghini (Italy) </p><p></p><p>Introduction Audi is the jewel of the crown within Volkswagen group as well as the driving force of growth. A decade ago Audi's cars were still seen as poor-man Mercedes / BMWs. But since the 1996 A4 and then TT Coupe, Audi has re-established itself as a leader in style and quality. Its technology also shines in powerful turbocharged engines, quattro 4WD, aluminum spaceframe chassis, Multitronic CVT and DSG gearbox. Now Audi has become a strong premium brand, levelling with BMW and Mercedes.</p><p></p><p>As Volkswagen group is split into two management groups, Audi group is now in charge of Seat and Lamborghini as well. </p><p></p><p>Sales figure 2004 sales figures production: 779,441 cars (2003: 769,893 units)</p><p>27% of cars sold are equipped with Quattro 4WD.</p><p></p><p>2004 production figures for individual models: </p><p>A2: 19,745 units</p><p>A3: 174,750 units</p><p>A4: 344,989 units (A4 Cabriolet: 31,962)</p><p>A6: 181,701 units</p><p>A8: 22,429 units</p><p>TT: 23,605 units</p><p>Allroad: 14,842 units</p><p>RS6: 1,233 units</p><p></p><p>Location Headquarters and R&D center : Ingolstadt </p><p>Main plants in Germany : Ingolstadt ( A3, A4 ), Neckarsulm ( A2, A6, A8 ) </p><p>Main plants in Hungary : Gyor ( TT and engines ) </p><p>Brief History Audi did not have a glorious history. It was formed by four small car makers, Audi, Horch, Wanderer and DKW in 1932. The company was named "Auto Union", with a company logo consisting of 4 rings, which represent the four companies. The logo is still used today. </p><p>Although Auto Union was described as the "second largest car maker in Germany", in then mass production was not yet appeared there, unlike USA, France and Italy. The Auto Union concentrated on making luxurious cars in limited amount, and took part in motoring racing with a mid-engined GP car designed by Ferdinand Porsche. In circuit it was beaten by Mercedes-Benz, as in road car production. </p><p></p><p>The road car division was really weak, not just in terms of output but also in terms of reputation. Open any classic car book and you can hardly find a single Auto Union car. In fact, it still produced cars powered by 2-stroke engines until the 60’s. </p><p></p><p>It was acquired by Daimler-Benz in the 50’s but not much was done. Volkswagen bought it in the mid-60’s, enlarging its factory to build popular Beetle. More money was invested to develop a new four stroke engine and new cars. Further helped by the integration of NSU, which was renowned for engineering innovation and merged with Auto Union to form Audi NSU in 1969 after bankrupted, Audi developed the first mass production models, 80 and then 100. The latter set a production record of over 800,000 units since its introduction in 1976. </p><p></p><p>The 80 and 100 continued to evolve into today’s A4 and A6, but it was not as easy as thought. Until the mid 90’s, Audi was regarded as lack of a distinctive identity - neither bread and butter nor prestigious. The invention of Quattro in 1980 would have built a solid sporty image, but the mass production, front-wheel-drive models failed to impress keen drivers. Volkswagen wasted a lot of money and effort to put the company onto rails, first with improved build quality, then introduced a V6 and V8, and then even more advanced technology. </p><p></p><p>In 1985, Audi NSU was renamed to simply Audi AG.</p><p></p><p>Famous models Quattro - the first mass production 4WD road car, superb handling to be matched by today's Audi. </p><p></p><p>------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p><strong>Porsche</strong> </p><p>Introduction Named after the founder Ferdinand Porsche, Porsche is by far the largest sports car manufacturer in the world, with a production volume about 10 times of Ferrari. During its 68 years history, it has built many greatest sports cars : 356, 911, 924/944 series and 928. 356 is one of the most beloved classics, 924/944 series reinvented the idea of "affordable sports cars", 928 is the only sports car ever won European Car of The Year (COTY) title, but the most legendary still belongs to the mighty 911, which was in production for as long as 34 years. </p><p></p><p>Porsche’s philosophy could be summarised in a few words : good real-world handling, raceable, upgradable, robust and practical. Compare with arch rival Ferrari, it is rather conservative for realising new concept. It never apply new technology without thoroughly tested and proven either in motor racing or in test track. That make its car trouble-free right from the launch. It is also good at improving the existing design steps by steps, therefore most designs lasted for at least 15 years. </p><p>Sales figure FY2004/05: 88,379 units (Cayenne: 41,884; 911: 27,826; Boxster: 18,009; Carrera GT: 660)</p><p>FY2003/04: 76,827 units (Cayenne: 39,913; 911: 23,704; Boxster: 12,988; Carrera GT: 222) </p><p>FY2002/03: 66,803 units (911: 27,789; Cayenne: 20,603; Boxster: 18,165) </p><p>FY2001/02: 54,234 units (911: 32,337; Boxster: 21,897) </p><p>FY2000/01: 54,586 units </p><p>FY1999/00: 48,815 units </p><p>FY1998/99: 45,119 units </p><p>Location Headquarters and production plant in Zuffenhausen, near Stuttgart. </p><p>R&D center in Weissach. </p><p>A large portion of Boxster is produced under contract by Finnish assembler Valmet Automotive. </p><p>Brief History Ferdinand Porsche was born in 1875. Undoubtedly, he was one of the greatest engineers in automotive history. First emerged as a designer for electric cars, then joined Daimler in 1906 to start his motor car engineering career. During his golden years, he designed the famous Mercedes SSK, the Auto Union GP racer (the first mid-engine car, with a V16 engine) and the "People’s car" which evolved to Volkswagen Beetle after the war. His talent also expended to the military area like tanks, aero engines and military trucks. Therefore he was jailed after the war until 1947, four years before his death. </p><p>Back in 1931, he created the company bearing his name. However, in then the company Porsche was an engineering consultant instead of a car maker. </p><p></p><p>As the old Dr. Porsche was half retired after WW II, his son Ferry succeeded the job. Ferry Porsche had been trained in Bosch and effectively took over his father’s position when the latter was still in jail. In order to raise money for releasing his father and his sister’s husband, Piech (who was the father of Ferdinand Piech, the current CEO of Volkswagen), Ferry Porsche designed a Grand Prix car for Cisitalia. The car was powered by a 12-cylinder boxer engine with 4-valves head and supercharger. </p><p></p><p>At the same time, he also started working on his own car. Both Porsches designed many cars for others, but a car bearing their family name did not appear until 1950, that was the 356. The car was designed with reliability and price very much in mind. For cheap and reliable sourcing of parts, the rear suspension and engine were carried over from the Beetle. However, the air cooled engine received some modifications, hence more power. </p><p></p><p>The car turned out to be more popular than expected, thanks to its elegant build and good look. During the production run of 15 years, some 76,000 cars were produced. Anyway, the Volkswagen root prevent the car from upgrading any more, so Ferry Porsche started working on an even faster, better and more expensive model, 911, which was launched in 1964. </p><p></p><p>First to be noticed is the use of Porsche’s own boxer engine, now with 6 cylinders and a full 2-litre displacement, and its own synchromesh 5-speed gearbox. The car was styled by Ferry’s eldest son, Butzi Porsche. As you must know, the 911 achieved even greater success with 400,000 units built in 34 years. It was also regarded as the most successful sports car in history. </p><p></p><p></p><p>The first 911 turbo</p><p>The 911 received many update and upgrade through the years. However, there were times the company itself thought the car could be no longer upgraded. That called for a successor to be developed in the early 70’s. That was the frong-engined, V8-powered 928. When it was launched in 1977, it won the European Car of The Year award. However, the company soon realised that the car was too heavy and too expensive to be a real successor to the 911. Therefore it gradually evolved into a luxurious Grand Tourer. </p><p></p><p>At the same time, a smaller car called 924 was developing as a reaction to oil crisis. The front-engined 2+2 was powered by a 2-litre inline-4. Launched in 1976, it became a hit. In later years it was further developed into 944 and then 968 until the final curtain dropped in 1995. </p><p></p><p>As a result, from the late 70’s to the late 80’s, Porsche had its golden years with a model line up consisted of a trio - the four-cylinder 924 / 944, the six-cylinder 911 and the 8-cylinder 928. The all-time sales record of over 50,000 units was recorded in the mid-80’s. </p><p></p><p>Right after the peak was several years of sales slump, mostly due to the rising Deutsch mark and high salary which made Porsche's cars too expensive to be affordable, especially is under the competition from Japanese coupes. The situation once became so worse that the company was struggling for survival. Both the 928 and 924 were too old and had to be retired. A 4-doors sports sedan named 989 was developed as the successor to the 928, but the top management thought the expensive car was so risky - if it failed, the company would have got into bankruptcy. Therefore the 989 project was axed at the last minute although the development had nearly finished. That was the blackest days for Porsche. </p><p></p><p>However, the decision seemed correct as the company chose to build a cheap and small roadster instead. That is today's Boxster (986). It shares one-third components with the all-new generation 911, thus saves considerable cost. Both cars were received well by the market right from the start. In addition to the softened Deutsch mark and the fall of Japanese car makers, Porsche became profitable again.