VW switches to Voltswagen – early April fool or company rebranding? [Updated]

Update, 8:11 a.m .: Apparently it’s real. “We may be changing our K for a T, but what we are not changing is this brand’s commitment to making the best-in-class vehicles for drivers and people around the world. “said Scott Keogh, President and CEO of Voltswagen of America in a press release. “The idea of ​​a ‘popular car’ is the very fabric of our being. We have said, since we started our transition to an electric future, that we are going to build electric vehicles for millions, not just millionaires. This name change means a nod to our past as a people’s car and our firm belief that our future is to be the people’s electric car, ”said Keogh.

Original story, 7:53 am:On Monday, auto journalist Twitter was troubled by the news that Volkswagen – literally the people’s car in German – would be changing its name in the United States. According to CBNC, a press release posted on VW’s US news site on March 29, but dated April 29 and since deleted, said that from May VW will now represent Voltswagen.

Yes, volt, with a T, as in the measurement of the electric potential of the name of the Italian scientist Alessandro Volta, and not people, which is German for people. The statement apparently explained the rebranding as a “public statement of the company’s future investment in e-mobility.”

Once the rebranding took effect, gasoline-powered VWs would simply wear the iconic VW logo (in dark blue), so loved by Beastie Boys fans that they snatched them from every car they could. Meanwhile, electric VWs – like the competent ID.4 crossover – will proudly wear a Voltswagen badge, with the VW logo in light blue to differentiate the ‘EV-centric brand’.

CNBC says it confirmed the name change with “Someone familiar with the company’s plans” who “asked to remain anonymous because the plans were not yet supposed to be public.” Hours later, Road and Track released a confirmation of the story, citing “a senior Volkswagen of America employee, who asked not to be named.”

Around the same time, I contacted people at VW. Mark Gillies, head of communications at VW of America, is normally extremely responsive to inquiries, but my question from yesterday is always just “delivered”. Another of his colleagues responded to an email request with “Sorry, I cannot comment on this”.

A no comment could be read as confirmation – after all, if that was wrong, VW would call it bullshit, and it isn’t. And the current VW COO of America is Johan de Nysschen, the South African executive who is infamous for pushing through a confusing name change of the entire Infiniti product line and then doing the exact same thing at Cadillac. . And a domain name registration search reveals that the voltswagen.com URL has been owned by someone in Germany (as determined by a country code +49) since 2003, although the registry expires on April 18.

However, I still do not buy it. And I am not alone in my skepticism; In Jalopnik, several writers even promised to get a VW tattoo if this rebranding was true. On the one hand, it seems like a lot more frivolous behavior than what VW is used to, even though everything is now amplified on EVs. Additionally, while Volkswagen is a registered trademark in the United States, the USPTO does not have anything in its electronic trademark search system database for “Voltswagen”. (Which suggests to me that someone could make a quick buck by registering the brand first, if they wanted to.) And this next Thursday is, of course, April 1, when people, especially on the Internet, love to play pranks.

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