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Voltswagen of America
- foolinaround 6y agojust a thought, maybe a premature release, actually planned for April fools day?
- oblio 6y agoThis is funny, yet ridiculous :-)) Their brand is so tainted in the US that they're renaming it. I imagine it's going to be the only place they'll do it.
- arethuza 6y agoSeems to be US only: https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/vw-being-rebranded-voltswagen-us https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/vw-being-rebrand...
- TheAdamAndChe 6y agoHow isn't their brand tarnished around the world? Besides the emissions scandal, their vehicles are just expensive and difficult to maintain. I've got a diesel VW Jetta. It has been nothing but a money pit. I'm in the US for reference.
- joeberon 6y agoHere in the UKs, VWs are considered reliable and among the easiest to find parts for
- 2rsf 6y agoSame in Sweden and many other places
- jcims 6y agoGoing to second and extend TheAdamAndChe's assessment in the US to include the Audi division as well. It seems electrical/electronics are the main quality area. I had an S5 with dash lighting issues, console control issues, premature clutch failure (to be fair the previous owner could have roasted it), a nearly new SQ5 with a failed cabin blower fan and more console issues. My sister-in-law had a Jetta with aggregate months in the shop for variety of engine management and other electronics issues. My nephew had a CC that broke a seal and the resulting oil leak wasn't detected by the oil pressure sensor and he seized the engine (also had a fuel pump failure). These are the only VWs in the extended family. Now I have an F150 with way too many electronics in it for a pickup truck...fingers crossed.
- input_sh 6y agoA running joke in the Balkans is that you can find parts for older Golfs in the nearest ditch.
- Vrondi 6y agoIn the USA, this is Chevrolet/GMC. VW parts you may have to hunt for/pay more for.
- judex 6y agoAgreed, also compare the failure statistics with e.g. Ford and you will see VW outperforms for example Ford in reliability. Not sure about other cars.
- moooo99 6y agoHere in Germany VW is also considered pretty reliable and obviously has a huge network of service stations. But I'm pretty sure that's a pretty biased perspective.
- lokedhs 6y agoHere in Singapore VW has as good reputation as it's always had. I think the reputation problem is limited to the US.
- captainmuon 6y agoA friend in Germany said he trusts VW even more after the scandal, because it showed their engineering cleverness. And also because they cared for their customers and gave them even better performance than the government allowed. In general, VW has a good, somewhat inflated reputation in Germany + parts of EU. In my experience, the cars are quite solid and reliable, albeit considered a bit boring. But you can also buy a Seat or Skoda which is basically the same car with a different exterior but cheaper... Maybe the issue is that they are different cars in the US. VW didn't have a Jetta in Germany for years. I owned a Golf MK3 convertible in the US, and I felt it was of lesser quality than similar VWs for the European market.
- yunohn 6y ago>> better performance than the government allowed My understanding was that this performance came at the expense of more pollution, which is what the gov is regulating?
- YinglingLight 6y agoYour flaw is the assumption that all, or even most, customers prefer the non-tangible idea of "reducing pollution" to the tangible experience of greater performance.
- yunohn 6y ago>> non-tangible idea of "reducing pollution" That's exactly the problem with the public's understanding of pollution [1]. If they can't see people dying in front of their eyes, they won't believe it... [1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/09/fossil-fuels-pollution-deaths-research https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/09/fossil-f...
- toast0 6y agoDifferent pollution, not necessarily more. Tuning the engine for more fuel efficiency generates more nitrogen oxides (above the legal limit in this case) and less carbon dioxide.
- globular-toast 6y agoName a German brand that isn't expensive and difficult to maintain. German car manufacturers have the strongest marketing departments in the world and people will swear blind that their vehicle is reliable and costs nothing to maintain. It's incredibly difficult to get car owners to be honest about how much it really costs them and how reliable their vehicle really is. Another problem is people don't know any better. It's not like the average person has owned cars from all the major brands for enough time for things to go wrong with them. Most people own only a few cars over their entire life. I think this is particularly true with brands like VW. People just don't know any better and think it's normal for a car to be a money pit. Cars are a strange thing. Very quickly after getting a car it becomes an essential part of life. When the bill comes through to repair whatever has gone wrong, there's no choice but to pay it. You can't just choose to not pay because it's too expensive. People take their car to the garage where it's essentially held captive until they pay the ransom. I own a VW myself but I'll never own one (or any other German car) ever again. I will be going back to Japanese cars next time. Honda or Toyota.
