Volkswagen Kannur

With cars named for climate patterns, insects, and small mammals, Volkswagen (VW) leads the Continent as Europe's #1 carmaker. Along with Golf (Gulf Stream reference) and the New Beetle, VW's annual production of more than 7 million cars, trucks, and vans includes such models as Passat (trade wind), Jetta (jet stream), Rabbit, and Fox. VW also owns a garage full of luxury carmakers -- AUDI, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Bugatti. Other brands include SEAT (family cars, Spain) and Skoda (family cars, the Czech Republic). Late in 2009 VW acquired a 49.9% stake in Porsche for about E4 billion (almost $6 billion) as the first step in combining the two into an integrated car company.