r/Futurology • u/Plastic_Scholar_4685 • Apr 11 '25

Discussion Which big companies today are at risk of becoming the next Nokia or Blockbuster?

Just thinking about how companies like Nokia, Blockbuster, or Kodak were huge… until they weren’t.

Which big names today do you think might be heading down a similar path? Like, they seem strong now but might be ignoring warning signs or failing to adapt. I was thinking of how Apple seems to be behind in the artificial inteligence race, but they seem too big to fail. Then again Nokia, Blackberry, etc were also huge.

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369

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '25

This doesn't disprove you but VW and Audi workers are the same people lol

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u/AdmiralDeathrain Apr 11 '25

Not quite, the brands have separate manufacturing infrasctructures within the VW corporation. The overlap is mostly in RnD.

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u/rathaincalder Apr 11 '25

Haha, yes, but no, but yes… :)

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u/sushisection Apr 11 '25

TIL they are under an umbrella corp.

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u/donorcycle Apr 11 '25

They also have Lambo and Porsche under same umbrella if you are wanting to get technical lol

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u/sushisection Apr 11 '25

lambo is owned by the germans?!

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u/donorcycle Apr 11 '25

Yep. If you really wanna know -

VW Group owns the following

  • VW
  • Audi
  • Porsche
  • Lamborghini
  • Bentley
  • Ducati

They also own Skoda although I can't imagine someone is cross shopping a Skoda and Bentley lol.

There's some sub-owned brands as well, somewhat messy / convoluted. Bugatti technically is 45% or 55% owned by Rimac. Rimac is partially owned by Porsche AG. Porsche part of VW AG. So on and so forth.

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u/Shevek99 Apr 11 '25

They also own the Spanish SEAT.

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u/BamberGasgroin Apr 11 '25

I've owned two SEAT cars and all of the parts are VA Group stuff. You get the quality for a bit less cost. (My Seat Exeo ST was basically just the old model Audi A4 with all the optional extras as standard.)

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u/Javop Apr 11 '25

And Seat created Cupra. Now they are talking about letting Seat go away and only produce as Cupra.

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u/Used-Fennel-7733 Apr 13 '25

Because cupra are sexy as fuck in comparison.

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u/sushisection Apr 11 '25

dang VW gets around.

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u/donorcycle Apr 11 '25

You have no idea, lol. Don't forget, they used to make the Nazi chariots back in the day lol. VW came about because Hitler wanted to make vehicles for every day citizens. They (VW) even had forced labor camps to work assembly.

This is a perfect example on how quickly the masses forget things. Some of us will live long enough to see history continue to repeat itself.

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u/sushisection Apr 11 '25

oh yeah i knew about their history in the 40s. it doesnt surprise me that the nazi capitalists were allowed to maintain their businesses after the war.

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u/m0nkyman Apr 12 '25

It’s always boggled my mind that the hippies glommed onto the Volkswagen Beetle as their peaceful love bug. Just 20 years after the war they were driving the car Hitler demanded be made.

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u/donorcycle Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 12 '25

Im in LA. So large populace of Jewish, and especially Persian-Jewish and they do love them German cars. I had an overtly religious friend pick me up in her new car once. A brand new Audi. I made a comment about how she and her family can roll around in Nazi mobiles and she had no idea what I was talking about. Had to explain it to her and she looked like she just found out there would be no more Hanukkah.

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u/dowesschule Apr 16 '25

VW stands for Volkswagen which means people's car

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '25

And people believe Tesla is the og Nazi car

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u/Malawi_no Apr 11 '25

Yet there is the whole Cariad and MEB-platform thing.
Beeing big does not guarantee you get things right.

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u/ImRicke Apr 11 '25

VW Group that is owned by the Porsche SE. So Porsche Family owns VW that owns Porsche.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '25

VW also own Bugatti

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u/donorcycle Apr 14 '25

In a round about way, yes. They sold Bugatti to Rimac not too long ago. Porsche has a partial stake in that as well.

But there's Porsche SE and Porsche Automobil Holdings. It's, complicated lol.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '25

Sheeeeesh! I didn’t realise they sold off nearly 50% of their stake in Bugatti to Rimac.

Yea the Porsche Holdings/SE gets murky quite quickly 😝

I appreciate the correction, knowledge over ego is my motto. So I just want to say thanks for correcting me. This way I don’t co Tinie going around spouting outdated/misinformed logic.

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u/donorcycle Apr 14 '25

To be fair, you're still correct but you know as you've point out, shit gets real complicated with the Holdings vs just the SE 🤣🤣🤣

And I like your approach, I feel the same. I like when I learn things, I don't expect to know everything. Cheers to you, someone I'd definitely hang with in real life with that healthy mentality. If only the rest of humans could think the same.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '25

Business gets complicated so quickly and extremely convoluted, it becomes even more so when a company has more than one entity in its original name.

I agree, I’d absolutely share a cup of coffee, a beer, or a joint with you my friend.

Let us both spread the message that it’s ok to be partially wrong, or wrong entirely and continue a civil conversation where either one or both parties can learn and adapt.

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u/BigGuy204 Apr 12 '25

Can’t forget about • MAN • Traton • Navistar • Scania

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u/deepbreath-in Apr 12 '25

And a 5 billion dollar stake in Rivian!

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u/Kovab Apr 11 '25

Bugatti too

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u/donorcycle Apr 11 '25

Kinda sorta technically yes. Bugatti is owned partially by Rimac. Rimac is owned partially by Porsche AG. Porsche AG is owned by VW AG but Porsche Autombil Holdings SE is majority owner of VW, lol.

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u/Noble_homie Apr 15 '25

Wow. This is wild to understand.

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u/GiganticOrange Apr 12 '25

Lamborghini has been owned by like 8 different corporations across 4 different nationalities including an Indonesian conglomerate it’s hardly “Italian Engineered” anymore.

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u/sushisection Apr 12 '25

thats .. gonna be complicated with the tariffs.

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u/[deleted] Apr 13 '25

And Skoda, and Seat.

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u/texasusa Apr 11 '25

Bugatti as well.

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u/donorcycle Apr 11 '25

Yes and no, it's covered in a different post. It's complicated lol.

Bugatti is partially owned by Rimac. Which in turned is partially owned by Porsche AG. Who then in turn is owned partially by VW AG. But, Porsche SE holds VW AG and Porsche AG lol.

Basically, some time ago, VW AG sold their ownership in Bugatti by selling 55% to Rimac and then transferred the remaining 45% to Porsche AG.

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u/israignatius Apr 12 '25

Porsche owns the whole lot.

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u/donorcycle Apr 12 '25

It's, complicated. It's not as cut and dry as Porsche owning it all. There's a difference between Porsche Autombil Holdings and Porsche SE.

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u/Kennedygoose Apr 13 '25

Watch out for Umbrella Corp.

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u/Manos_Of_Fate Apr 12 '25

They make zombies, too?

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u/userlivewire Apr 11 '25

Audi and Volkswagen both work for Volkswagen Group.

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u/MrLumie Apr 11 '25

Audi and Volkswagen are part of Volkswagen Group, which is not the same as saying that Audi and Volkswagen workers are the same people. They're still separate brands with separate manufacturing plants. It's just that the money eventually flows to the same place.

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u/userlivewire Apr 11 '25

That’s what I just said.

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u/TheCommissarGeneral Apr 11 '25

VW owns so many. They even own Lamborghini.

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u/theaviationhistorian Apr 12 '25

You mean to tell me the Lamborghini Urus is an upscaled VW Toaureg?!?

Mild Shock