10 Unexpected Products From Your Favorite Brands, Including Samsung’s Machine Gun

Can you imagine someone telling you that Samsung once manufactured machine guns? Or that Volkswagen is in the sausage business, Toyota is selling prefabricated homes, and Apple once offered a clothing line? It sounds unbelievable, but it’s all true!

We usually associate big names like Lamborghini with luxury sports cars or Sony with cutting-edge electronics. However, these giant corporations often venture into markets completely unrelated to their primary business. Sometimes they branch out into entirely new fields, and at other times, they become part of a multinational conglomerate with interests we’d never expect.

10. Volkswagen – Ketchup and Sausage

This raises an interesting question: Is Volkswagen a car company that happens to sell sausages, or is it a sausage business with cars on the side?

Volkswagen produces a sausage known as currywurst, which is branded with the German phrase “Volkswagen Originalteil” (“Volkswagen original parts”). These sausages are crafted at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, where cars are also produced, just in case you’re wondering. The sausages, made from pork, come in two different lengths, and there’s even a vegetarian option available.

Volkswagen ventured into the ketchup market in 1997. Their ketchup is notably thicker than typical ketchup, with a distinctive flavor profile, including spices and curry. The sausages and ketchup have become incredibly popular and are sold at Volkswagen factories and select supermarkets in Germany. Additionally, German dealerships offer a pack to customers who purchase new Volkswagens.

9. Apple – Clothing Line

What do you think they called it? iShirt? Maccap? No, it was called The Apple Collection. The line included t-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, and hats, all featuring either the classic colorful Apple logo or the word “Apple” in a quirky, retro font. The idea for the clothing line didn’t come from Steve Jobs—he had left the company a year earlier. At the time, John Sculley was the CEO of Apple, so we think he was behind the decision. With no Apple stores yet in existence, the clothes were only available through mail order. Unfortunately, the line was eventually discontinued, likely due to poor sales.

8. Samsung – Machine Guns

Many people don’t realize that Samsung is more than just a tech giant. The conglomerate has its hands in numerous industries including construction, vehicle manufacturing, theme parks, helicopter engines, hospitals, real estate, luxury hotels, textiles, chemicals, and even weapons. Among these unexpected ventures, Samsung has developed machine guns that are not your standard firearms; these weapons are powered by artificial intelligence and are capable of engaging targets autonomously without human intervention.

The Samsung SGR-A1 sentry gun, a product of a collaboration between Samsung Techwin (a Samsung subsidiary) and Korea University, is equipped with cameras, rangefinders, illuminators, voice recognition, and a machine gun. It also has multiple grenade launchers, allowing it to automatically track, identify, and engage enemy targets.

Despite its advanced capabilities, Samsung insists that the weapon doesn’t operate autonomously in combat situations. Instead, it gathers data on potential intruders and sends the information to a human operator, who then decides whether to activate the weapon. Currently, the sentry gun is deployed along the 250-kilometer-long Korean Demilitarized Zone, one of the most heavily militarized regions in the world, though there have been no reports of it causing any fatalities.

7. Porsche – Honey

By December, the bees had produced 400 kilograms of pure honey. Porsche packaged it in jars, branded it as ‘Turbienchen,’ and sold it at its customer care shop in Leipzig, Germany. The honey flew off the shelves in just a few days, prompting Porsche to add an additional 1.5 million bees in an effort to double their honey output the following year.

Porsche didn’t enter the beekeeping business for profit, but rather for environmental preservation. Bees are essential to German agriculture and are legally protected, yet the country still suffers from significant bee population loss due to disease and pesticides each year. In fact, Germany is currently facing a shortage of bees, and Porsche’s goal is to help replenish the population.

6. Cosmopolitan Magazine – Yogurt

In 1999, the first batch of Cosmopolitan yogurt (often called ‘Cosmo yogurt’) hit supermarket shelves. Like the magazine, it was marketed primarily to women aged 15 to 44. The low-fat yogurt, produced in collaboration with MD Foods, didn’t last long—despite its initial buzz, it was discontinued after just two years due to poor sales.

5. Lamborghini – Off-Road Vehicles

Lamborghini still manufactures tractors, but that’s not the strangest thing to ever come out of their factories. That honor goes to the peculiar off-road vehicle known as the Lamborghini LM 002. In fact, Lamborghini produced three off-road vehicles in total. The first two, the Cheetah and the LM 001, were just prototypes and never saw production.

The plans for the Cheetah and the LM 001 were eventually combined to create the LM 002, which made its debut at the 1982 Geneva Auto Show. Production of the LM 002 began four years later. True to Lamborghini’s reputation, the LM 002 was an all-wheel-drive powerhouse with a V12 engine that could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 7.8 seconds.

As impressive as its performance was, the LM 002’s design left much to be desired. The car’s appearance was undeniably odd, and some typical Lamborghini luxuries like leather seats and air conditioning were offered only as options. Oh, and did we mention it had a cargo bed?

4. Virgin Group – Virgin Cola

Interestingly, Virgin Cola came close to success before Coca-Cola drove it out of the market. To be fair, Sir Branson struck first when he took an armored tank and crushed cans of Coke to promote his new beverage. Coca-Cola executives understood the challenge. Sir Branson's goal was clear: he aimed to dethrone Coca-Cola and become the leading cola brand in the industry.

In response, Coca-Cola launched aggressive promotions to entice stores to stop carrying Virgin Cola and instead stock Coke. As a result, Virgin Cola's sales plummeted across most markets, except for Bangladesh, where it still had a loyal following. However, the Bangladeshi market was too small to make a significant profit, leading Sir Branson to discontinue the product.

3. Sony—Insurance

Sony's electronics division, which helped establish the company as a household name in the West, is currently losing money. Despite this, Sony refuses to sell or shut down the division, preferring to absorb significant financial losses instead. As former CEO Kazuo Hirai once put it, 'Electronics has a future. And it is in Sony’s DNA.' The division remains hopeful for a revival in the future.

2. Peugeot—Peppermill

Peugeot originally started as a flourmill, but by 1810, the company diversified into the production of tools, clock components, sewing machines, and other steel goods. The coffee mill and peppermill lines were introduced in the 1840s. It wasn’t until much later that the company ventured into car manufacturing.

Peugeot still manufactures peppermills today. Their peppermills are regarded as some of the finest in the world, with a reputation for durability that can last a lifetime. Interestingly, many customers don’t realize that their peppermill comes from the same Peugeot company that produces cars. Despite sharing the same name and logo, the connection often goes unnoticed.

1. Toyota—Prefabricated Homes

While these homes aren't exactly cheap, with prices ranging from $200,000 to $800,000 depending on the buyer's selection, Toyota Housing Corporation decided to create a side business offering loans and other financial services to assist those interested in purchasing one of their homes. It is rumored that Toyota has sold more than 250,000 homes since venturing into the housing market.