Corporate Office HQ

Volkswagen Corporate Office

Volkswagen Group of North America

Volkswagen is a German car company with worldwide headquarters in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany.

Volkswagen was founded in 1937 by the Nazi trade union, the German Labour Front. At this time, cars were a luxury item in Germany, with only about 1 person in 50 owning a car. The new company had the goal to make cars smaller and more affordable for the average German.

History

After the war, Volkswagen became an important piece, both economically and symbolically, of West German regeneration.

Volkswagen entered the U.S. market in 1949 with the VW being briefly sold as the Victory Wagon. Volkswagen of America was formed in 1955.

Volkswagen struggled to expand its product line and finally came out with a hit in the U.S. market with the 1974 release of the Golf.

By 1997 Volkswagen was producing the Jetta, New Beetle, SEAT Toledo, SEAT Leon, Audi A3, Audi TT, Skoda Octavia, Polo, Passat, and Corrado models.

Today Volkswagen has three of the ten top-selling cars worldwide: the Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen Beetle, and the Volkswagen Passat. The company is a world leader in R&D.

In 2015, the US Environmental Protection Agency stated that VW had been installing incorrect or altered ECUs in 2009-2015 diesel-fueled cars to bypass emissions testing. On 11 January 2017, Volkswagen agreed to plead guilty to the emissions-cheating scandal and to pay $4.3 billion in penalties.

On 23 January 2017, a US judge approved a $1.2 billion settlement in which 650 American dealers, “who, like consumers, were blindsided by the brazen fraud that VW perpetrated,” would receive an average of $1.85 million.

The company is trying to put its past mistakes behind them with new ads featuring electric vehicles in 2019.

Volkswagen Group is the parent company to 12 vehicle manufacturers with operations in 153 countries. It designs, manufactures, and distributes passenger and commercial vehicles, engines, motorcycles, and turbo machinery. It is ninth on the Fortune Global 500.

Volkswagen Group has 549,763 employees, 44.8% in Germany and the rest spread all over the world. This number includes Chinese joint ventures. Volkswagen Group had $140 billion in revenue in 2012.

Volkswagen is a German car company with worldwide headquarters in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Volkswagen was founded in 1937 by the Nazi trade union, the German Labour Front. At this time, cars were a luxury item in Germany, with only about … [Continue reading] about Volkswagen Corporate Office

Toyota Corporate Office

Toyota Motor Corporation

Toyota is a Japanese automaker with worldwide headquarters in Toyota, Aichi, Japan.

History

Kiichiro Toyoda started the company in 1937 as a spin-off of his father’s company, Toyota Industries. It was previously a division of the same company beginning in 1933. Toyoda means fertile rice paddies in Japanese, so the company name was changed slightly so as not to be associated with farming.

Kiichiro traveled to Europe and the US in 1929/1930 and became fascinated with the cars and engines he saw. The Japanese government, in need of cars and engines, encouraged Kiichiro to develop and build cars. The first models looked similar to the cars he saw on this travels.

In June of 1950, the company made only 300 vehicles and was on the verge of going bankrupt. A small bank loan, however, along with bank instructions that the company not hire any more workers than necessary took the company out of the red.

Toyota entered the American market in 1957. In the 1960’s the U.S. began to put high tariffs on imported vehicles. In response, Toyota began to manufacture vehicles in the U.S. in the early 1980’s.

In response to the 1973 oil crisis, consumers began to demand smaller cars with better fuel efficiency.

In the 1990’s Toyota began to branch out from this restriction to produce larger and more luxurious vehicles, including several lines of SUVs. Toyota began to produce the world’s first hybrid car, the Prius, in 1997.

In 2014, the company unveiled what many people consider to be one of the strangest looking “cars” ever made, the Toyota I Road. This electric three wheeled, two passenger vehicle which looks more like an enclosed motorcycle, other than the steering wheel. With a top speed of 30MPH, this city friendly car can go about 31 miles on a single charge, and it recharges in 3 hours. Company spokespersons say that they are working on improving the speed and range of the vehicle and hope to have it for sale in 2019.

Today Toyota is the world’s largest automobile manufacturer by production and the world’s thirteenth largest company. The company has over 350,000 employees worldwide and had $228.48 trillion in revenue in 2016.

Toyota is a Japanese automaker with worldwide headquarters in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. Kiichiro Toyoda started the company in 1937 as a spin-off of his father's company, Toyota Industries. It was previously a division of the same … [Continue reading] about Toyota Corporate Office

Capital One Corporate Office

The Capital One Financial Corporation

The Capital One Financial Corporation was founded in 1988 by Richard Fairbank and Nigel Morris as a spin-off of Signet Banking Corp. named Oakstone Financial Corporation.

