Volkswagen Rebrands to Voltswagen for North America

[Jezza819]

This is actually how a lot of Americans pronounce their name so that's funny. Nice play on words.

My grandmother used to pronounce it like "Boltswagen".

 

[Epic B]

Not to fuel the debate, but I prefer Volkswagen.

Pun intended?

Also I wouldn't be surprised if this really was a premature long-con April Fool's joke.

...Nah, I reckon they're having us on for an early April Fools.
Even if they dared to do something like this, though, couldn't they at least do a 'Citroen DS' and split just the ID. mob into a new brand?

Volkswagen seems to already have their transition away from internal combustion planned out and I imagine they'll just keep the Volkswagen name but make it all electric, whether or not they end up keeping the ID nameplate afterwards.

 

[FT-1]

Turns out it was a marketing stunt after all:

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

What a shocker


Volkswagen’s name change of U.S. operations to ‘Voltswagen’ was April Fool’s marketing prank, source says

edit: tree'd, @FT-1 short circuited me.

 

[Famine]

WSJ is reporting that VW AG is saying it's a marketing stunt, although I can't find where it's doing that (should be here or here; isn't).

Seems like Reuters is joining in with WSJ citing the same "familiar with the matter" sources that AP did yesterday...

Pretty dim move on VW's part either way. Actually worse if it turns out they knew it was fake but told journalists it was true; PRs can (and should) evade or "no comment", but straight up lying is a no-no.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Pretty dim move on VW's part either way.

Would you say they...blew a fuse?

 

[Famine]

Would you say they...blew a fuse?

I'd like to be a fly on the wall of VW of America's press office... just far a day.

 

[Liquid]

The German word for volt is Volt so I will allow this, as ridiculous and cringeworthy as it is.

 

[Nielsen]

Pun intended?

Yes.

 

[Joey D]

Shame, I was hoping they'd make a new camper van and call it the Mobile Ohm.

 

[05XR8]

Ohm my gosh, you guys...

 

[andrea]

This Voltswagen thing had to be because someone over there cant read a calendar and dropped some april fools 🤬 early.

 

[Tornado]

Would you say they...blew a fuse?

Man, I wish every electrical problem I had with mine was just a fuse

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

Ah, so it really was an April Fools joke. Well, that's one down; I wonder what other car makes will do.

 

[Ryan81]

This isn't an April Fools joke, it's real. Sounds great IMO. The way they transitioned so superfluously from one name to the other to fit the times is genius.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

I think they floated this one early to judge the public and media reaction. When that reaction was poor, they claimed it was an April Fool.

They literally pulled the "LOL, it was a joke guyzzzzz" stunt.

Here's hoping it inspires BMW to do the same thing and release 3 & 4 series with a decent front ends on them.

 

[Famine]

Absolutely tone-deaf


The correct PR response on March 29/30 to all the journos who asked would have been "the release went out early; it's our AFD effort, so please hold fire on publishing", not to pretend it was real and then publish a new press release.

Nobody's "talking about electric driving" and the ID.4; they're talking about journos being crap (which is grossly unfair, as everyone made every effort and the PR team confirmed its veracity to them) and VW having plenty of form for lying.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

edit: Here is the tweet in case other people cannot see it:

What began as an April Fool’s effort got the whole world buzzing. Turns out people are as passionate about our heritage as they are about our electric future. So whether it’s Voltswagen or Volkswagen, people talking about electric driving and our ID.4 can only be a good thing.

 

[Famine]

edit: Here is the tweet in case other people cannot see it:

Rly? Still shows for me - but:

 

[Joey D]

"Passionate about our heritage"? Oof. Nothing like being proud of the fact that your company started off by the German Labour Front. Guess they did not-see that coming eh?

 

[Tornado]

In between all the responses posting pictures of Hitler, I liked this one:



Nife and to the point.

 

[Moglet]

What an absolute mess. Did they staff the social media team with the folks responsible for the emissions reports?

 

[Northstar]

South Park may have been onto something when they said Germans weren’t funny.

 

[Keef]

Turns out it was a marketing stunt after all:

They might be in hot water for this joke as well. They seemed to double down, and supposedly a rep told reporters that it was not an April Fools joke. Some are suggesting the SEC should investigate, since the joke dragged on long enough for investment firms and advisors to actually get involved as if it were serious.

I foresee this thread living on well past today

 

[VXR]

They are an omnishambles.

 

[AudiMan2011]

This saga is what's known as a major "Bruh Moment" on the internet.

 

[kikie]

Volkswagen Rebrands to Volkswagen for North America is what I was reading over and over again but finally got it. A "t" and a "k" look so similar.

It's a very good April fools joke and I think I believed it to be true.