German automaker Volkswagen is not going to be altering the name of its U.S. operations to Voltswagen of America in any case.
The news, which appeared to leak out on its U.S. media website Monday and was formally introduced in a press launch Tuesday, was half of an elaborate April Fools’ Day joke to increase consciousness concerning the firm’s all-electric ID.4, in accordance to an individual conversant in the ruse.
The firm is predicted to situation a follow-up announcement explaining the marketing technique by Wednesday morning, this individual stated, asking not to be named. The Wall Street Journal reported the prank earlier Tuesday, citing a Volkswagen spokesman in Wolfsburg.
An unfinished model of the preliminary press launch went out briefly on VW’s U.S. media newsroom web site Monday morning earlier than it was taken down. Media shops, together with CNBC, reported it as information after it was confirmed by unnamed sources inside the firm, who apparently lied to a number of reporters.
The launch stated the name change is predicted to take impact in May and known as the change a “public declaration of the corporate’s future-forward funding in e-mobility.” It stated Voltswagen will probably be positioned as an exterior badge on all EV fashions, with gasoline autos having the corporate’s iconic VW emblem solely.
