This morning Volkswagen US tweeted a new logo and issued a press release announces its intention to rename itself to Voltswagen, in line with a push for electric cars. This announcement came after CNBC spotted a leaked press release on its site the day before, and as skeptical as we were of the name, the company insisted it was real.
Although Volkswagen US press contacts have not commented on the issue, Reuters and the the Wall Street newspaper both cite anonymous sources as saying that on Wednesday Volkswagen will reveal that the name change is not real. As the the Wall Street newspaper “It’s a premature April Fool’s joke. It’s part of a marketing campaign for ID.4,” the source said.
As a marketing campaign, it seems strange that Volkswagen chooses to remind people that you can’t trust what this company is saying (diesel scandal), instead of just highlighting the ID.4, a compact crossover SUV that doesn’t need silly stunts to convince people it’s worth driving. Now we’re just going to wait until March 31 to find out if this really is a joke, or just the worst rebranding effort ever.
Update (6:21 p.m. ET): A Volkswagen spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that the alleged rebranding was made “in the spirit of an April Fool’s joke”. We have updated the title accordingly.