</p><p></p><p>Famous models 356 - first Porsche </p><p>550 Spyder - the first race car for Porsche </p><p>911 - the legendary sports car lived on for 34 years without declined </p><p>924 / 944 / 968 - a coupe to be imitated by many Japanese car makers </p><p>928 - the only sports car ever won European Car of The Year award </p><p>959 - the most advanced car in the earth </p><p></p><p>------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p><strong>Volkswagen</strong> </p><p>Subsidiary Audi (Germany) </p><p>Seat (Spain) </p><p>Skoda (Czech) </p><p>Bentley (UK) </p><p>Lamborghini (Italy) </p><p>Bugatti (Italy) </p><p></p><p>Introduction Volkswagen has been the largest European car maker since the 70’s. Under the leadership of Ferdinand Piech, it expanded aggressively during the 90s. Apart from Audi and Seat, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti were also absorbed into the empire. Piech, who served Porsche and Audi before, succeeded to put Audi onto rails to target BMW, upgraded the build quality and image of the Spanish Seat and Czech Skoda. However, his effort to put the Volkswagen brand against Mercedes did not take off, as shown in the poor sales of Phaeton, its first luxurious car. The Bugatti supercar project is another unwise decision - it makes no business sense to Volkswagen and it takes the company too much resources to overcome the technical difficulties to realize its 252mph target speed. Piech got over-ambitious in his latter days.</p><p></p><p>Piech was succeeded by ex-BMW boss Bernd Pischetsrieder in 2002. The latter rationalize the strategy. He abandoned the plan to move Volkswagen brand upmarket and concentrated on catching the market trend such as compact MPV and SUV. He delayed the Bugatti project, killed the "Super Passat" and Volkswagen W12 supercar. This seems clever than his predecessor.</p><p></p><p>Volkswagen group used to be a keen believer to platform sharing strategy. Almost all cars from its four mainstream brands shared the four common platforms. This inevitably made the cars too similar. Under the leadership of Bernd Pischetsrieder, the group splits into two management groups - the Volkswagen group (consists of VW, Skoda, Bentley and Bugatti) and Audi group (consists of Audi, Seat and Lamborghini). This intents to differentiate the characters of their cars - the VW group cars are more conservative, while the Audi group cars are sportier. The first sign was shown in the 2005 Passat, which switched from Audi A4 platform to Golf platform.</p><p></p><p>Sales figure 2004 sales figures:</p><p>Group: 5.079 million vehicles (2003: 5.015 million)</p><p>Volkswagen brand: 3.064 mllion units (2003: 3.075 million)</p><p>Volkswagen commercial vehicles brand: 333,000 units (2003: 259,000 units)</p><p></p><p>2004 production figures for individual models: </p><p>Golf: 711,883 units</p><p>Bora: 264,385 units</p><p>Jetta: 149,000 units</p><p>Gol: 304,327 units</p><p>Touran: 188,643 units</p><p>New Beetle: 80,118 units</p><p>Passat / Santana: 617,649 units</p><p>Polo: 334,143 units</p><p>Polo Classic / sedan: 100,331 units</p><p>Fox: 84,173</p><p>Lupo: 24,434 units</p><p>Sharan: 38,583 units</p><p>Touareg: 87,046 units</p><p>Phaeton: 5,485 units </p><p>Location Headquarters and R&D center : Wolfsburg </p><p>Main plants in Germany : Wolfsburg (Lupo, Polo, Golf / Bora), Mosel (Golf / Bora, Passat), Emden (Passat) </p><p>Main plants in Spain : Pamplona (Polo) </p><p>Brief History Volkswagen was born out of the will of Adolf Hitler. It is known that during his imprisonment in 1924 he read books about Henry Ford’s story and he was deeply impressed. When he came to power in 1933 he did two things : 1) started the construction of the Autobahn super highway interconnecting the major cities in the country; 2) instructed Austrian Ferdinand Porsche to develop a mass production car for his people. He dreamed that every family would have this car in their garage, so named it "Volkswagen", or "People’s car" in English. The car were to be produced by NSU. </p><p>According to Hitler’s requirement, Porsche designed a rear-engined car with an air cooled flat four engine. Using air cool because the dictator thought his kingdom would soon expanded to the African desert. The car was not particularly advanced, but it was designed with care, especially taking into considering reliability, economy, ease of production and maintenance. Now we know this is the Beetle, or what the American describe as Bug. </p><p></p><p>In 1941, the great factory was built (out of the mandatory deposit from German people) and pilot run was completed. The broke out of WW II transformed the factory into an arsenal. The Volkswagen car was also modified to military vehicle which was really used in the North African desert. The road car was put into shelf until the war ended. </p><p></p><p>After the war, the district where the factory located came under British forces’ control. The British examined the car and was not very interested to produce it in their home country, so they helped the German to rebuild the factory and renamed there to Wolfsburg. (Today Wolfsburg is still the headquarters of VW and the factory is the biggest car plant in the world.) Under the scarce of resources, the German gradually increase the production and even export to the US, where it arose a fever. </p><p></p><p>The Beetle was produced through the 90’s (in Mexican plant) and resulted in a total of 21,000,000 units built, which broke Ford Model T’s record of 15,000,000. </p><p></p><p>So far our story seems like the history of Beetle. In fact, Volkswagen was simply a one model company until the 70’s. It tried to find a new design to replace the car but every time failed - the 1500 in 1961, the 411 in 1968 and the front-wheel-drive K70 in 1970. The hatchback Polo, which was based on Audi 50, relieved some pressure, but the declining sales of Beetle eventually drove the company into a loss in 1974. </p><p></p><p>Luckily, the same year launched the Giogiaro-designed Golf (American called it Rabit), a car that saved the company and became another core model in the following 25 years with 4 generations introduced. Today, Golf is still the best selling car in Europe. </p><p></p><p>For most time of its history, Volkswagen group remained to be a largely German company, as it consisted of VW and Audi only. Since the 80s it started going internationalize - Seat was bought in the mid-80s, Skoda in the early 90s, then in 1998 Ferdinand Piech bought 3 brands in a row: Lamborghini, Bugatti and Bentley.</p><p></p><p>Famous models Beetle - best selling car ever made </p><p>Golf Mk1 - the first popular front-wheel-drive family hatch </p><p></p><p>------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p><strong>Alfa Romeo</strong> </p><p>Owned by Fiat SpA</p><p></p><p>Subsidiary Maserati </p><p>Introduction Alfa Romeo is the sport premium brand among Fiat's 3 mainstream arms. Similar to BMW in market positioning, but more emphasis on style and emotion. Because Alfa Romeo is rarer than German premium brands and has strong Latin character, it is regarded as the most desirable mainstream brand by many car enthusiasts.</p><p></p><p>Unlike Lancia, Alfa has its own design studio and R&D independent from Fiat. Therefore its cars share relatively few components with Fiat and Lancia. This is very important to preserve its unique character. Like BMW, Alfa reduces costs by sharing platforms vertically, i.e., 147, 156 and GT share the same platform, while 159 and Brera will share another platform.</p><p></p><p>However, despite of more models introduced, Alfa's sales figures remain mostly unchanged in recent years, even though the global market of premium cars grew considerably in the same period. To secure its future, Alfa still has a lot to do.</p><p></p><p>In 2005, Alfa received Maserati from sister company Ferrari, because the latter failed to turn around Maserati. Now Alfa will be responsible for developing Maserati models. Expect they will share platforms and extensive components in the future.</p><p></p><p>Sales figure 2004 sales: 180,000 units.</p><p></p><p>Location Main plants : Milan, Naples. </p><p>Brief History Alfa Romeo’s history can be split into 2 periods - pre-war and post-war. The pre-war Alfa was more a sports car specialist and racing car maker without involving mass production. It was established in 1910 by a group of Italian car enthusiasts who called themselves "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili" (ALFA). Not much was achieved until the company went into bankruptcy and took over by Nicola Romeo in 1915, who donated the second word of the company’s name.