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Volkswagen pulls a fast one: 'Voltswagen' rebrand a ruse

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John Biers, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/reuters/03/31/vw.jpg"/><figcaption>A Volkswagen logo is seen at a construction completion event of SAIC Volkswagen MEB electric vehicle plant in Shanghai, China November 8, 2019.<em> Aly Song, Reuters/File Photo</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>NEW YORK, United States - Volkswagen US&#x27; subsidiary is keeping its name and will not rename itself &quot;Voltswagen,&quot; a company spokesman said Tuesday, confirming that an earlier announcement was an April Fool&#x27;s joke that may have gone further than intended.</p><p>The German automaker&#x27;s US subsidiary, which is launching a media blitz for a new all-electric sport utility vehicle, recrafted its social media pages Tuesday and said the new moniker represents its &quot;future-forward investment in e-mobility,&quot; according to a press release early Tuesday that was widely covered, including by AFP.</p><p>Company officials kept up the pretense for hours, with a US spokesman confirming the name change early Tuesday in response to an email question about whether it was an April Fool&#x27;s joke. </p><p>But VW spokesman Mark Gillies said in an email late Tuesday that the &quot;Voltswagen&quot; rebrand was a joke after the Wall Street Journal and other media reported that the announcement was indeed a ruse.</p><p>The incident comes as VW unveils new ads in the United States for the ID.4, its new electric model. VW&#x27;s shift to electric cars marks an opportunity to redefine itself after the bruising &quot;Dieselgate&quot; scandal, which led to billions of dollars&#x27; worth of government settlements and a shakeup of company leadership.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/07/28/20/volkswagen-has-paid-95-billion-to-us-drivers-over-dieselgate">Volkswagen has paid $9.5 billion to US drivers over &#x27;dieselgate&#x27;</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/02/28/20/volkswagen-strikes-dieselgate-compensation-deal-with-german-consumers">Volkswagen strikes &#x27;dieselgate&#x27; compensation deal with German consumers</a></li></ul><p>Daniel Binns, head of Interbrand, a New York-based marketing consultancy, said the VW&#x27;s announcement succeeded in generating buzz, but that the approach was not risk-free.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s got us talking about it, so it&#x27;s working,&quot; Binns said late Tuesday afternoon while the branding campaign was under suspicion but not yet debunked.</p><p>But Binns said the joke was not necessarily intuitive, since the release came a few days before April 1. There is also a risk the communication around the joke will look &quot;mismanaged&quot; given that many people took it seriously.</p><p>&quot;At this point it&#x27;s how it gets resolved and what is the punchline,&quot; Binns told AFP.</p><p>The episode began Monday, when VW briefly published the &quot;Voltswagen&quot; press release, sparking speculation it was an April Fools&#x27; joke. Such stunts are particularly popular in the German press.</p><p>VW quickly removed the release but made a formal announcement on Tuesday morning. The name was also changed on VW&#x27;s Twitter and YouTube pages.</p><p>A VW spokesman in the United States said Tuesday the announcement was originally intended for April 29, but that the transition was accelerated after the inadvertent Monday release. </p><p>&quot;After yesterday, we have decided to expedite this roll-out and will be going through a series of transitions in both internal and external brand guidelines that will make this change as seamless and straightforward as possible,&quot; said spokesman William Gock, whose email signature identifies him as Product Communications Senior Specialist for Volkswagen of America.</p><p>&quot;This name change signals that VW is transitioning away from the internal combustion engine and to e-mobility,&quot; Gock said in response to emailed questions, including about April Fool&#x27;s Day.</p><p>&quot;We foresee our cars being all electric in the US by the end of the next decade, and we hope the attention we&#x27;re generating here will help communicate these goals and commitments to all.&quot;</p><div><strong>Tesla-level buzz? </strong></div><p>The announcement comes as VW unveils in US showrooms this month the new all-electric ID.4 sport utility vehicle, the latest challenge by a conventional automaker to Elon Musk&#x27;s Tesla franchise.</p><p>Besides releasing products to compete with Tesla, traditional automakers are also trying to compete with Musk&#x27;s flare for generating buzz. </p><p>VW&#x27;s plan for shifting away from conventional cars is similar to that of General Motors, which introduced a new brand design earlier this year as part of an avowed redefinition of the company to what GM calls a future of &quot;zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion.&quot;</p><p>A series of lighthearted spots released Monday played up the change to an auto that starts up without a traditional vroom, responds to voice commands to adjust the heat and charges up while an owner goes to bed.</p><p>Wedbush Securities praised VW&#x27;s announcement as evidence it is &quot;not playing around&quot; in building up its electric car fleet and remaking its corporate image, according to a note released Tuesday shortly after the purported name change.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO: </strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1648178" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>VW spokesman Mark Gillies said in an email late Tuesday that the "Voltswagen" rebrand was a joke after the Wall Street Journal and other media reported that the announcement was indeed a ruse.</p>

VW spokesman Mark Gillies said in an email late Tuesday that the "Voltswagen" rebrand was a joke after the Wall Street Journal and other media reported that the announcement was indeed a ruse.

Volkswagen pulls a fast one: 'Voltswagen' rebrand a ruse

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Volkswagen pulls a fast one: 'Voltswagen' rebrand a ruse

John Biers,

Agence France-Presse

Published March 31, 2021 09:06 AM PHT

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ANC

ANC top

VW

Volkswagen

EV

electric vehicle

ID.4

all-electric ID.4 sport utility vehicle

Tesla

Voltswagen

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