Volkswagen (Germany): Company Introduction and Details of Website Domain Acquisition

Volkswagen AG is Europe's largest multinational automotive group and one of the world's leading manufacturers of automobiles and commercial vehicles.​

I. Introduction to Volkswagen Group

The Volkswagen Group, founded in 1937 and headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany, is Germany's largest multinational automobile manufacturer. In 2010, it surpassed Toyota of Japan and General Motors of the United States to become the world's largest automaker.

It owns brands such as Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, and Lamborghini, covering passenger cars and commercial vehicles. In 2024, it ranked 49th in the world's top 500 brands. In 2015, a diesel emissions cheating scandal led to the resignation of its then-CEO, affecting 11 million vehicles worldwide and resulting in huge fines.

In 2022, it announced Porsche's independent listing plan, which later became the largest IPO in Europe. In December 2023, an external audit confirmed that no forced labor was found at its Xinjiang factory. In 2024, net profit after tax decreased by 30.6% year-on-year to €12.4 billion, with third-quarter net profit plummeting 64% year-on-year to €1.58 billion. The company closed three German factories and reached an agreement with unions to prevent the shutdown of other factories. It plans to lay off over 35,000 employees by 2030.

In the same year, it delivered 2.93 million vehicles in the Chinese market, including over 200,000 new energy vehicles. It plans to launch over 20 electrified models by 2027. In 2025, it launched an €180 billion investment plan to accelerate its electrification transformation, adding €1 billion to AI technology research and development. However, affected by US tariff policies, third-quarter net profit was negative €1.072 billion, and net profit for the first three quarters decreased by 61.5% year-on-year to €3.4 billion.

II. Volkswagen's Official Website Domain Acquisition

vw.de Domain: Volkswagen's original official website domain in Germany was volkswagen.de. Due to German regulations prohibiting the registration of domains with two or fewer letters, Volkswagen sued the German Domain Name Management Center to acquire vw.de. The German state high court ultimately ruled in favor of Volkswagen, granting vw.de as an exception.

wwwvolkswagen.com Domain: Registered in 2000, Volkswagen filed a lawsuit with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) after the domain owner listed it for sale with advertising links. A panel of experts ultimately awarded the disputed domain to Volkswagen.

proshare.com Domain: In 2019, the Volkswagen Group acquired the domain proshare.com for $7,025. Registered in 1998, this domain was suitable for building an asset allocation platform and a car-sharing project website. At the time, the website built using this domain was under construction.

Company Name: Volkswagen AG (Germany).

Official Domain: volkswagen-group.com.

Domain name created on: December 10, 1996.

Country of origin: Germany.

City of company headquarters: Wolfsburg, Germany.

Founded: 1937.