- TheCapn 6y agoI think a lot of people's opinions on cars continue to be based on anecdotal experiences. I owned 2 VWs in my life, my first, a 1999 Golf was an amazing car. It felt solid and was super reliable right up until I T-boned someone who made an illegal turn and it got written off. I drove an Acura Integra for years after that and had just tonnes of quality issues where it was needing constant maintenance. As soon as I was able to, I bought another VW, a 2003 GTI which I drove with only 1 major repair (AC Compressor) in the 200,000kms I put to it (sold it to a friend at 330,000kms, it still hasn't needed repairs). I went to a Mazda most recently, but I can't say anything about its reliability since I just bought it in December and only have 5,000kms on it so far. But my experience, and those among my friends (I was part of a local VW enthusiast club) is that the cars are fine. But the kicker is you need to stay on top of your maintenance. If you skimp on the regular work, you end up paying for it in the end. I had to do various work on the car merely due to its age, but ultimately I loved the VW GTI. It was solid and reliable for me.
- steverb 6y ago
- vagrantJin 6y agoIn south Africa, VW is still held in high regard. Especially the Golf GTI. However, most dudes in a relationship have nightmares about it.
- ajarmst 6y agoI'm not sure it remains possible to 'tarnish' a brand when the general public have the attention span of a weasel on crack.
- fomine3 6y agoEven in Japan, VW is considered as one of the most reliable import car brand. Of course Toyota is different level.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- toast0 6y agoI had a VW diesel. It was mostly a good car and got great mileage and then they paid me a great price to take it back. Probably my best car experience. I'd consider a VW again, but I'm also kind of not interested in the models they have anytime soon; I replaced their wagon with a minivan and I'm not going back; the eBus is cute, but doesn't seem as useful. VW hasn't sold a pickup in a long time, and I don't expect to replace the low cost off-lease plugin hybrid with carpool stickers (VW had models with stickers, but nothing off-lease when I was shopping)
- rhino369 6y agoIs their brand really that tainted in the USA.
- cocoa19 6y agoAmericans swear by Asian brand names for small to medium size cars (Toyota, Honda and to a lesser extent Kia, Hyundai, Subaru). German cars have a bad rap in the US for being unreliable and expensive to fix.
- reducesuffering 6y ago> German cars have a bad rap in the US for being unreliable and expensive to fix. Which is totally accurate...
- usrusr 6y agoHow much can you really taint a brand that just went successfully through 75 years of being the odd Nazi propaganda set piece that somehow nobody bothered to stop? My bet is that it's an April's Fool with the twist that it's technically true. The name of the subsidiary that handles importing and the local factories just doesn't matter that much. They could rename that org to Ford Prefect and still go on selling cars under Volkswagen brand. It's a stunt to remind the public that they have BEV now and releasing slightly ahead of the date increases press coverage.
- bluedevil2k 6y agoTheir brand isn’t tainted in the US at all. You’ll see the Atlas everywhere - 160,000 sold in the last 2 years. That’s about half of Ford Explorer sales and about the same as Chevy Tahoe.
- foolfoolz 6y agoif you want a 3 row suv, the atlas is like 8-10k cheaper for the same amount of car than the others. and it doesn’t look bad. they needed something bigger than the toureg and it works
- timme 6y agoIt's not tainted in Europe either. Sales are healthy and you see cars from the full range (Skoda, Seat, VW, Audi) aplenty. The overlap between car buyers and outrage bubble subscribers might be limited.
- fokinsean 6y agoCan confirm, I bought a Tiguan 1 year ago, love it.
- polote 6y ago> Their brand is so tainted in the US that they're renaming it. If they changed the name because of how people perceive them, they would have pick a name which is different than the current name, not the same name changing only one letter :) They do it, because they want to get the valuation of a electric car company
- tootie 6y agoIt's also going to look really silly in 20 years when every auto manufacturer is doing electric vehicles. It'll be like Ford boasting that they run on unleaded gasoline.
- frosted-flakes 6y agoWouldn't that be the same for Tesla?
- itsoktocry 6y agoSo tainted they sold more cars in 2019 than they did pre-scandal.
- reaperducer 6y agoTheir brand is so tainted in the US that they're renaming it. I don't think most Americans know about or remember the emissions scandal. That said, there's plenty of precedent for a product being so tainted that it got renamed. Comcast becoming Xfinity comes to mind.
- throwawayboise 6y agoVery few Americans would even consider a diesel passenger car. They just are not popular here ouside of a tiny niche. That's the irony of the emissions scandal -- there aren't enough passenger diesel cars on the road in the USA that it made any real difference anyway. Americans don't care about diesel cars, and they for the most part didn't care about the emissions scandal.
- elzbardico 6y agoHard to believe that most Americans care much about the Dieselgate. If they did, how do you explain the massive amount of SUVs and pickups carrying a single lonely driver that you can see everyday on America's streets and highways? Other than a highly educated and modernized young urban minority, I would bet that most Americans are not that worried about emissions.
- kube-system 6y agoI feel like most here in the US saw it as an example of lying and cheating, rather than an example of emissions.
