Historia VW.

In August 2002, at Volkswagen Slovakia, a.s. in Bratislava, mass production of the Touareg, a luxury-class off-road vehicle, is started, marking the Volkswagen brand's move into an entirely new market segment.

In December 2002 the "Auto 5000 GmbH" company, operating a plant at the Group's site in Wolfsburg, starts production of the Touran compact van. A special collective pay model has been developed, aimed at implementing lean production and involving flat hierarchies, team working, flexible working hours and the deployment of more process expertise by the workforce.

In 2003 production of the fifth-generation Golf is started, embodying a new dynamism in its design and engineering.