Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. News

Confusion surrounds Volkswagen’s reported name change

By

There’s confusion tonight around whether Volkswagen is really intending to change its name to “Voltswagen” to reflect its pivot toward electric vehicles.

A press release from the German automaker announcing the name change appeared online on Monday, March 29, before being removed a short while later.

While many commentators are suggesting it’s nothing more than an April Fools’ joke that was accidentally posted three days early, others are not so sure.

Related

USA Today, for example, notes that the release was dated April 29, which appears to confirm that the automaker’s American division may indeed be about to undergo a name change for the first time in the company’s 84-year history.

Volkswagen’s hastily removed press release said its electric vehicles would feature an exterior badge bearing the name “Voltswagen,” while gas-powered vehicles will continue to come with the usual “VW” badge.

It added that the move is “more than a name change, ‘Voltswagen’ is a public declaration of the company’s future-forward investment in e-mobility.”

But the statement also included the kind of excruciating pun that you might expect from an April Fool joke: “The new name and branding symbolize the highly-charged forward momentum Voltswagen has put in motion, pursuing a goal of moving all people point-to-point with EVs.”

USA Today said that according to a source claiming to have knowledge of the matter, the announcement is for real and is not a cheap marketing ploy.

But automakers certainly have a track record when it comes to April 1 jokes, with many enjoying the chance to have some fun on the day. Mini, for example, released details for a Mini Hipster Hatch in 2016, a car featuring windows with built-in Instagram filters, a twin-cassette deck, and a stonewash denim interior.

Kia once touted the Finger Operated Optimum Lever (FOOL), a steering device for the Tinder generation that let you swipe left or right to steer the car, while Honda once claimed to be developing a vehicle fitted with ten selfie cams to capture your mug from every conceivable angle as you drove along.

Digital Trends has reached out to Volkswagen for confirmation of the reported name change and we will update this article if we hear back.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
The Volkswagen Bus is back, and this time it’s electric
Front three quarter view of the Volkswagen ID. Buzz electric van

The original Volkswagen Microbus is an automotive icon, which might explain why VW has taken so long to launch a follow-up.

After showing multiple Microbus-inspired concept cars, VW unveiled an all-electric Microbus concept at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show, the promptly confirmed plans for a production version. While the world oohed and aahed at that concept (and we drove it), VW took its sweet time on the production model. The Volkswagen ID. Buzz finally made its debut online today, and still won’t go on sale in the United States until 2024.

Read more
Luxury cars continue to burn on abandoned cargo ship
The Felicity Aces ablaze in the mid-Atlantic.

A cargo ship that has been ablaze in the mid-Atlantic since last week is reported to be carrying around 4,000 vehicles worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

An estimate published on Monday by risk solutions company Russell Group suggested that the Felicity Ace cargo vessel has on board around $400 million worth of vehicles, many of them luxury cars from the likes of Porsche, Audi, Bentley, and Lamborghini.

Read more
Volkswagen ID. Buzz prototype first drive: Here comes your van
2022 Volkswagen ID.Buzz prototype

This is it -- this is the EV that we've been waiting for. It's the production version of the Volkswagen ID.Buzz concept, which is called ID. Buzz (mind the gap, as the Brits say), and it's a modern spin on the emblematic, rear-engined Bus that zig-zagged across America for decades. This 21st-century hippie van hasn't been fully unveiled yet, we won't see it without the psychedelic camouflage until March 9, but I traveled to England to spend time behind the wheel of a pre-production model and get a better idea of whether the wait and the hype were worth it.

Years in the making
Volkswagen presented the ID.Buzz as a concept at the 2017 edition of the Detroit auto show. Futuristic-looking and decked out with LEDs, the retro-inspired van was part of an ongoing series of design studies created to preview the different directions that the Wolfsburg-based firm can take its modular MEB platform in. Among others, we saw the 2016 ID. concept, which became the ID.3 hatchback, the ID.Buggy that I drove in California, and, more recently, the ID.Life built to preview an electric, city-friendly crossover tentatively due out in 2025.

Read more