- agrafix 6y agoHmm did they release their April 1 joke too early by mistake?
- MattGaiser 6y agoMistake? Look at all the coverage they are getting when they would otherwise be lost in a crowd.
- minxomat 6y agoMaybe they grew tired of Americans pronouncing it wrong (most V are still pronounced as F, Vettel, Volkswagen etc.) ;-) Edit: This German apologizes for an attempt at a humorous / sarcastic comment and will revert to work-machine state at once. Beep boop.
- protomyth 6y agoThey most certainly did not want Americans pronouncing it in German when they came to the US after WWII. Hell, they called them Victory Wagon at first.
- pantalaimon 6y agoReminds me of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rA-BSuog7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rA-BSuog7o
- sillyquiet 6y agoAmericans are pronouncing it perfectly correctly as most of us speak English and not German.
- tchalla 6y agoIt is respectful to at least attempt to pronounce names from different cultures. In many cases, I totally understand it is difficult. In those cases, an attempt is great. In this case, the syllable F exists in Latin and I don't see why it. I must say, I have seen many many times a lack of interest to even attempt to pronounce of even write a name properly. One example which comes to my mind is Ghandi instead of Gandhi.
- de6u99er 6y agoThey should rename it to Folks-Wagon.
- CHsurfer 6y agoFolks-Vagon
- Gravityloss 6y agoWalt's Wagon http://www.rvnetlocator.com/PHOTOS/15/0624/1839/1024x768/15062418390542767961001.JPG http://www.rvnetlocator.com/PHOTOS/15/0624/1839/1024x768/150...
- Tade0 6y agoI think Speed-Wagon would catch on among the younger generations.
- _jal 6y agoThen they should release a model called the Reo.
- drewzero1 6y agoHeck, why not bring back Oldsmobile while we're at it?
- mikece 6y agoIf memory services, that marque is owned by General Motors and the modern version of the Speedwagon are GMC trucks. Would be catchy to actually release a new vehicle with the Speedwagon model name.
- Aeronwen 6y agoReo as Ransom Eli Olds' second car company, the first one is what became the Oldsmobile divison of GM. But GM never owned Reo. Supposedly Volvo owns the name now.
- exikyut 6y agoWow, they actually did it. I'm kind of impressed.
- chromatin 6y agoPlease tell me someone in marketing released the Apr 1 press release a bit too soon?
- mustafa_pasi 6y agoOr on purpose before the news gets inundated with other stunts.
- kbos87 6y agoThe same thought crossed my mind. Then I thought - could they have done this now to gauge feedback, stick with it if it works, and write it off as an April fools joke if there's too much backlash? That feels like the next level of chess here :)
- ivankolev 6y agoI can't wait for my voltswagen to toll my mobile ohm ;)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- ape4 6y agoWatt the heck
- devoutsalsa 6y agoAmp-ing up the marketing efforts.
- philk10 6y agoShocking, but they have to stay current and have no capacity to resist
- devoutsalsa 6y agoMaybe they'll start making trains. Then they can have a conductor between two points.
- webmaven 6y agoThat seems like it would generate publicity, all right.
- failwhaleshark 6y agoGeneral Motors will follow-suit with Electric Motors. General Electric will follow-suit by doing nothing.
- bfgoodrich 6y ago(Yes this comment with be dead because dang is a sniveling, right-wing bitch) Look at these hilariously stupid comments. During the same period while TSLA is languishing, VW has risen 60%+. They've gone all in on electric cars, and are committing to it. "Hurrr, is it April fools....gurrr gurrr"
- rmoriz 6y agoE-Dub would have been better
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- natch 6y agoNot bad! I mean yes it's bad, but in a so-bad-it's-good kind of way. I'd like to see this at least as a model name.
- outside1234 6y agoDoes this mean they have shifted their focus to cheating on battery capacity?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- jandrese 6y agoTo do that all they have to do is advertise the Euro WLT ratings.
- mrlinx 6y agoWLTP?
- Laarlf 6y agoNEFZ was unrealistic so we better introduce WLTP, which is even more unrealistic. Cool.
- formerly_proven 6y agoAccording to Wikipedia ratings under WLTP are much lower than under NEDC so your comment doesn't seem to make a ton of sense to me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwide_Harmonised_Light_Vehicles_Test_Procedure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwide_Harmonised_Light_Veh...
- Laarlf 6y agoRemember how i said "unrealistic" and not "lower"? WLTP is a rather unrealistic way to determine fuel consumption or energy usage on cars. If you look at sites which collect fuel usage for cars you often times see fuel usages considerably higher than what WLTP defines. Especially if it's a PHEV since WLTP expects a full battery all the time. Under 2L/100km for a 2 ton SUV is not realistic by any stretch of the imagination. The numbers on https://www.spritmonitor.de/ https://www.spritmonitor.de/ for example seem to allign more with EPA in my experience.
