[25] After the war in Europe, in June 1945, Major Ivan Hirst[21] of the British Army Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) took control of the bomb-shattered factory for use in repairing British Army vehicles, pending the expected disposal of the plant tooling and equipment as war reparations.

"[27] Breech later said that he would have considered merging Ford of Germany and Volkswagen, but after the war, ownership of the company was in such dispute that nobody could possibly hope to be able to take it over.

[30] On 30 September 1982, Volkswagenwerk made its first step expanding outside Germany by signing a co-operation agreement with the Spanish car manufacturer SEAT, S.A.[29] To reflect the company's increasing global diversification from its headquarters and main plant (the Volkswagenwerk in Wolfsburg), on 4 July 1985, the company name was changed again—to Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft (Volkswagen AG).

[29] In 1990—after purchasing its entire equity—Volkswagen AG took over the full ownership of SEAT, making the company a wholly owned subsidiary, and on 28 March 1991, another step to the expansion of the group's activities was made through the signing of a joint-venture partnership agreement with Škoda automobilová a.s. of Czechoslovakia, accompanied with the acquisition of a 30% stake in the Czech car manufacturer on 16 April 1991.

[29] On 30 May 2000, after having gradually raised its equity share, Volkswagen AG took over the full ownership of Škoda Auto, making the company a wholly owned subsidiary.

Volkswagen Group revealed on 24 October 2009 that it had made an offer to acquire long-time partner and German niche automotive manufacturer Wilhelm Karmann GmbH out of bankruptcy protection.

[35] In November 2009, the supervisory board of Volkswagen AG approved the acquisition of assets of Karmann, and planned to restart vehicle production at their Osnabrück plant in 2012.

Both parties "remain committed to the goal of creating an integrated automotive group with Porsche and are convinced that this will take place".

[47] On 25 May 2010, it was announced that Volkswagen Group, through its subsidiary Lamborghini Holding S.p.A., had acquired a 90.1% stake in the Italian automotive design house Italdesign Giugiaro.

– discuss] On 3 August 2015, Nokia announced that it had reached a deal to sell its Here digital maps division to a consortium of three German automakers—BMW, Daimler AG, and Volkswagen Group, for €2.8 billion.

[52] On 17 September 2015, Suzuki paid $3.8bn to complete the stock buy-back just hours prior to a major scandal about emissions violations engulfing Volkswagen.

[54] In early 2024, Volkswagen Group began looking for partners among international technology corporations to create AI labs, new digital prototypes of products and functions using artificial intelligence.

[55] In October 2024, Volkswagen plans to close at least three plants in Germany and cut jobs, facing challenges from delayed EV investments and a drop in Chinese sales.

[56] On 18 September 2015, the US EPA announced that Volkswagen had installed a "defeat device" software code in the diesel models sold in the US from 2009 to 2015.

Off the test stand, the controls were relaxed, and emissions jumped 35 to 40 times regulatory levels according to investigators at West Virginia University and the California Air Resources Board.

About 482,000 vehicles are under the recall order, a potential $18 billion ($37,500 per violation) in fines are pending, and news accounts speculate a criminal indictment for the deception is certain.

[60] The software code was only revealed when the EPA refused to certify VW's 2016 models for sale in the US unless the corporation provided full disclosure.

[62] The US EPA press release on its Notice of Violation,[57] and the California Air Resources Board letter[63] dated 18 September 2015 contain significant chronological detail of the agencies interaction with VW on the issue.

On 22 September 2015, VW AG admitted that 11 million cars worldwide had been fitted with software intended to deceive emissions testing.

[67] On 21 April 2017, a U.S. federal judge ordered Volkswagen "to pay a $2.8 billion criminal fine for rigging diesel-powered vehicles to cheat on government emissions tests".

[70] In its own financial report for 2023 Volkswagen Group estimated its long, medium and short term debt at 155,6 Billion Euros.

[78] On 27 November 2024, Volkswagen announced sale of its Xinijang factory in China partly because "demand for combustion engine vehicles is going down".

[79] Former member of Croatian parliament Ivan Pernar warned that due to overall financial situation Volkswagen might go bankrupt just as "too big to fail" heavily indebted Evergrande Group.

In that same region, western-funded NGOs accused the Chinese government of having committed human rights abuses against the Uyghur minority group, which included mass surveillance, incarceration, and forced labor.

The strategy was based on transitioning to electric cars, and building a shared platform, battery systems, software and mobility solutions to use across all their brands.

[90] In February 2024, Volkswagen Group and Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng signed a technology cooperation and joint development agreement on platform and software.

Porsche formally announced in a press statement that it did not intend to take over Volkswagen Group, setting its offer price at the lowest possible legal value, but intended the move to avoid a competitor taking a large stake, or to stop hedge funds dismantling Volkswagen Group, which is Porsche's most important partner.

[121] Volkswagen AG briefly became the world's most valuable company, as the stock price rose to over €1,000 per share as short sellers tried to cover their positions.

[122] The substantial investment in Volkswagen left Porsche with huge financial burden with its debts accumulating up to 13 billion euros by 2009.

With the exception of the United States, all of its major locations are represented in the Global Works Council and local trade union bodies.