Since then, the VW emblem has been regarded as a symbol of Germany as a business location, as a seal of quality "Made in Germany".
This is now being challenged by the emissions scandal.
As a result, the families that have determined the course of the company for decades, the Porsches and the Piëchs, are also coming into focus.
The question of who calls the shots at the core brand of the German automotive industry has always been an issue of national importance.
VW is also a kind of mirror image of German history since the last century.
With the invention of the VW Beetle in the 1930s, family patriarch Ferdinand Porsche laid the foundations for what would later become a global corporation.
In the process, he became entangled in the machinations of the Nazi regime.
His closeness to Hitler and the mass use of forced laborers in the company's armaments production had consequences: almost two years in prison under the French occupying power.
Ferdinand Porsche died in 1951.
His son Ferry (1909-1998) and daughter Louise (1904-1999), married to Piëch, succeeded him in the company, followed later by Porsche's grandsons Wolfgang Porsche and Ferdinand Piëch.
To this day, the descendants of the inventor of the Beetle, Ferdinand Porsche, have considerable decision-making power in the VW Group.
The rivalry between the "name bearers", the children of Porsche son Ferry, and the "non-name bearers", the children of Porsche daughter Louise Piëch, runs like a red thread through the history of the company.
All the stops are pulled out.
Adultery, betrayal, intrigue - it's always about money, power and vanity.
In 1970, a psychologist was supposed to reconcile the quarrelling relatives, but to no avail.
After all, Wolfgang Porsche ran the Stuttgart-based sports car company of the same name, while Ferdinand Piëch headed Volkswagen.
He had reached the top of the Group via the Audi detour.
Piëch turned the somewhat dusty brand into an "engine" of the VW empire in the 1980s.
The rivalry later developed into the biggest takeover battle ever to rage on the German stock market.
The two companies tried to swallow each other up.
The Porsches lost the showdown in 2009.
Piëch triumphed - but only for a time.
When rumors arose that he was trying to make his wife Ursula his successor at the helm of Volkswagen, he put his power in the company at risk.
Cousin Wolfgang, who sits on the Supervisory Board, thwarted the suspected plan.
His rival was gradually stripped of his power.
2015 was the fateful year for the automotive giant.
In September, VW came under fire for allegedly systematically falsifying emission values for diesel engines.
What consequences will the scandal have for the company, the entire industry and for Germany as a business location?
Authors Manfred Oldenburg and Annebeth Jacobsen look for answers, take a look back at 140 years of family and company history and talk to clan members Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piëch.
First broadcast: Tuesday, October 17, 2017, 8:15 p.m. on ZDF.