</p><p></p><p>The company located in Portello district of Milan. Because it involved too many other business, including machine tools and military equipment, car division was not very famous until the 20’s, when Alfa Romeo created a string of sports cars masterpieces - 6C1750, 6C2300, 8C2300 and 8C2900 series. These cars employed advanced technology including hemi-sphere combustion chamber, dohc and superchargers, in addition to the fabulous styling and superb craftsmanship, no wonder classic car collectors regard the pre-war days as the golden period of the company. In days before Ferrari appeared, Alfa Romeo could be described as the most prestigeous sports car brand. Not as elegant as Bugatti but certainly quicker. The Grand Prix team, once ran by Enzo Ferrari, made parallel success on race track.</p><p></p><p>8C2900B</p><p></p><p>Alfa never went bankrupt again because since 1933 it was owned by the Italian government, via a state-owned company. However, after the war the government’s policy changed and wanted Alfa to go mass production at the Milan plant and the new plant at Naples, southern Italy (called "Alfasud" or Alfa South). A small sedan called 1900 was born and regarded as the first sports sedan. But the state-owned Alfa did not realised the potential of this kind of car which lead to the success of BMW in later years. It was more concentrating on the little Giulietta coupe (designed and bodied by Bertone) which is now regarded as one of the best classic cars like the pre-war models. Its success was repeated by Giulia coupe, much larger in size as well as in sales number. Then came the Duetto roadster which became the evergreen Spider and was featured in Dustin Hoffman’s film "The Graduate".</p><p></p><p>Duetto </p><p></p><p>However, the sedan range was never as successful as the niche models. Giulia sedan (60’s), Alfetta (70’s), Alfasud (70’s), 90, 75 and 33 were not produced in really "mass" amount compare with other mainstream car makers. The Alfasud was to be an ambitious project. It was brilliant concept as a front-drive small hatchback like the still-born VW Golf, but ruined by poor quality control and other problems caused by the bureaucracy within the company. The government no longer wanted to subsidise the loss-making car maker and was finding a new partner. It turned out to be a joint venture with Nissan but was soon discarded. Finally it was sold to local giant Fiat in 1986.</p><p></p><p>Fiat axed the rear-drive 90 and 75 and replaced them with the 155 which is nearly a rebodied Fiat Tipo. Platform sharing also spread to other models - 164, 145 / 146. Alfa enthusiasts once thought the company’s tradition and character would eventually disappeared, until the arrival of new GTV and 156. Under the leadership of Fiat boss Paolo Cantarella, Alfa got back its own character and re-established itself as a sport premium brand like BMW.</p><p></p><p>Famous models 6C-series - one of the collector's choices </p><p>8C-series - fastest pre-war sports car in the world </p><p>Giulietta Sprint - a lovely Bertone-built little coupe </p><p>Giulia GTV - another wonderful coupe </p><p>Duetto / Spider - unforgettable shape styled by Pininfarina </p><p>Alfasud - the first hot hatch. Wonderful boxer engine </p><p>GTV6 - brilliant V6 coupe </p><p></p><p>------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p><strong>Ferrari </strong> </p><p>Owned by Fiat SpA (56%)</p><p></p><p>Introduction Undoubtedly, Ferrari is the most famous sports car manufacturer in the world. Besides, in a recent survey, it was also found to be the most recognized brand name in the world, beating IBM and Coca Cola. Since Enzo Ferrari established this company in 1929, it began racing in various of categories, including Formula 1, Formula 2, GT racing and endurance racing. Most notably is the Formula 1, in which it won 8 constructor titles and became the most winning team of all time. In 1947, Enzo started to build road cars. During the following 50 years, non-stop strings of excellent sports cars rolled out the factory, including Testa Rossa, 250GTO, 275GTB, 365GTB/4 (Daytona), 246GT (Dino), 308GTB, 512BB, 288GTO, Testarossa, F40 and more and more to come .... All these cars were among the greatest in automotive history.</p><p></p><p>Located in Maranello of Italy, near Modena, Ferrari has been a subsidiary of the giant Fiat since 1969. In terms of production capacity, it is smaller than Porsche, but bigger than Lamborghini and Lotus. Annual production rate is 4,000-plus cars in recent years. It is probably the only car maker that never worry of competition, since its name is so unmatchable.</p><p></p><p>However, we can see Maranello is changing in recent years. Due to the criticism of the handling of 348 and F512M, new Chairman Luca di Montezemolo restructured the development department as well as the production unit. The target was to make the cars more user-friendly while remains as exciting as ever. This contradictive requirements are successfully fulfilled when F355 and 550M rolled out the production line, and then the 360 Modena reached another peak. At the same time, build quality has been improving silently. </p><p>Sales figure 2004: 4975 cars</p><p>2003: 4238 cars</p><p>2001 fiscal year: 4289 cars</p><p>2000 fiscal year: 4072 cars</p><p>1999: 3,775 cars</p><p>1998: 3,637 cars </p><p>Location All facilities locate in Marnello, including factory, development center, F1 team and the famous test track names Fiorano. Unlike many competitors, Ferrari has its own full scale wind tunnel. </p><p>Ferrari has another race track, Mugello, in Florence. </p><p>Brief History Enzo Ferrari was born in 1898. Forced to leave school when his father died, he started work as a tuning instructor in the Modena Fire Brigade's workshop. Having served in World War I he found work as a test driver in Turin in late 1918. In 1920, he moved to Alfa Romeo and established a relationship that lasted two decades and a career that took him from test driver to race driver to sales assistant and finally to the post of Director of the Alfa Racing Division until 1939. </p><p>In 1929 he founded the Scuderia Ferrari in Modena, with the prime purpose of organising racing for its members. This company continue to help Alfa racing, until after World War II it started to develop its own car. </p><p></p><p>The first car wearing the "Ferrari" name was the 125, a 1.5 litres V12 sports car which appeared to be a racing car. From this car we can find Enzo's philosophy was always "Racing come first". Many of his cars, at least those during the years under his guide, were designed with racing concern. Other cars, especially those aimed at US market, were made to "subsidise my racing programme", as he said. From the start to the end, he remained to be a racing man rather than a sports car maker. </p><p></p><p>During the years while he was in control, he spent most of his time in F1, then GT racing and endurance racing. His best and favourite road car was 250GTO, which is also developed for racing. </p><p></p><p>250 GTO - Enzo's favourite car. </p><p></p><p>However, to find financial support for his F1 team, in 1969 he sold 50% shares to Fiat after talks with Henry Ford broke down. Since then the F1 team departed from the factory and still under 100% of his control. Thereafter the factory concentrated on building road cars that customers really want, thus emerged many excellent road cars such as Daytona, Dino, 308GTB and so on. As a result, the market status of Ferrari was even stronger than ever. After his death in 1988, the majority 90% shares came into Fiat's hand. With minority share held by his son, Piero Ferrari.</p><p></p><p></p><p>In 1997, Ferrari received Maserati, once its arch-rival, from the hands of Fiat. However, after a lot of effort made to revive Maserati - with some but limited success, Ferrari relieved its burden by shifting Maserati to Alfa Romeo.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Famous models 250 GTO - Enzo's classic V12 front-engined supercar. Racing purpose. </p><p>Dino 206 / 246 GT - Unique V6, first mid-engined Ferrari. </p><p>Daytona - heavy weight V12 GT </p><p>512 BB - the first boxer flagship </p><p>308 GTB - sexy V8 mass production line </p><p>288 GTO - redefined the term "supercar" </p><p>Testarossa - a flagship model which resulted in 10,000 units produced. </p><p>F40 - the last new Ferrari introduced by old Enzo </p><p>F355 - 40-valves V8 and good chassis brought back excitement</p><p></p><p>------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p><strong>Lamborghini</strong> </p><p>Owned by Volkswagen Group's Audi </p><p>Introduction Lamborghini is the only sport car brand can rival the prestige status of Ferrari. In many ways, it is even more exotic than Ferrari in the eyes of car lovers, thanks to the loss-making supercars it produced throughout its 40 years history - Miura, Countach, Diablo and Murcielago. Lamborghini has proven itself as the biggest headache to Enzo Ferrari because there is hardly a flagship Ferrari without a Bull to compete with.