In 1967, DDB published the unusual story of tribal chief Njiiri from Kiambu, who traveled through difficult terrain in Kikuyuland in his VW Beetle as he visited his large family of 34 wives, 80 sons and more than 90 daughters. The ad stated: "His Volkswagen never let him down."

The last original Type 1 VW Beetle rolled off the production line at Puebla, Mexico, on 30 July 2003, 65 years after its original launch. This last Beetle, nicknamed El Rey (Spanish for "The King" after a legendary Mexican song by José Alfredo Jiménez) was delivered to the company's museum in Wolfsburg, Germany.

Audi, along with fellow German marques BMW and Mercedes-Benz, is among the best-selling luxury automobile brands in the world.

On 18 September 2015, The US EPA announced that Volkswagen had installed a "defeat device" software code in the diesel models sold in the US from 2009-15. The code was intended to detect when an emissions test was being conducted, and altered emissions controls for better compliance. Off the test stand, the controls were relaxed, and emissions jumped 35 to 40 times regulatory levels.

Introduced in 1997, the New Beetle drew heavy inspiration from the exterior design of the original Beetle.

Czechoslavakian car maker Tatra sued for copyright infringement because the original Beetle was so similar to the Tatra T97. In 1965 Volkswagen settled it by paying Tatra 1,000,000 Deutsche Mark in compensation.

In 2002, the VW Golf caught up with the success of the legendary Beetle. The 21,517,415 units made it the most highly produced Volkswagen model ever.

The Volkswagen Golf won the title in 1992 and 2013.

It has been marketed over seven generations, variously as the Atlantic, Fox, Vento, Bora, City Jetta, Jetta City, GLI, Jetta, Clasico, Voyage, and Sagitar.

Three prestige automotive marques were added to the Volkswagen portfolio in 1998: Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini.