Volkswagen aroused disbelief yesterday with the announcement to officially change its name in the United States, two days before April 1. The announcement was supposed to gain additional credibility with a press release on the US website and a change to the Twitter account. A spokesperson in the United States, interviewed by the AFP news agency, confirmed the contents of the press release with a straight face.
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But that now turns out to be a joke, or whatever you want to call it, a lie. Some Volkswagen representatives eventually admitted to the American press that everything was a fraud. The company is expected to release another statement today, a source said. The aim was to highlight the launch of the fully electric Volkswagen ID.4 SUV in a ‘playful’ way.
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Whether the announcement was a sandwich monkey story, a marketing stunt, or reality, the news was not seen as entirely unlikely by some. Volkswagen has great ambitions in the electric car market. The company wants to become the international market leader from 2025, ahead of the American Tesla. It is not entirely inconceivable that Volkswagen wants to polish up its image in the US for that reason. The German brand is particularly known for the Dieselgate scandal, which cost Volkswagen billions and part of its reputation.
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By the way, ‘Voltswagen’ was not the German car manufacturer’s first publicity stunt. In 2003, when Volkswagen launched a new Golf, the German home town of Wolfsburg was renamed Golfsburg for a few weeks.
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