Volkswagen is owned by a mix of big institutional shareholders and smaller investors, but control clearly sits with Porsche Automobil Holding SE and a couple of powerful public stakeholders.

Quick Scoop: Who Owns Volkswagen?

  • The company you’re asking about is Volkswagen AG (often called the Volkswagen Group), headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany.
  • Its largest single owner is Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE) , which holds a majority of the voting shares and effectively controls the group.
  • Important minority stakes are held by:
    • The State of Lower Saxony (German federal state).
* **Qatar Holding** (Qatar’s sovereign wealth arm).

* The rest is held by **free-float investors** (institutional and retail shareholders on the stock market).

In practical terms, that means Volkswagen is not “owned” by one person or family in a simple way, but controlled by the Porsche–Piëch family through Porsche SE, with strong political influence via Lower Saxony and a strategic investor role from Qatar.

Main Owners at a Glance

Here is an approximate snapshot of the shareholder structure of Volkswagen AG (ordinary shares with voting rights).

[3] [5][3] [5][3] [5] [3][5] [5] [6][3] [6]
Owner / Blockholder Role Approx. stake (voting power) What it means
Porsche Automobil Holding SE Controlling shareholder Just over 50% of voting shares.Gives the Porsche–Piëch family effective control over major strategic decisions.
State of Lower Saxony (Germany) Public/government shareholder Roughly one fifth of voting shares.Holds a special blocking minority and political influence over jobs and strategy.
Qatar Holding Sovereign wealth investor Significant minority stake in ordinary shares.Acts as a strategic financial investor with board representation.
Free float / other investors Institutional & retail shareholders Remainder of the shares.Includes global funds, banks, and small shareholders via stock exchanges.

How This Structure Came About

  • Volkswagen started as a state-linked company in 1937 and later became a large publicly traded automaker.
  • Over time, the Porsche–Piëch family built up control via Porsche SE in a complex “merger of equals” between Porsche and Volkswagen that concluded in the 2010s.
  • Today, Porsche SE itself is a holding company whose main asset is its controlling stake in Volkswagen AG, and it is in turn controlled by the founding family.

In other words, when people ask “who owns Volkswagen?”, the most precise answer is: Volkswagen is controlled by Porsche Automobil Holding SE (owned by the Porsche–Piëch family), alongside major stakes from Lower Saxony and Qatar, plus many smaller investors via the stock market.

TL;DR:
Volkswagen AG is a publicly traded group, but control sits with Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche–Piëch family), backed by big minority stakes from Lower Saxony and Qatar Holding , with the rest in free-float investors.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.