</p><p></p><p>Financial instability used to limit the success of Lamborghini. However, since acquired by Audi in 1998, it has been growing stronger and stronger. Thanks to Audi's qualtiy standard, new generation of Lamborghinis no longer suffer quality problems like their predecessors. The cars are also made easier to live with. Simultaneously, the exotic character remains untouched. Therefore sales of Murcielago improved considerably from Diablo. </p><p></p><p>The addition of the second line, the Gallardo, allows Lamborghini to target at a larger volume market against Ferrari 360 Modena / F430. Now annual sales is pointing towards the 2000 units mark. Lamborghini is ready to challenge Ferrari, not just in terms of reputation but also sales performance. </p><p></p><p>Sales figure 2004 sales: 1592 cars (1215 Gallardo and 377 Murcielago) </p><p>2003 sales: 1305 cars (890 Gallardo and 415 Murcielago)</p><p>2002 sales: 442 cars (all Murcielago)</p><p>2001 sales: 297 cars (Diablo plus a few Murcielago) </p><p>Location Sant'Agata, Bolognese, near Modena. </p><p>Brief History Ferruccio Lamborghini, then a successful tractor maker, was an ambitious and motivated young expertiser. Before founding Lamborghini, his business had already expanded to oil burners and air conditioning units. Having own the best examples of luxury cars including American and Ferraris, he had his own idea of what an idea GT was. </p><p>He always had much respect for Enzo Ferrari and considered Ferraris as the only cars he was competing with. However, it is said (and himself does not really deny it) that he had trouble with his Ferrari 250GT and had decided to go and complain to Maranello personally. Having not been received with the respect he expected, he decided to build his own GT car, a car that would be better than his Ferrari, of course. </p><p></p><p>Lamborghini was highly motivated. He poured countless money into his new advanced factory which is just 15km away from Maranello and employed some ingenious engineers to design the car. Those engineers including Giotto Bizzarrini (the man who designed the engine of Ferrari 250GTO), Giampaolo Dallara (the founder of Dallara racing co. and an ingenious chassis designer) and Paolo Stanzani (who would became chief engineer of Countach). With these people and sufficient funding, the first car, 350GTV, debut in 1963 Turin motor show and immediately became the star of the show. Then in 10 years time followed by a string of new cars, including the famous Miura and Countach, both of the are considered as among the greatest supercars of all time. </p><p></p><p>When Lamborghini's future seemed to be promising, it was actually suffering continuous loss, because the extreme cost for such high tech cars and the oil crisis further increased the difficulty for selling super cars. F. Lamborghini finally sold the factory in 1972 and the production was stopped for 2 years as a result. Since then, the control of the company had shifted to different hands many times and the financial instability was unchanged. </p><p></p><p>In 1987, it was taken over by Chrysler and enjoyed sufficient fund again. Most money was put into the Diablo project, which made it better developed than any previous models. Besides, an unknown amount of investment was put into the Formula 1 engine program, which saw some potential but finally ended when Chrysler pulled out. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Anyway, the US giant maker sold Lamborghini to Megatech, a Malaysian company, in the early 90s. Meanwhile, the owners became Malaysian company Mycom Setdco and the Indonesian company V'Power. In the new owner's hands, Lamborghini started to find its momentum and strengthening itself. </p><p></p><p></p><p>In 1998, Volkswagen group bought the supercar specialists via its subsidiary, Audi. Given the financial strength and the ambition of the German empire, hopefully the future will be brighter.</p><p></p><p>Famous models Miura - the first stunning mid-engined Lambo </p><p>Countach - redefined the word "supercar" with its uncompromising character </p><p>Diablo - the rationalised Countach </p><p>Murcielago - the latest Lamborghini flagship </p><p></p><p>------------------------------------------------------------</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="digitalcom, post: 1042175, member: 18841"] [B]BMW [/B] Subsidiary Mini (UK) - brand Rolls-Royce (UK) Triumph (UK), Riley (UK) - unused. Taken from Rover. Introduction Undoubtedly, BMW has been one of the most desirable mass production marque since the 60’s. It has a proud record for being the only car maker recording a profit every year after World War II. Despite of the challenge from Alfa Romeo, Audi and Lexus, BMW still builds the best sports sedans in the world. Alfa and Jaguar had been there decades ago but both of them ignored the potential of the sports sedan market. BMW took it with 02 series in the 60’s and never look back. While it was still performing good, its subsidiary Rover was on the contrary. BMW purchased the Rover group in 1994, making it the 7th largest European car maker. The British group was declining since the 70s but it has a rich collection of many valuable marques, such as Austin, Healey, MG, Triumph and the King of off-roader, Land Rover. (Among these brands, only MG, Rover and Land Rover are now being used, plus the model Mini now sees as a brand name) However, group CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder gave the British arm too much independence, without sharing much cost with BMW itself. Moreover, flawed design of Rover 75, wrong market positioning of Rover 200 and 400, and build quality problems for Land Rover Freelander also contributed to the sales decline. As a result, Rover has recorded heavy loss for 2 successive years. Therefore Bernd Pischetsrieder, together with the no. 2 man, Wolfgang Reitzle, were sacked in 1998. In April 2000, BMW eventually sold Rover (plus the marque MG, Austin, Healey, Morris and Wolseley) to a group called Phoenix. "Jewel of the crown" Land Rover was sold to Ford for covering the loss made by Rover. BMW only retains the Mini brand (plus Triumph and Riley) and the Crowley plant in which the production of new Mini takes place. Apart from the various brands held by ex-Rover, starting from 2003 the famous Rolls-Royce name will also come under BMW's control. Although Volkswagen beat BMW to buy Rolls-Royce and Bentley in 1998, the former threaten to withdraw the "Rolls-Royce" brand name via the relationship with jet engine maker, Rolls-Royce Plc, which owns the rights to the brand and favoured BMW right from the beginning. Therefore the German rivals made an agreement : until 2003, RR will still be ran by VW; after that BMW will take back the name and produce RR in a new factory in Goodwood. See Rolls-Royce for more details. Sales figure 2004 sales: 1.208 milion cars, 9.4% up from a year ago. Model sales: 1-Series: 39,247 units 3-Series: 449,732 units (down from 528,358 units due to model changeover) 5-Series: 229,598 units (2003: 185,481 units) 7-Series: 47,689 units (2003: 57,899 units) X3: 92,248 units X5: 104,988 units (2003: 105,554 units) Z4: 38,483 units (2003: 47,049 units) Mini: 184,357 units (up 4.5%) Rolls-Royce Phantom: 792 units (2003: 300 units) Location Headquarters : Munich Plant for Z3 : Spartanburg, USA. (X3 is produced by OEM supplier Steyr at Austria) Brief History Bayerische Motoren Werke (or Bavarian Motor Work) was established in 1913 as an aircraft engine maker although the name was not adopted until 1917. In the whole pre-war era its business was mainly concentrated to aircraft engines and motorcycles, which is now the biggest in Europe. Its first production car was a simple and cheap car named "Dixi", which was simply an Austin Seven produced under licensed. However, it was the 2-litre sports car 328 which made reputation for the company in 1936. This elegant and aerodynamic efficient sports car had strong presence in motor racing and took a class victory in Mille Miglia. After WWII and a 3-year ban of production by Allies, it started working on its own mass production car. The model 501 was presented in 1951. Then came the classic V8 sports car 507. However, BMW was not classified as a volume car maker by making these commercially unsuccessful models. What it needed is the model 1500 which appeared in 1962. The compact sport sedan pointed to the correct direction, which led to even more success in the following 02 series. With the powerful 2002 and even 2002 turbo, BMW emerged as an expert of sports sedans. The Motorsport division was established in 1972 and developed the M-cars, starting from the mid-engined M1. At the same year, the business expanded to larger cars, 5-series. When the 3-series was launched in 1975, there was still no one else realised the potential of the market opened by BMW. When Mercedes finally did it with the 190E in 1985, the 3-series had already entered its second generation. The third generation in 1991 was even more successful, it left a record that the current generation hard to match. BMW continued going upmarket by introducing 7-series in the early 80’s. The first generation was not really as luxurious as Mercedes’ big model, but the second generation in 1987 really did that. It even introduced a V12. However, BMW is not always successful. The replacement of 6-series by the big and expensive but cramped 8-series was a failure. The Z3 roadster also received many criticism about its handling as well as styling. Luckily, BMW did not make such mistakes in its main stream sedan models. Another failure is the take over of Rover Group in 1994. The loss in Rover nearly offset the profit generated by its German mother company so that BMW eventually sold it in 2000. Famous models 328 - the little sports car that made name for BMW 507 - a rare BMW V8 sports car, beautiful but slow. 2002 - started the success of making compact sports sedans 3.0CS - finest BMW coupe until today M1 - the first and only one mid-engined sports car for BMW, 24 valves six evolved to power nearly every M-cars. M3 (1987) - the first M3 is the lightest and offers the best steering M5 (1990-92) - the second generation M5 is both elegant and exciting. 