So here\’s a very funny joke from VW. They claimed a corporate name change to Voltswagen to show their commitment to Electric Vehicles (EV). Then 24hrs later, the company issued a second statement, joking about how much they fooled us!
Some details below, as read on Yahoo News
Earlier today, reports came out from CNBC and USA Today that Volkswagen would be rolling out some new branding under the name Voltswagen. It was all detailed in a leaked press release. Considering our proximity to April Fool\’s Day, a day when many automakers publish silly news announcements, we figured that was the case. Well, we\’ve received word from a source at the company that indicates VW really is going to start badging its electric cars as Voltswagens, and a number of other outlets have received confirmation from sources inside VW, too.
According to CNBC, the new brand name will apply mainly to the company\’s electric cars, which will feature a badge that says \”Voltswagen.\” They will also get a variant of the main VW badge with a light blue background, rather than dark blue for the internal-combustion cars. The internal-combustion cars will simply continue to get the VW brand and model name.
The new name will apparently be applied exclusively in the U.S., where Voltswagen of America will be part of the Volkswagen Group of America, which is part of the overall Volkswagen AG.
It\’s easy to see why a lot of outlets today thought this might be an April Fool\’s joke. Sure, it\’s a cute pun that might be great for an ad campaign, but it presents a few problems with actual branding. For one thing, VW already had a designation for its electric cars: the \”ID\” prefix. The company has even been using it for years on its electric concepts back to the ID.Buzz minivan. Now, VW will be doubling down on electric identifiers or, put another way, spending time on two brands that are essentially redundant.
Naming the entire U.S. branch Voltswagen seems strange, too. For one thing, only one electric VW is on sale in the U.S., the ID.4, and it\’s only the second production VW EV to be offered, here. And there are more EVs coming, but VW is going to be selling Tiguans, Atlases, Taoses, Jettas and GTIs for several years, or more, to come. So it would be weird for a company blatantly named after electricity to keep selling ICE cars. And then, when VW eventually goes all-electric and the notion isn\’t so novel, will the company go back to Volkswagen, instead of Voltswagen?
In this, VW would also be abandoning a nameplate with heritage. Sure, there are some very dark aspects to Volkswagen\’s history, but there\’s a lot of positive, too, and a lot of people that love Volkswagens, not necessarily Voltswagens. It seems like a short-sighted move to drop a historic name for something gimmicky.
But we\’d guess that VW is set on this change, since they were planning on releasing this announcement later in April. Let us know what you think in the comments.
