The Corporate History Department at Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft is presenting a new publication entitled ‘Towards Mobility. Varieties of Automobilism in East and West’ in its series ‘Forschungen Positionen Dokumente’. The anthology has been compiled from contributions made at an international conference organized by the German Historical Institute in Moscow in February 2007.
The contributions by renowned historians from Russia, France, Italy, the USA and Germany examine the history of the automobile and the automotive industry in East and West post-1945. One special focus lies in investigating the corporate culture of automakers, highlighting several country-specific differences as globalization progresses. The idea of ‘mobility for everyone’ transcended the boundaries of any political blocs. This vision became reality in Western Europe and the USA much sooner than in Russia, which is today one of the world’s fastest growing auto markets as the country makes good the backlog in demand that has accumulated over many decades. A comparison of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic serves to illustrate the different ways in which automobility has developed. The Volkswagen Golf and the Trabant symbolize the attempts to realize the vision of mobility on both sides of the ‘Wall’ by various means, including technology transfer and cooperation projects.
‘This anthology of contributions provides reliable knowledge on the international conditions for the automobile industry,’ Dr. Manfred Grieger, Head of the Corporate History Department, explains. ‘It opens important perspectives for companies like Volkswagen which, with its plant in Kaluga, is investing in an emerging market with special structures that have evolved historically.’
The anthology is Volume 3 in the series ‘Forschungen Positionen Dokumente. Schriften zur Unternehmensgeschichte von Volkswagen’, and is available from bookshops (ISBN 987-3-935112-34-5) at € 24.90.
- Volkswagen AG
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