This subseries documents Volkswagen, which was built by Dr. Ing. h.c.f. Porsche GmbH of Stuttgart, Germany (1936-1937); Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung der Volkswagens of Berlin, Germany and Stadt der KdF Wagens (1937-1938); Volkswagen GmbH of Berlin, Germany and Wolfsburg, Germany (1938-1960); and Volkswagen AG of Wolfsburg, Germany (1960-Present).

The origins of Volkswagen go back to the early 1930s, when Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, the founder of the automobile design firm Dr. Ing. h.c.f. Porsche GmbH, first conceived the idea of a small car that could be purchased by Germany's masses. His ideas attracted the attention of Adolf Hitler, who became chancellor of Germany in 1933. In 1934, Dr. Porsche signed a contract with the German government to develop a "People's Car" according to Hitler's specifications, which included an air-cooled engine and an aerodynamic body. This car would come to be known throughout the world as the Volkswagen Beetle. The first few Beetles left the Volkswagen works in 1938, but only a handful were built before the outbreak of World War II. During the war, Volkswagen built military vehicles based on the Beetle for the German war effort.

After Germany surrenderd in 1945, Volkswagen's facilities came under the control of the British Army, who restarted production of the Beetle for use by the Allied occupation forces. In 1948, British military authorities hired Heinz Nordhoff as Volkswagen's general manager and the company was handed over to the Lower Saxony state government that same year. By concentrating on the Beetle, Volkswagen grew exponentially and contributed mightily to Germany's post-World War II economic recovery. Between 1946 and 2003, more than 21 million Volkswagen Beetles were built, which made it the top selling car of all time.

From the very beginning, Volkswagen enjoyed a close association with Porsche, which continues to this day. Beginning in 1949, Volkswagen started expanding its product line with other air-cooled vehicles, which eventually included the Karmann Ghia and Transporter. In 1953, the company started expanding its production capacity overseas when it set up a factory in Brazil. Volkswagen experienced further growth in 1965 when it took over Auto Union and revived the dormant Audi nameplate. In 1969, the company also took over German competitor NSU.

Starting in the late 1960s, the increasing obsolesence of the Beetle and other air-cooled vehicles led Volkswagen to start developing more conventional water-cooled cars. After suffering serious financial losses during the early 1970s, Volkswagen introduced the Golf in 1974, which did much to restore the company's fortunes. Between the 1990s and 2000s, Volkswagen experienced further growth on an international scale when it acquired control of Seat (1990), Bugatti (1998), Lamborghini (1998), Škoda (2000), and Bentley (2003).

In an effort to keep Volkswagen from being taken over by another firm, Porsche bought a large stake in Volkswagen in 2005. This state of affairs was reversed in 2012 when Volkswagen acquired control of Porsche.

Volkswagen is currently the largest automaker in Germany and the fourth largest in the world. See also Audi, Auto Union, Bentley, Bugatti, DKW, Horch, Lamborghini, NSU, Porsche (Germany), Škoda, and Wanderer.