3-series E36 (1991) - the best 3-series M5 (1998) - the first V8 M-car with 400hp under hood ------------------------------------------------------------ [B]DaimlerChrysler[/B] Subsidiary Mercedes-Benz (Germany) Daimler-Benz (Germany) - truck Chrysler (US) Dodge (US) Plymouth (US) Jeep (US) Daimler-Benz (Germany) - truck MCC (Micro Car Corporation) (France) = Smart AMG (Germany) - tuner Introduction Mercedes-Benz is the oldest car maker in the world. It is also renowned for building the finest luxurious cars. While Rolls Royce was satisfying with building cars slowly by hands, Cadillac was going down market, M-B always keep moving forward. It keeps exploring new technology in virtually all area - aerodynamics, high tech engines, transmission (it builds its own automatic box), suspension and safety. Considering the medium production volume, its investment in R&D per car is probably the highest in the industry. It is never bounded to tradition - 190E, A-class, Smart and ML-class are the examples. Mercedes-Benz is one of the main subsidiaries of Daimler-Benz, which is the largest industrial group in Europe and whose business also include making truck, rocket, satellite and railways. Because of the strong background, Daimler-Benz acquired America’s Chrysler in 1998 to form the 5th largest car maker in the world, DaimlerChrysler. Sales figure 2004 sales figures: DaimlerChrysler group vehicles (cars+ commercial vehicles): 4.7 million units, up 8%. DaimlerChyrsler group passenger cars: 3,897,800 units, up 2.1%. The following figures include only passenger cars: Mercedes group (M-B, Smart and Maybach): 1,200,500 units, -0.8%. Chrysler group (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep): 2,697,300 units, up 3.5%. Mercedes brand: 1,060,900 units (world's no. 1 premium car brand) Smart brand: 139,600 units Model sales: Mercedes A-Class: 52,700 units (since introduced in Sep) Mercedes C-Class: 470,400 units Mercedes E-Class: 287,100 units (no. 1 of its segment) Mercedes CLS: 6,700 units (since Oct) Mercedes S-Class: 84,100 units (no. 1 of its segment, 35% market share) Mercedes M-Class: 70,200 units Mercedes G-Class: 6,600 units Mercedes SLK: 52,100 units Mercedes SLR McLaren: 300 units Maybach: 500 units ocation Headquarters and R&D center : Stuttgart, Germany. Plants in Germany : Rastadt (A-class), Sindelfingen (C, E, S-class), Bremen (C, CLK, SLK, SL-class) Plants in France : Hambach (for MCC Smart) Plants in USA : Vance, Allabama (ML-class) Brief History Mercedes-Benz Studying the history of Mercedes-Benz is similar to studying the history of motor cars. It is because the inventors of motor car, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, were also the founders of Mercedes-Benz. Therefore M-B is the world’s oldest car maker. In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz created petrol internal combustion motorcycle and 3-wheeler, respectively. Daimler's car was very raw, basically was a wooden bicycle installed with his own motor. Benz's car appeared several months later but it included advanced design such as battery-powered ignition and differential, though it can barely reached 8 mph because the motor output less than 1 hp. Next year, Daimler further put his world-leading engine into a horse carriage, this became the first 4-wheel motor car in the world. These 2 Germans were actually competitors although they worked just 60 miles apart. They established their own companies independently, that is, Benz and Daimler. The latter was renamed to Mercedes after the daughter of sales director Emil Jellinek. Daimler became the parent company which expanded into other industrial business. However, the inventors started to lose leading edge. French maker Panhard Levassor and Peugeot pioneered many new concept. Ford started mass production in 1908 while Mercedes and Benz were still making luxurious cars in limited amount. When the sales of Model T exceeded 1 million units in the mid-20’s, Mercedes and Benz faced financial crisis as Germany lost the first world war. This forced them to merge into Mercedes-Benz. In the 20’s, Austrian Ferdinand Porsche served M-B as chief engineer and gave birth to the supercharged S, SS and SSK sports cars. These cars brought M-B with motor racing heritage which would be followed by more GP cars from the 30’s to 50’s. The S series also established a prestige yet powerful image for the company. It might not be as elegant as Bugatti, but M-B always produced more cars to fulfil the demand from German Government officials and tycoons. Adolf Hitler was especially a loyal supporter of Mercedes. The grand tourer 500K / 540K was perhaps the peak of the pre-war Mercedes. Their build quality and classical styling had gone out of the shadow of Bugatti. After WWII, Mercedes scaled up the production gradually and introduced medium size models. At the upper end, the 300SL gullwing and 300SLR of the 50’s still thrilled the motor racing world. The 60’s saw M-B returned to radical idea with C111 concept car, a mid-engined sports car powered by rotary engine. Through the 70’s it started experimenting ABS, air bag, self tightening safety belt etc. In the 80’s and 90’s, we saw the company expanded quickly. Model ranges spread to lower price sector, first with 190E, then further with A-class. It also produced its first road-use SUV, ML-class (G-wagen was initially made for military purpose). The sports cars family has added SLK, CE / CLK to the range topping SL. There was a hard time in the early 90s. The strong Deustch Mark, the high salary, the reunion of Germany and the recession in US hit Mercedes hard. It had to change its "engineering first" philosophy and let accounting men to keep development budget tightly in control. The 1996 E-class saw the first downgrade in quality. In the following decade, Mercedes was troubled by sliding quality image (as shown in JD power's statistics) and faulty cars (as seen in large scale recalls). Daimler-Benz group acquired Chrysler in 1998 to form the 5th largest car company in the world. Two years later, it bought 34% controlling stakes in Mitsubishi, which was in financial crisis. However, Mitsubishi did not stop bleeding since then, thus DaimlerChrysler finally withdrew in 2004. Another unsuccessful investment is Smart. The Smart city car idea was originated by SMH, the Swiss group producing Swatch watches. Initially, Mercedes bought 51% of the company MCC (Micro Car Corporation) and helped putting the Smart into production. But the joint venture turned out to be a sales failure. Mercedes acquired all stakes of the company and tried to rescue it by expanding the Smart brand to a 3-model lineup (Fortwo, Roadster and Forfour), but it continued made loss. Eventually Mercedes decided to leave only the Fortwo survives and integrate Smart into Mercedes' own operation. Famous models SSK - powerful and heavyweight sports car 540K - most elegant pre-war Mercedes 300SL Gull Wing - advanced lightweight sports car with gull wing doors 190E 2.5-16 Evo II - baby Mercedes attacked touring car racing by using Cosworth engine. ------------------------------------------------------------ [B]Audi [/B] Owned by Volkswagen Subsidiary Seat (Spain) Lamborghini (Italy) Introduction Audi is the jewel of the crown within Volkswagen group as well as the driving force of growth. A decade ago Audi's cars were still seen as poor-man Mercedes / BMWs. But since the 1996 A4 and then TT Coupe, Audi has re-established itself as a leader in style and quality. Its technology also shines in powerful turbocharged engines, quattro 4WD, aluminum spaceframe chassis, Multitronic CVT and DSG gearbox. Now Audi has become a strong premium brand, levelling with BMW and Mercedes. As Volkswagen group is split into two management groups, Audi group is now in charge of Seat and Lamborghini as well. Sales figure 2004 sales figures production: 779,441 cars (2003: 769,893 units) 27% of cars sold are equipped with Quattro 4WD. 2004 production figures for individual models: A2: 19,745 units A3: 174,750 units A4: 344,989 units (A4 Cabriolet: 31,962) A6: 181,701 units A8: 22,429 units TT: 23,605 units Allroad: 14,842 units RS6: 1,233 units Location Headquarters and R&D center : Ingolstadt Main plants in Germany : Ingolstadt ( A3, A4 ), Neckarsulm ( A2, A6, A8 ) Main plants in Hungary : Gyor ( TT and engines ) Brief History Audi did not have a glorious history. It was formed by four small car makers, Audi, Horch, Wanderer and DKW in 1932. The company was named "Auto Union", with a company logo consisting of 4 rings, which represent the four companies. The logo is still used today. Although Auto Union was described as the "second largest car maker in Germany", in then mass production was not yet appeared there, unlike USA, France and Italy. The Auto Union concentrated on making luxurious cars in limited amount, and took part in motoring racing with a mid-engined GP car designed by Ferdinand Porsche. In circuit it was beaten by Mercedes-Benz, as in road car production. The road car division was really weak, not just in terms of output but also in terms of reputation. Open any classic car book and you can hardly find a single Auto Union car. In fact, it still produced cars powered by 2-stroke engines until the 60’s. It was acquired by Daimler-Benz in the 50’s but not much was done. Volkswagen bought it in the mid-60’s, enlarging its factory to build popular Beetle. More money was invested to develop a new four stroke engine and new cars. Further helped by the integration of NSU, which was renowned for engineering innovation and merged with Auto Union to form Audi NSU in 1969 after bankrupted, Audi developed the first mass production models, 80 and then 100. The latter set a production record of over 800,000 units since its introduction in 1976. The 80 and 100 continued to evolve into today’s A4 and A6, but it was not as easy as thought. Until the mid 90’s, Audi was regarded as lack of a distinctive identity - neither bread and butter nor prestigious. The invention of Quattro in 1980 would have built a solid sporty image, but the mass production, front-wheel-drive models failed to impress keen drivers. Volkswagen wasted a lot of money and effort to put the company onto rails, first with improved build quality, then introduced a V6 and V8, and then even more advanced technology. In 1985, Audi NSU was renamed to simply Audi AG. Famous models Quattro - the first mass production 4WD road car, superb handling to be matched by today's Audi. ------------------------------------------------------------ [B]Porsche[/B] Introduction Named after the founder Ferdinand Porsche, Porsche is by far the largest sports car manufacturer in the world, with a production volume about 10 times of Ferrari. During its 68 years history, it has built many greatest sports cars : 356, 911, 924/944 series and 928. 356 is one of the most beloved classics, 924/944 series reinvented the idea of "affordable sports cars", 928 is the only sports car ever won European Car of The Year (COTY) title, but the most legendary still belongs to the mighty 911, which was in production for as long as 34 years. Porsche’s philosophy could be summarised in a few words : good real-world handling, raceable, upgradable, robust and practical. Compare with arch rival Ferrari, it is rather conservative for realising new concept. It never apply new technology without thoroughly tested and proven either in motor racing or in test track. That make its car trouble-free right from the launch. It is also good at improving the existing design steps by steps, therefore most designs lasted for at least 15 years. Sales figure FY2004/05: 88,379 units (Cayenne: 41,884; 911: 27,826; Boxster: 18,009; Carrera GT: 660) FY2003/04: 76,827 units (Cayenne: 39,913; 911: 23,704; Boxster: 12,988; Carrera GT: 222) FY2002/03: 66,803 units (911: 27,789; Cayenne: 20,603; Boxster: 18,165) FY2001/02: 54,234 units (911: 32,337; Boxster: 21,897) FY2000/01: 54,586 units FY1999/00: 48,815 units FY1998/99: 45,119 units Location Headquarters and production plant in Zuffenhausen, near Stuttgart. R&D center in Weissach. A large portion of Boxster is produced under contract by Finnish assembler Valmet Automotive. Brief History Ferdinand Porsche was born in 1875. Undoubtedly, he was one of the greatest engineers in automotive history. First emerged as a designer for electric cars, then joined Daimler in 1906 to start his motor car engineering career. During his golden years, he designed the famous Mercedes SSK, the Auto Union GP racer (the first mid-engine car, with a V16 engine) and the "People’s car" which evolved to Volkswagen Beetle after the war. His talent also expended to the military area like tanks, aero engines and military trucks. Therefore he was jailed after the war until 1947, four years before his death. Back in 1931, he created the company bearing his name. However, in then the company Porsche was an engineering consultant instead of a car maker. As the old Dr. Porsche was half retired after WW II, his son Ferry succeeded the job. Ferry Porsche had been trained in Bosch and effectively took over his father’s position when the latter was still in jail. In order to raise money for releasing his father and his sister’s husband, Piech (who was the father of Ferdinand Piech, the current CEO of Volkswagen), Ferry Porsche designed a Grand Prix car for Cisitalia. The car was powered by a 12-cylinder boxer engine with 4-valves head and supercharger. At the same time, he also started working on his own car. Both Porsches designed many cars for others, but a car bearing their family name did not appear until 1950, that was the 356. The car was designed with reliability and price very much in mind. For cheap and reliable sourcing of parts, the rear suspension and engine were carried over from the Beetle. However, the air cooled engine received some modifications, hence more power. The car turned out to be more popular than expected, thanks to its elegant build and good look. During the production run of 15 years, some 76,000 cars were produced. Anyway, the Volkswagen root prevent the car from upgrading any more, so Ferry Porsche started working on an even faster, better and more expensive model, 911, which was launched in 1964. First to be noticed is the use of Porsche’s own boxer engine, now with 6 cylinders and a full 2-litre displacement, and its own synchromesh 5-speed gearbox. The car was styled by Ferry’s eldest son, Butzi Porsche. As you must know, the 911 achieved even greater success with 400,000 units built in 34 years. It was also regarded as the most successful sports car in history. The first 911 turbo The 911 received many update and upgrade through the years. However, there were times the company itself thought the car could be no longer upgraded. That called for a successor to be developed in the early 70’s. That was the frong-engined, V8-powered 928. When it was launched in 1977, it won the European Car of The Year award. However, the company soon realised that the car was too heavy and too expensive to be a real successor to the 911. Therefore it gradually evolved into a luxurious Grand Tourer. At the same time, a smaller car called 924 was developing as a reaction to oil crisis. The front-engined 2+2 was powered by a 2-litre inline-4. Launched in 1976, it became a hit. In later years it was further developed into 944 and then 968 until the final curtain dropped in 1995. As a result, from the late 70’s to the late 80’s, Porsche had its golden years with a model line up consisted of a trio - the four-cylinder 924 / 944, the six-cylinder 911 and the 8-cylinder 928. The all-time sales record of over 50,000 units was recorded in the mid-80’s. Right after the peak was several years of sales slump, mostly due to the rising Deutsch mark and high salary which made Porsche's cars too expensive to be affordable, especially is under the competition from Japanese coupes. The situation once became so worse that the company was struggling for survival. Both the 928 and 924 were too old and had to be retired. A 4-doors sports sedan named 989 was developed as the successor to the 928, but the top management thought the expensive car was so risky - if it failed, the company would have got into bankruptcy. Therefore the 989 project was axed at the last minute although the development had nearly finished. That was the blackest days for Porsche. However, the decision seemed correct as the company chose to build a cheap and small roadster instead. That is today's Boxster (986). It shares one-third components with the all-new generation 911, thus saves considerable cost. Both cars were received well by the market right from the start. In addition to the softened Deutsch mark and the fall of Japanese car makers, Porsche became profitable again. Famous models 356 - first Porsche 550 Spyder - the first race car for Porsche 911 - the legendary sports car lived on for 34 years without declined 924 / 944 / 968 - a coupe to be imitated by many Japanese car makers 928 - the only sports car ever won European Car of The Year award 959 - the most advanced car in the earth ------------------------------------------------------------ [B]Volkswagen[/B] Subsidiary Audi (Germany) Seat (Spain) Skoda (Czech) Bentley (UK) Lamborghini (Italy) Bugatti (Italy) Introduction Volkswagen has been the largest European car maker since the 70’s. Under the leadership of Ferdinand Piech, it expanded aggressively during the 90s. Apart from Audi and Seat, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti were also absorbed into the empire. Piech, who served Porsche and Audi before, succeeded to put Audi onto rails to target BMW, upgraded the build quality and image of the Spanish Seat and Czech Skoda. However, his effort to put the Volkswagen brand against Mercedes did not take off, as shown in the poor sales of Phaeton, its first luxurious car. The Bugatti supercar project is another unwise decision - it makes no business sense to Volkswagen and it takes the company too much resources to overcome the technical difficulties to realize its 252mph target speed. Piech got over-ambitious in his latter days. Piech was succeeded by ex-BMW boss Bernd Pischetsrieder in 2002. The latter rationalize the strategy. He abandoned the plan to move Volkswagen brand upmarket and concentrated on catching the market trend such as compact MPV and SUV. He delayed the Bugatti project, killed the "Super Passat" and Volkswagen W12 supercar. This seems clever than his predecessor. Volkswagen group used to be a keen believer to platform sharing strategy. Almost all cars from its four mainstream brands shared the four common