No, “Voltswagen” Is A Cheeky April Fools Prank Accidentally Leaked In Advance

• The rebrand prank was meant to get more eyeballs on the ID.4 electric SUV.

• This social media frenzy kicked off when Volkswagen America accidentally published a press release in advance.

• Pranks aside, Volkswagen has a vast EV roadmap for the future, with plans to use a single Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) for EVs under the VW Group.

• MEB electric platform will be expanded with the expectation to have 27 models in the VW Group by 2022.

Over the past couple of days, there were some strong rumors going around that Volkswagen would be rebranding itself as “Voltswagen” in American markets. In fact, Volkswagen’s social media handles pretty much confirmed this by promoting the name everywhere. Unfortunately, reports have confirmed that all that was a ruse, an April Fools prank that was accidentally leaked in advance.

A Volkswagen spokesperson confirmed in a report, “We didn’t mean to mislead anyone... The whole thing is just a marketing action to get people talking about the ID.4.” 

This entire situation spread like wildfire when Volkswagen America accidentally published a press release, confirming the name change to Voltswagen, to further showcase its commitment to an all-electric future. That, as it turned out, was a ploy to promote the ID.4 electric SUV. VW has now taken down the ‘fake’ press release. 

The thing that really got a lot of people convinced was not only Volkswagen promoting this on its social media handles, but also that the name had a nice ring to it, and didn’t really require any major change to the branding. Even the logo could stay unchanged.

While the rebranding stunt was nothing but a harmless April Fools joke, Volkswagen is soldiering on with its all-electric journey. It plans on using a new single, Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) for EVs under the VW Group that comprises Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Skoda, Seat, and Volkswagen. The already established Modular Electric Drive Toolkit (MEB) electric platform, will be expanded, and is expected to have around 27 models across the Group by 2022.

Source