Volkswagen

Text 8

The Fiat Group

Text 7

The Fiat Group is one of the world’s largest industrial companies operating in 60 countries with 220 production plants 224.000 employees.

Today, Fiat is a multi-business with an automotive core, aiming to increase its operations worldwide and to grow in the service areas related to its business.

In order to meet this challenge, the Fiat Group is actively recruiting young engineering graduates (24—28 years of age) to become the company’s future management as it pursues its global growth.

Candidates should possess the following:

• Recognized university degree

European Union member state nationality

• Fluency in English and at least one other language

• Interest in automotive industries

• An international outlook and mobility

In return, successful candidates will receive:

• Engagement by the Fiat Group, London

• Introductive training program in Turin, Italy

• Work experience in different countries in the engineering manufacturing and commercial operations of Fiat Group’s main automotive divisions

• Competitive salary and career development

Volkswagen AG is the major German automobile manufacturer, founded by the German government in 1937 to mass produce a low-priced “people’s car.” Its headquarters are in Wolfsburg.

The company was originally operated by the German Labour Front, a Nazi organization; and Ferdinand Porsche was brought in to design the car. Production was interrupted by World War II, and by the end of the war both the Volkswagen factory and the city of Wolfsburg were in ruins. Allied attempts to revive the West German auto industry after the war centered on the Vo1kswagen, and in little more than a decade the company was producing half of West Germany’s motor vehicles.

Exports to most parts of the world were strong, but because of the car’s small size, unusual rounded appearance, and historical connections with Nazi Germany, sales in the United States were originally slow. This changed in 1959, when an American advertising agency, Doyle Dane Bernbach, began a landmark advertising campaign, dubbing the car the Beetle because of shape and pointing to its size as an advantage to the consumer. This campaign was very successful, and for some years following, the Beetle was the leading automobile import sold in the United States.

The Volkswagen hardly changed from its original design, however, and by 1974, with increasing competition from other compact foreign cars, Volkswagen came near bankruptcy. This spurred the company to develop newer, sportier car models, among them the Rabbit and its successor, the Golf.

Although the company had been founded by the German government, in 1960 the state essentially denationalized it by selling 60 percent of its stock to the public. Volkswagen acquired the Audi auto company in 1965. Volkswagen and its affiliates operate plants throughout most of the world. In addition to cars, the company produces vans and minibuses, automotive parts, and industrial engines. It owns several other auto companies, including Audi in Germany and SEAT (Sociedad Espanola de Automoviles de Turismo) in Spain, and it also makes and markets cars with Fiat of Italy and Skoda of the Czech Republic.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-29