The spin-off was renamed Capital One Financial Corporation in 1995, the same year it went public on the NYSE. This new company ranked in the top ten of credit card issuers in the country with 5 million customers.

History

In 2000 Capital One became a member of the Fortune 500.

Capital One entered the retail banking market through its acquisition of Hibernia National Bank in 2005 and North Fork Bancorporation in 2006.

Capital One acquired Chevy Chase Bank in 2008 for $520 million.

In 2018, Capital One was hit with a 9 figure fine its failure to adhere to a series of anti-money laundering guidelines established in a 2015 order by The Office of the Controller of the Currency.

The Trump administration and family members sued Capital One and Deutsche Bank on April 30, 2019, in an attempt to prevent them from releasing their personal and business financial information to Democratic committee members.

The company was hit by a massive data breach in July 2019 after a Seattle hacker obtained the social security numbers and other information of approximately 130,000 customers.

Today Capital One is a bank holding company specializing in credit cards, home loans, auto loans, banking, and savings products. The company is a member of the S&P 500 and Fortune 500. Capital One has 50,400 employees worldwide and had $21.396 billion in revenue in 2012.

The Capital One Financial Corporation was founded in 1988 by Richard Fairbank and Nigel Morris as a spin-off of Signet Banking Corp. named Oakstone Financial Corporation. The spin-off was renamed Capital One Financial Corporation in 1995, the same … [Continue reading] about Capital One Corporate Office

Alcoa Corporate Office

Alcoa Inc.

Alcoa Inc. (The Aluminum Company of America) was founded in 1866 by Charles Martin Hall after he discovered the process for smelting aluminum. This process is still the only known process for making aluminum. The new company was called the Pittsburgh Reduction Company.

By 1903 the company was manufacturing aluminum at three sites and was the only legal producer of aluminum in the United States. The company faced competition only from foreign producers, who were subject to high tariffs.

From 1938 to 1940 Alcoa was involved in a trial with the U.S. government concerning its monopolistic hold on the aluminum industry. Alcoa was ordered to break up. World War II meant an increased demand for aluminum, one that Alcoa was unable to fill. The U.S. government built two plants which were operated by Alcoa. After the war, the U.S. government sold these two plants to new rivals.

History

During the 1970’s, with smelting increasing in cost, Alcoa began to look for alternatives, settling on recycling. By 1979 the company was reprocessing 110 million pounds of scrap aluminum and by 1985, 500 million pounds.

Today Alcoa is the world’s third largest producer of aluminum and conducts operations in 31 countries. It is involved in all aspects of the industry: technology, mining, refining, smelting, fabricating, and recycling.

Alcoa’s products are used in aircraft, automobile, commercial transportation, packaging, building, and construction, defense, industrial, and oil and gas worldwide. The company has over 60,000 employees and had $25.9 billion in revenue in 2011.

A.O. Smith Corporation Corporate Office

A.O. Smith Corporation

A.O. Smith Corporation was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by the Smith family in 1874 as a small machine shop.

In 1889 A.O. Smith entered the bicycle industry and began to manufacture bicycle parts.

In 1892 Arthur O. Smith, son of the founder, began making pressed steel automobile frames for the Peerless Automobile Company. In 1906 Henry Ford ordered 10,000 of these frames. Soon after, the company became the largest steel frame manufacturer in the United States.

History

In 1921 A.O. Smith unveiled the world’s first fully automated frame assembly plant. This plant was capable of making a frame every 8 seconds and was in operation until 1958.

In 1936 the company patented the glass-lined water heater, which quickly became the industry standard.

During World War II the company produced bomb casings, aircraft propellers, landing gear, water heaters, and jeep frames for the war effort, as well as components for the atomic bomb project.

In 1959 A.O. Smith began to commercialize its research in the use of fiberglass to replace steel.

In 1995 the company expanded to the Asian market through two joint ventures.

Today A.O. Smith is the largest manufacturer of residential and commercial water heaters and boilers in North America. The company has over 10,000 employees, 24 worldwide locations and had $1.94 billion in revenue in 2012.

A.O. Smith Corporation was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by the Smith family in 1874 as a small machine shop. In 1889 A.O. Smith entered the bicycle industry and began to manufacture bicycle parts. In 1892 Arthur O. Smith, son of the founder, … [Continue reading] about A.O. Smith Corporation Corporate Office