Photo: Volkswagen AG
Today started as a seemingly mundane Tuesday, until we caught wind of a seemingly unbelievable report citing a leaked press release announcing Volkswagen of America’s plans to change its name to “Voltswagen.” Given the impending April Fool’s tomfoolery, everyone mused about the company preparing a daring joke.
As it turns out, the actual press release that wears the staggering “Voltswagen: A new name for a new era of e-Mobility” headline is now officially... official. We’re still shocked by the news, as in we feel as if a train just hit us at full Shinkansen/TGV speed. So, please excuse us if we take this with a dump truck full of salt. After all, maybe we’ll meet again come April 2nd to present our apologies for taking an early April Fool’s for granted!
With that said, let’s cut the chatter and see what’s in store from... Voltswagen. According to the company (remember, we have to treat this as official news, after all, it’s March 30th), the U.S. subsidiary rebranding will take hold from May 2021 and will include a “revised name, brand guidelines and VW.com design,” among others.
There’s arguably a lot going on when name changes are in store, so it will be interesting to see how the German company handles its “public declaration of the company’s future-forward investment in e-mobility.” By the way, if everyone wasn’t up to speck with the electromobility revolution, “volts are the derived units for electric potential between two points.”
After VW’s lesson about electricity, all we have to say is that not everything will get the “Voltswagen” touch, at least for the time being—or as long as the company decides to keep ICE vehicles in the family. The company says it will keep the renowned VW Dark Blue shade for gas-powered models, while Light Blue will be the showcase color for EV-centric branding.
Interestingly enough, Voltswagen branding will be used on all EV models, such as the newly introduced ID.4, while ICE vehicles will keep the original VW emblem... and nothing else. Hopefully, this won’t trigger a renaming spree among legacy automakers; we simply couldn’t handle the psychological load of seeing new names such as Ohmpel, Voltvo, Renvolt, or Phevgeot.
Update: Well, it turns out we didn't have to wait until after April Fool's to see VW confirm the alleged “Voltswagen” branding was a prank. The official news release has been taken down since (you can still check it out below), and the ruckus seems to have caused a reaction at the company, now calling everything a joke. Sincerely, we really hope this company will refrain from trying to be giddy in the foreseeable future, because no one laughed.
With that said, let’s cut the chatter and see what’s in store from... Voltswagen. According to the company (remember, we have to treat this as official news, after all, it’s March 30th), the U.S. subsidiary rebranding will take hold from May 2021 and will include a “revised name, brand guidelines and VW.com design,” among others.
There’s arguably a lot going on when name changes are in store, so it will be interesting to see how the German company handles its “public declaration of the company’s future-forward investment in e-mobility.” By the way, if everyone wasn’t up to speck with the electromobility revolution, “volts are the derived units for electric potential between two points.”
After VW’s lesson about electricity, all we have to say is that not everything will get the “Voltswagen” touch, at least for the time being—or as long as the company decides to keep ICE vehicles in the family. The company says it will keep the renowned VW Dark Blue shade for gas-powered models, while Light Blue will be the showcase color for EV-centric branding.
Interestingly enough, Voltswagen branding will be used on all EV models, such as the newly introduced ID.4, while ICE vehicles will keep the original VW emblem... and nothing else. Hopefully, this won’t trigger a renaming spree among legacy automakers; we simply couldn’t handle the psychological load of seeing new names such as Ohmpel, Voltvo, Renvolt, or Phevgeot.
Update: Well, it turns out we didn't have to wait until after April Fool's to see VW confirm the alleged “Voltswagen” branding was a prank. The official news release has been taken down since (you can still check it out below), and the ruckus seems to have caused a reaction at the company, now calling everything a joke. Sincerely, we really hope this company will refrain from trying to be giddy in the foreseeable future, because no one laughed.
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