Volkswagen unintentionally posted a press release on its website a month early on Monday declaring a new name for its U.S. operations, Voltswagen of America, highlighting the German automaker’s electric vehicle efforts. Volkswagen’s American division seems ready to change its name to “Voltswagen,” exchanging the “k” to a “t” in a nod toward the automaker’s investment in electric vehicles.
On Monday morning, the German automaker posted a statement on its website reporting the “rebranding,” in an obvious move towards its investment in electric vehicles, before bringing it down. The German automaker’s declaration on the change showed up briefly on its media site Monday before it was eliminated, having clearly been released before it was prepared for an official rollout.
A representative for the organization declined to comment on the release, which was dated April 29 and has since been brought down. Yet, a source “familiar with the company’s plans” told the network the document was authentic.
An individual acquainted with the organization’s plans affirmed the authenticity of the release to CNBC. They asked to stay anonymous because the plans were not intended to be public yet.
The release said the name change is required to produce results in May and called the change a “Voltswagen’ is a public declaration of the company’s future-forward investment in e-mobility.” It said Voltswagen will be set as an exterior badge on all EV models with gas vehicles having the organization’s notorious VW emblem only.
To “preserve elements of Volkswagen’s heritage,” the release said the organization planned to hold the dark blue color of the VW logo for gas-powered vehicles and utilize light blue to separate “the new, EV-centric branding.”
The change will allegedly see Volkswagen EVs highlight a badge that bears the new Voltswagen branding and a lighter blue VW logo. Any gas-powered cars the organization sells pushing ahead will include just the classic VW insignia in the automaker’s signature dark blue color.
The release said Voltswagen of America would stay an operating unit of Volkswagen Group of America and a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, with headquarters in Herndon, Virginia.
Volts are the derived units for electric potential, otherwise called electromotive force, between two points. General Motors previously used Volt for a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle somewhere in the range of 2010 and 2019.
The VW press release was deficient, refering to the requirement for an extra quote and photography from the automaker’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
A name change would be the most recent EV news from Volkswagen, which recently held a “Power Day” to examine its EV technologies. It likewise declared goals of fundamentally expanding sales of EVs through the decade’s end. It hopes for something else than 70% of its Volkswagen brand’s European sales will be EVs by 2030, up from a past target of 35%. In the U.S. and China, it anticipates that half of its sales should be EVs at that time frame.
Be that as it may, VW was not hacked, the declaration isn’t a joke, it is not a marketing ploy and the plan is for the change to be made permanent, said an individual acquainted with the organization’s plans on condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The news release, which was dated April 29 when it was incidentally posted, was published March 29 before it was ready to be dispersed, the individual said. A USA TODAY journalist noticed the declaration on VW’s website and saved it before it was taken out.
In the errantly published news release, the automaker said that “more than a name change, ‘Voltswagen’ is a public declaration of the company’s future-forward investment in e-mobility.”
“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,” the automaker said in the release.
As indicated by the declaration, electric models would get an exterior badge with the name “Voltswagen,” while gas-powered vehicles will have the standard “VW” badge. It was not immediately clear Monday whether any subtleties of the plan are as yet liable to change.
The move would signal a significant pivot for the world’s second-biggest automaker, whose U.S. division dates to 1955. It would likewise come after a few contenders, including General Motors and Volvo, recently reported designs to eventually phase out gas vehicles.
“We might be changing out our K for a T, but what we aren’t changing is this brand’s commitment to making best-in-class vehicles for drivers and people everywhere,” VW of America CEO Scott Keogh said in the news release.
The declaration would likewise match with the appearance of the brand-new Volkswagen ID.4, the automaker’s initially long-range electric SUV sold in the U.S. It’s essential for a new lineup of electric vehicles under the ID sub-brand, including the forthcoming recovery of the VW microbus.
The organization intends to launch more than 70 electric vehicles worldwide by 2029 and sell 1 million by 2025. VW and its related brands, including Audi and Porsche, sold more than 9 million vehicles of various sorts globally in 2020, making it a nearby second to Toyota, however, it recently held the No. 1 title for several years.
While VW is referred to by numerous Americans as the producer of small vehicles like the Beetle car and the Passat, the brand has pivoted in recent years toward bigger models, putting vigorously in SUVs like the average size Tiguan and the three-row Atlas.
GM before this year didn’t go to the extent that changing its name however reported a new logo and advertisement campaign focused on EVs. The Detroit automaker’s new logo includes its gm initials in lowercase letters with the “m” underlined as a nod to its Ultium battery cell platform that will support its new EVs The blue letters are inside a rounded box of the same color. It supplanted a white GM underlined within a darker blue block.
Traditional automakers have been about EV-centric rebrandings in recent months. In January, GM revamps its classic logo to bring out “the clean skies of a zero-emissions future.” The new design is likewise a visual play on the organization’s Ultium battery technology. For Volkswagen, the change would come at a vital point in its history. The organization intends to offer 300 EV models by 2030 and arrive at a point where at least 60% of the vehicles it sells in Europe are either hybrids or battery electrics.
Volkswagen’s plans to rebrand come as a few automakers are starting to invest more in electric vehicles. In November, General Motors declared that it was investing $27 billion through 2025 as a feature of its commitment to electric and autonomous vehicles. Also, the organization uncovered plans to launch 30 electric vehicles all around the world by 2025.
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