platforms. This inevitably made the cars too similar. Under the leadership of Bernd Pischetsrieder, the group splits into two management groups - the Volkswagen group (consists of VW, Skoda, Bentley and Bugatti) and Audi group (consists of Audi, Seat and Lamborghini). This intents to differentiate the characters of their cars - the VW group cars are more conservative, while the Audi group cars are sportier. The first sign was shown in the 2005 Passat, which switched from Audi A4 platform to Golf platform. Sales figure 2004 sales figures: Group: 5.079 million vehicles (2003: 5.015 million) Volkswagen brand: 3.064 mllion units (2003: 3.075 million) Volkswagen commercial vehicles brand: 333,000 units (2003: 259,000 units) 2004 production figures for individual models: Golf: 711,883 units Bora: 264,385 units Jetta: 149,000 units Gol: 304,327 units Touran: 188,643 units New Beetle: 80,118 units Passat / Santana: 617,649 units Polo: 334,143 units Polo Classic / sedan: 100,331 units Fox: 84,173 Lupo: 24,434 units Sharan: 38,583 units Touareg: 87,046 units Phaeton: 5,485 units Location Headquarters and R&D center : Wolfsburg Main plants in Germany : Wolfsburg (Lupo, Polo, Golf / Bora), Mosel (Golf / Bora, Passat), Emden (Passat) Main plants in Spain : Pamplona (Polo) Brief History Volkswagen was born out of the will of Adolf Hitler. It is known that during his imprisonment in 1924 he read books about Henry Ford’s story and he was deeply impressed. When he came to power in 1933 he did two things : 1) started the construction of the Autobahn super highway interconnecting the major cities in the country; 2) instructed Austrian Ferdinand Porsche to develop a mass production car for his people. He dreamed that every family would have this car in their garage, so named it "Volkswagen", or "People’s car" in English. The car were to be produced by NSU. According to Hitler’s requirement, Porsche designed a rear-engined car with an air cooled flat four engine. Using air cool because the dictator thought his kingdom would soon expanded to the African desert. The car was not particularly advanced, but it was designed with care, especially taking into considering reliability, economy, ease of production and maintenance. Now we know this is the Beetle, or what the American describe as Bug. In 1941, the great factory was built (out of the mandatory deposit from German people) and pilot run was completed. The broke out of WW II transformed the factory into an arsenal. The Volkswagen car was also modified to military vehicle which was really used in the North African desert. The road car was put into shelf until the war ended. After the war, the district where the factory located came under British forces’ control. The British examined the car and was not very interested to produce it in their home country, so they helped the German to rebuild the factory and renamed there to Wolfsburg. (Today Wolfsburg is still the headquarters of VW and the factory is the biggest car plant in the world.) Under the scarce of resources, the German gradually increase the production and even export to the US, where it arose a fever. The Beetle was produced through the 90’s (in Mexican plant) and resulted in a total of 21,000,000 units built, which broke Ford Model T’s record of 15,000,000. So far our story seems like the history of Beetle. In fact, Volkswagen was simply a one model company until the 70’s. It tried to find a new design to replace the car but every time failed - the 1500 in 1961, the 411 in 1968 and the front-wheel-drive K70 in 1970. The hatchback Polo, which was based on Audi 50, relieved some pressure, but the declining sales of Beetle eventually drove the company into a loss in 1974. Luckily, the same year launched the Giogiaro-designed Golf (American called it Rabit), a car that saved the company and became another core model in the following 25 years with 4 generations introduced. Today, Golf is still the best selling car in Europe. For most time of its history, Volkswagen group remained to be a largely German company, as it consisted of VW and Audi only. Since the 80s it started going internationalize - Seat was bought in the mid-80s, Skoda in the early 90s, then in 1998 Ferdinand Piech bought 3 brands in a row: Lamborghini, Bugatti and Bentley. Famous models Beetle - best selling car ever made Golf Mk1 - the first popular front-wheel-drive family hatch ------------------------------------------------------------ [B]Alfa Romeo[/B] Owned by Fiat SpA Subsidiary Maserati Introduction Alfa Romeo is the sport premium brand among Fiat's 3 mainstream arms. Similar to BMW in market positioning, but more emphasis on style and emotion. Because Alfa Romeo is rarer than German premium brands and has strong Latin character, it is regarded as the most desirable mainstream brand by many car enthusiasts. Unlike Lancia, Alfa has its own design studio and R&D independent from Fiat. Therefore its cars share relatively few components with Fiat and Lancia. This is very important to preserve its unique character. Like BMW, Alfa reduces costs by sharing platforms vertically, i.e., 147, 156 and GT share the same platform, while 159 and Brera will share another platform. However, despite of more models introduced, Alfa's sales figures remain mostly unchanged in recent years, even though the global market of premium cars grew considerably in the same period. To secure its future, Alfa still has a lot to do. In 2005, Alfa received Maserati from sister company Ferrari, because the latter failed to turn around Maserati. Now Alfa will be responsible for developing Maserati models. Expect they will share platforms and extensive components in the future. Sales figure 2004 sales: 180,000 units. Location Main plants : Milan, Naples. Brief History Alfa Romeo’s history can be split into 2 periods - pre-war and post-war. The pre-war Alfa was more a sports car specialist and racing car maker without involving mass production. It was established in 1910 by a group of Italian car enthusiasts who called themselves "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili" (ALFA). Not much was achieved until the company went into bankruptcy and took over by Nicola Romeo in 1915, who donated the second word of the company’s name. The company located in Portello district of Milan. Because it involved too many other business, including machine tools and military equipment, car division was not very famous until the 20’s, when Alfa Romeo created a string of sports cars masterpieces - 6C1750, 6C2300, 8C2300 and 8C2900 series. These cars employed advanced technology including hemi-sphere combustion chamber, dohc and superchargers, in addition to the fabulous styling and superb craftsmanship, no wonder classic car collectors regard the pre-war days as the golden period of the company. In days before Ferrari appeared, Alfa Romeo could be described as the most prestigeous sports car brand. Not as elegant as Bugatti but certainly quicker. The Grand Prix team, once ran by Enzo Ferrari, made parallel success on race track. 8C2900B Alfa never went bankrupt again because since 1933 it was owned by the Italian government, via a state-owned company. However, after the war the government’s policy changed and wanted Alfa to go mass production at the Milan plant and the new plant at Naples, southern Italy (called "Alfasud" or Alfa South). A small sedan called 1900 was born and regarded as the first sports sedan. But the state-owned Alfa did not realised the potential of this kind of car which lead to the success of BMW in later years. It was more concentrating on the little Giulietta coupe (designed and bodied by Bertone) which is now regarded as one of the best classic cars like the pre-war models. Its success was repeated by Giulia coupe, much larger in size as well as in sales number. Then came the Duetto roadster which became the evergreen Spider and was featured in Dustin Hoffman’s film "The Graduate". Duetto However, the sedan range was never as successful as the niche models. Giulia sedan (60’s), Alfetta (70’s), Alfasud (70’s), 90, 75 and 33 were not produced in really "mass" amount compare with other mainstream car makers. The Alfasud was to be an ambitious project. It was brilliant concept as a front-drive small hatchback like the still-born VW Golf, but ruined by poor quality control and other problems caused by the bureaucracy within the company. The government no longer wanted to subsidise the loss-making car maker and was finding a new partner. It turned out to be a joint venture with Nissan but was soon discarded. Finally it was sold to local giant Fiat in 1986. Fiat axed the rear-drive 90 and 75 and replaced them with the 155 which is nearly a rebodied Fiat Tipo. Platform sharing also spread to other models - 164, 145 / 146. Alfa enthusiasts once thought the company’s tradition and character would eventually disappeared, until the arrival of new GTV and 156. Under the leadership of Fiat boss Paolo Cantarella, Alfa got back its own character and re-established itself as a sport premium brand like BMW. Famous models 6C-series - one of the collector's choices 8C-series - fastest pre-war sports car in the world Giulietta Sprint - a lovely Bertone-built little coupe Giulia GTV - another wonderful coupe Duetto / Spider - unforgettable shape styled by Pininfarina Alfasud - the first hot hatch. Wonderful boxer engine GTV6 - brilliant V6 coupe ------------------------------------------------------------ [B]Ferrari [/B] Owned by Fiat SpA (56%) Introduction Undoubtedly, Ferrari is the most famous sports car manufacturer in the world. Besides, in a recent survey, it was also found to be the most recognized brand name in the world, beating IBM and Coca Cola. Since Enzo Ferrari established this company in 1929, it began racing in various of categories, including Formula 1, Formula 2, GT racing and endurance racing. Most notably is the Formula 1, in which it won 8 constructor titles and became the most winning team of all time. In 1947, Enzo started to build road cars. During the following 50 years, non-stop strings of excellent sports cars rolled out the factory, including Testa Rossa, 250GTO, 275GTB, 365GTB/4 (Daytona), 246GT (Dino), 308GTB, 512BB, 288GTO, Testarossa, F40 and more and more to come .... All these cars were among the greatest in automotive history. Located in Maranello of Italy, near Modena, Ferrari has been a subsidiary of the giant Fiat since 1969. In terms of production capacity, it is smaller than Porsche, but bigger than Lamborghini and Lotus. Annual production rate is 4,000-plus cars in recent years. It is probably the only car maker that never worry of competition, since its name is so unmatchable. However, we can see Maranello is changing in recent years. Due to the criticism of the handling of 348 and F512M, new Chairman Luca di Montezemolo restructured the development department as well as the production unit. The target was to make the cars more user-friendly while remains as exciting as ever. This contradictive requirements are successfully fulfilled when F355 and 550M rolled out the production line, and then the 360 Modena reached another peak. At the same time, build quality has been improving silently. Sales figure 2004: 4975 cars 2003: 4238 cars 2001 fiscal year: 4289 cars 2000 fiscal year: 4072 cars 1999: 3,775 cars 1998: 3,637 cars Location All facilities locate in Marnello, including factory, development center, F1 team and the famous test track names Fiorano. Unlike many competitors, Ferrari has its own full scale wind tunnel. Ferrari has another race track, Mugello, in Florence. Brief History Enzo Ferrari was born in 1898. Forced to leave school when his father died, he started work as a tuning instructor in the Modena Fire Brigade's workshop. Having served in World War I he found work as a test driver in Turin in late 1918. In 1920, he moved to Alfa Romeo and established a relationship that lasted two decades and a career that took him from test driver to race driver to sales assistant and finally to the post of Director of the Alfa Racing Division until 1939. In 1929 he founded the Scuderia Ferrari in Modena, with the prime purpose of organising racing for its members. This company continue to help Alfa racing, until after World War II it started to develop its own car. The first car wearing the "Ferrari" name was the 125, a 1.5 litres V12 sports car which appeared to be a racing car. From this car we can find Enzo's philosophy was always "Racing come first". Many of his cars, at least those during the years under his guide, were designed with racing concern. Other cars, especially those aimed at US market, were made to "subsidise my racing programme", as he said. From the start to the end, he remained to be a racing man rather than a sports car maker. During the years while he was in control, he spent most of his time in F1, then GT racing and endurance racing. His best and favourite road car was 250GTO, which is also developed for racing. 250 GTO - Enzo's favourite car. However, to find financial support for his F1 team, in 1969 he sold 50% shares to Fiat after talks with Henry Ford broke down. Since then the F1 team departed from the factory and still under 100% of his control. Thereafter the factory concentrated on building road cars that customers really want, thus emerged many excellent road cars such as Daytona, Dino, 308GTB and so on. As a result, the market status of Ferrari was even stronger than ever. After his death in 1988, the majority 90% shares came into Fiat's hand. With minority share held by his son, Piero Ferrari. In 1997, Ferrari received Maserati, once its arch-rival, from the hands of Fiat. However, after a lot of effort made to revive Maserati - with some but limited success, Ferrari relieved its burden by shifting Maserati to Alfa Romeo. Famous models 250 GTO - Enzo's classic V12 front-engined supercar. Racing purpose. Dino 206 / 246 GT - Unique V6, first mid-engined Ferrari. Daytona - heavy weight V12 GT 512 BB - the first boxer flagship 308 GTB - sexy V8 mass production line 288 GTO - redefined the term "supercar" Testarossa - a flagship model which resulted in 10,000 units produced. F40 - the last new Ferrari introduced by old Enzo F355 - 40-valves V8 and good chassis brought back excitement ------------------------------------------------------------ [B]Lamborghini[/B] Owned by Volkswagen Group's Audi Introduction Lamborghini is the only sport car brand can rival the prestige status of Ferrari. In many ways, it is even more exotic than Ferrari in the eyes of car lovers, thanks to the loss-making supercars it produced throughout its 40 years history - Miura, Countach, Diablo and Murcielago. Lamborghini has proven itself as the biggest headache to Enzo Ferrari because there is hardly a flagship Ferrari without a Bull to compete with. Financial instability used to limit the success of Lamborghini. However, since acquired by Audi in 1998, it has been growing stronger and stronger. Thanks to Audi's qualtiy standard, new generation of Lamborghinis no longer suffer quality problems like their predecessors. The cars are also made easier to live with. Simultaneously, the exotic character remains untouched. Therefore sales of Murcielago improved considerably from Diablo. The addition of the second line, the Gallardo, allows Lamborghini to target at a larger volume market against Ferrari 360 Modena / F430. Now annual sales is pointing towards the 2000 units mark. Lamborghini is ready to challenge Ferrari, not just in terms of reputation but also sales performance. Sales figure 2004 sales: 1592 cars (1215 Gallardo and 377 Murcielago) 2003 sales: 1305 cars (890 Gallardo and 415 Murcielago) 2002 sales: 442 cars (all Murcielago) 2001 sales: 297 cars (Diablo plus a few Murcielago) Location Sant'Agata, Bolognese, near Modena. Brief History Ferruccio Lamborghini, then a successful tractor maker, was an ambitious and motivated young expertiser. Before founding Lamborghini, his business had already expanded to oil burners and air conditioning units. Having own the best examples of luxury cars including American and Ferraris, he had his own idea of what an idea GT was. He always had much respect for Enzo Ferrari and considered Ferraris as the only cars he was competing with. However, it is said (and himself does not really deny it) that he had trouble with his Ferrari 250GT and had decided to go and complain to Maranello personally. Having not been received with the respect he expected, he decided to build his own GT car, a car that would be better than his Ferrari, of course. Lamborghini was highly motivated. He poured countless money into his new advanced factory which is just 15km away from Maranello and employed some ingenious engineers to design the car. Those engineers including Giotto Bizzarrini (the man who designed the engine of Ferrari 250GTO), Giampaolo Dallara (the founder of Dallara racing co. and an ingenious chassis designer) and Paolo Stanzani (who would became chief engineer of Countach). With these people and sufficient funding, the first car, 350GTV, debut in 1963 Turin motor show and immediately became the star of the show. Then in 10 years time followed by a string of new cars, including the famous Miura and Countach, both of the are considered as among the greatest supercars of all time. When Lamborghini's future seemed to be promising, it was actually suffering continuous loss, because the extreme cost for such high tech cars and the oil crisis further increased the difficulty for selling super cars. F. Lamborghini finally sold the factory in 1972 and the production was stopped for 2 years as a result. Since then, the control of the company had shifted to different hands many times and the financial instability was unchanged. In 1987, it was taken over by Chrysler and enjoyed sufficient fund again. Most money was put into the Diablo project, which made it better developed than any previous models. Besides, an unknown amount of investment was put into the Formula 1 engine program, which saw some potential but finally ended when Chrysler pulled out. Anyway, the US giant maker sold Lamborghini to Megatech, a Malaysian company, in the early 90s. Meanwhile, the owners became Malaysian company Mycom Setdco and the Indonesian company V'Power. In the new owner's hands, Lamborghini started to find its momentum and strengthening itself. In 1998, Volkswagen group bought the supercar specialists via its subsidiary, Audi. Given the financial strength and the ambition of the German empire, hopefully the future will be brighter. Famous models Miura - the first stunning mid-engined Lambo Countach - redefined the word "supercar" with its uncompromising character Diablo - the rationalised Countach Murcielago - the latest Lamborghini flagship ------------------------------------------------------------ [/QUOTE]
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