Q:
A: Wow, there's a lot of misinformation here.... The real answer is this: Volkswagen Group, AG, based in Wolfsburg, Germany owns a number of automobile manufacturers and brands. They are the 4th largest automaker in the world, just behind General Motors, Toyota and Ford, with nearly 10% of the worldwide market. The acquired NSU/Audi in the late 60's or early 70's, which I believe was owned by Daimler Benz at the time. The company became Audi AG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen, with its own factories, engineering and design. Since then, a lot of development between the VW Car Group and Audi is done together to save costs, just like Mazda and Ford. This differs from Lexus, which is really a higher-end extension of Toyota's model lineup---that's why they have no soul, but I digress. Audi, AG also owns Lamborghini. Volkswagen Group owns, in addition: Bentley, Bugatti (heard of the 1,000-HP Veyron), SEAT (from Spain), and Skoda (former Czech-republic). They are also a major heavy-truck manufacturer and just purchased Scania (formerly Saab-Scania) of Sweden. I believe Daimler (of Mercedes fame) is the largest heavy-truck manufacturer. Porsche had never owned Volkswagen nor had Volkswagen ever owned Porsche, up until a few months ago--Porsche, the most profitable carmaker in the world, purchased 35% of Volkswagen Group and are set to take over 51% controlling interest (if they haven't already). Dr. Porsche invented the Volkswagen Beetle and help create the company, but after World War II, it was the British military that got it going again...then the rest is history, as it were. Before Porsche purchased any percentage of VW, they had collaborated on products. The 924 was commissioned by Audi to be their next sports car, but when the top brass shot it down, Porsche decided to market it--it was built in an Audi factory. Ultimately, it became the 944, which was a great car. Most recently, Porsche and Volkswagen collaborated on a new SUV platform, which has become the Cayenne and Touareg, but the final designs and tuning were done by each carmaker. So even though they have similar platforms and components--they are executed very differently. Audi, needing an SUV, reached into the family parts bin and pulled out the Touareg/Cayenne platform, stretched it out, added a 3rd row, did their quattro AWD thing and made it their own--it's called the Q7. I've driven all three and they are very different cars from each other. Journalists all over the world are praising Audi for their design, innovation and build quality. It was Audi who pioneered all-wheel drive in cars, with quattro (not Subaru, who used 4WD on demand--big difference). It was Audi who re-engineered interiors to now have the reputation for the best quality, best designed interiors of any carmaker! Audi makes a great car and VW is a company with an amazing history. So there's a really long winded answer to your simple question! I found a link about VW Group after I wrote this...see below. Enjoy!