Volkswagen's Hometown Braces for Car Manufacturer's Fallout
The city of Wolfsburg has been closely entwined with the German car maker.
— -- There's a lot at stake for Volkswagen now that its CEO Martin Winterkorn has resigned and the company's market value has plunged. The town of Wolfsburg, Germany, the birthplace of Volkswagen, may be in jeopardy too.
Wolfsburg, Germany, is the headquarters of Volkswagen AG and the German automaker employs half of the town's residents. Volkswagen is a community pillar for Wolfsburg, and the town's prosperity is directly linked to Volkswagen, much like Detroit's dependence on U.S. automakers.
The town's car culture is evident on the streets, where you can find a street named after Ferdinand Porsche, founder of Volkswagen and Porsche.
Volkswagen, which was created in 1937 by Hilter's Nationalist Socialist (Nazi) Party, means "The People's Car Company" in German. After World War II, the Allies took over Volkswagen's Wolfsburg factories and used Volkswagen as a model to rebuild the German auto industry.
Today, Volkswagen funds the local university in Wolfsburg, as reported by Bloomberg.
“Without VW, this city and the entire region would die. We’d become a European Detroit,” cab driver Karsten Raabe told Bloomberg.
Autostadt, a "city of cars" theme-park and museum attraction, opened in 2000 next to Volkswagen's headquarters.
"Each year, 1.2 million visitors from all over the world visit the Autostadt to study the technology behind our legendary reliability, and share our vision of the future," according to Volkswagen's website.
But most people are familiar with Wolfsburg due to the soccer club that is owned by Volkswagen. The team plays in the Volkswagen Arena.