Volkswagen’s announcement to rename the company to Voltswagen in the US, as many suspected in the April 1 joke, has now also been recognized as a spokesperson for the German carmaker. The name Voltswagen was a nod to Volkswagen’s ambition to conquer the electric car market.
Volkswagen raised a lack of certification on Tuesday with the announcement of its official name change to the United States, two days before April 1. The advertisement was supposed to gain additional credibility through a press release on the US website and a change in the Twitter account. A spokesman in the United States, in an interview with Agence France-Presse, confirmed the contents of Tuesday’s press release.
Some Volkswagen representatives finally admitted to the US press on Tuesday that the whole thing was a scam. A source said the company is expected to issue another statement on Wednesday.
Whether the ad was a monkey sandwich story, a marketing ploy, or a fact, the news was not viewed by some as completely unlikely. Volkswagen has big ambitions in the electric car market. The company wants to become the leader in the international market as of 2025, ahead of Tesla of America.
It’s not entirely unreasonable that Volkswagen would want to polish its image in the USA for this reason. The German brand is especially famous for the scandal of DieselJet, which cost Volkswagen billions and part of its reputation.
By the way, “Voltswagen” was not the German carmaker’s first publicity stunt. In 2003, when Volkswagen launched a new Golf, the German city of Wolfsburg was renamed Golfsburg for a few weeks.
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