April fools! VW hasn’t changed it name to Voltswagen

Oh Volkswagen you sneaky thing, trying to get an April Fool’s joke in early to beat the rush of other car brands with their wacky ‘concepts’ but unfortunately the joke has backfired on German manufacturers’ name ‘change’.

Volkswagen of America issued false statements early week saying it would change its brand name to “Voltswagen” to stress its commitment to electric vehicles. But by late Tuesday (US time) admit that the supposed name change was a joke.

Even CNN UK correspondent, Max Foster, fell for it, asking in a TikTok video that had anyone else picked up on the change from Volkswagen. Sorry Max, you’re an April fool!

A VW USA spokesman,Mark Gillies, confirmed that the statement had been a pre-April Fool’s Day joke after having insisted earlier in the week that the release was legitimate and the name change accurate. 

The company’s false statement was distributed again Tuesday (USA time), saying the brand-name change reflected a shift to more battery-electric vehicles.

Unfortunately for VW USA, the fake statement has backfired big time. The fake release could land Volkswagen in trouble with U.S. securities regulators because its stock price rose nearly 5% on Tuesday, the day the bogus statement was officially issued.

Investors of late have been responding positively to news of companies increasing electric vehicle production, swelling the value of shares of Tesla as well as of some EV startups, according to AP.

Late Tuesday, VW issued a statement confirming that it won’t be changing its brand name to “Voltswagen”.

“The renaming was designed to be an announcement in the spirit of April Fool’s Day,” the company said.

Tim Calkins, a clinical professor of marketing at Northwestern University, said April Fool’s jokes are common in marketing. But he said it’s rare for a company to deliberately mislead reporters, says AP.