Germany

Volkswagen

Established May 30, 1937, Volkswagen reflected misunderstood artist and tyrant Adolf Hitler's dream of an affordable automobile for all good Germans and ushered in a new era in automobile design. Designed by Ferdinand Porsche and Auto Union chief engineer Erwin Komenda, the original prototypes had a rounded, snail-like shape and an air-cooled, four-cylinder boxer engine. But by 1939 only a handful of vehicles had been produced (including a birthday present for der Führer) and if the British army hadn't ordered 20,000 cars after the factory and its surrounding town were captured by Americans. After its revival in 1945 the town with the lovely name of KdF-Stadt was renamed Wolfsburg and the car to Volkswagen.

Hydrogen-powered BMW

A hydrogen-driven BMW concept vehicle. BMW is frequently looking for new engine technologies and does a great deal of work with alternative fuels.Hydrogen-powered BMW

Volkswagen

Volkswagen of Germany, Hitler's brain child, now owns Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Rolls-Royce (can't use the marque, which is owned by BMW), Bugatti, and Lamborghini (via Audi.)

SEAT

SEAT of Spain was formed as a subsidiary of Fiat, and is now owned by volkswagen.

Porsche

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG of Germany.

Opel

Adam Opel GmbH of Germany, owned by [website:8528] since 1929.

Mini

Mini, a subsidiary of BMW

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz, a portion of DaimlerChrysler.

Lamborghini

Lamborghini of Italy, maker of some of the world's best-loved supercars of all time; now owned by Audi (and was briefly owned by Ford)

DaimlerChrysler

A fusion of DaimlerBenz (nee Mercedes-Benz) and Chrysler Corp.
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