- makerofspoons 6y agoThis feels like an IHOB/IHOP-style publicity stunt.
- dev_tty01 6y agoWow. There are actually people at the company that believe this is not a silly name.
- failwhaleshark 6y agoThere is a new big boss™ somewhere laughing that their sarcasm was taken seriously. Poe's Law: Corporate Intranet Edition
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- jcims 6y agoThe funny thing is that this is how a lot of people pronounce it anyway.
- nicholassmith 6y agoThis is what happens in a meeting when someone says "there are no bad ideas". This is the sort of three beer spitballing that normally you come up with as a gag and yet they're committing to it, and whilst it's US only the likelihood is they'll do some aggressive product placement and get some global recognition around it.
- josho 6y agoI felt this way when Apple removed ‘Computer’ from their name. Years later we see that it wasn’t just a name change but alignment to their company strategy. I’m cautiously optimistic that Volkswagen is signaling a similar change in their mission and leadership’s intent to change.
- lmedinas 6y agoMost likely this is even an April fools and a good one (idea) because it hit all the big media ;)
- gnulinux 6y ago> This is what happens in a meeting when someone says "there are no bad ideas". No, I think this is what happens as the date approaches April 1st.
- thekyle 6y agoWhat's wrong with the name Voltswagen? I like it.
- ARandomerDude 6y agoI wonder how much internal resistance there was to this shocking name change.
- interestica 6y ago> I wonder how much internal resistance there was to this shocking name change. "Ohm-y!" And who was charged with leading this change?
- mikece 6y agoWhat is the relative difference in emissions between a gasoline-powered car and an electric car that is recharged by power from a coal-burning plant?
- AYBABTME 6y agoWhy do you find it useful to bring up this trope which is only tangentially related to the post?
- mikece 6y agoIf WV's point is that they are emphasizing their they make electrical cars, and the assumption is that those are better for the environment than all other cars, then it's fair to question that assumption. If 90%+ of our power came from zero-carbon sources like nuclear then it would be a fair point but we're a LONG way from that.
- srg0 6y ago> If 90%+ of our power came from zero-carbon sources like nuclear then it would be a fair point but we're a LONG way from that. Energy production in EU-27 in 2020: 38% renewables (growing), 25% nuclear, 37% fossil fuels (decreasing). That's already 63% from zero-carbon sources.
- strict9 6y agoGasoline will always come from dead dinosaurs and plants but electricity doesn't come from 100% coal. And the ratio dropping changing fast as other forms get more inexpensive.
- mikece 6y agoGasoline also comes from corn or anything else that can be distilled to ethanol. For greater calorific efficiency we should be looking to biodiesel as the environmental side effects are as minimal, you get more miles per gallon (km per liter), and the production of biodiesel via algae can happen efficiently in places not currently used for livestock grazing or growing crops.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y agoThey should also rebrand their Audi brand to “Odd-e”
- xmdx 6y agoWeird, they posted this by accident a few days ago and now it's back. Got to be a joke, there's no way..
- iSnow 6y agoApril's fools is tomorrow, guess it's real.
- ajarmst 6y agoDriven away by nausea at "future-forward investment in e-mobility" in the second 'graph.
- xnx 6y agoEchoes of when IHOP "changed" its name to IHOB. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/07/09/ihop-changes-name-back-ihob/769310002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/07/09/ihop-changes...
- failwhaleshark 6y agoIHOb, right? Maybe the P had a coronary heart-attack from all the grilled food at Big Brunch?
- kalleboo 6y agoAnd Pizza Hut rebranding to Pasta Hut in the UK https://www.marketingweek.com/pizza-hut-rebrands-to-pasta-hut/ https://www.marketingweek.com/pizza-hut-rebrands-to-pasta-hu...
- failwhaleshark 6y agoIt's gluten-free this year.
- erikrothoff 6y agoThe price to acquire voltswagen.com just shot through the roof.
- jankassens 6y agoSeems odd they didn't acquire voltswagen.de and voltswagen.com though a subsidiary company.
- perardi 6y agoAs a clarification: they are only using this for EVs. https://www.thedrive.com/news/39984/vw-says-its-officially-doing-the-voltswagen-name-for-evs-only https://www.thedrive.com/news/39984/vw-says-its-officially-d... Which is still…a choice.
- dharmab 6y agoThe Voltswagen text badge will be on EVs only, but the gas cars will still be sold through the Voltswagen US branding. The gas cars will keep the classic VW logo.
- Corrado 6y agoCorrect. The main VW EN website (www.vw.com) looks like it's changed over completely to using the new name.
- postingawayonhn 6y agoFurther clarification https://www.thedrive.com/news/40001/now-the-germans-say-vws-voltswagen-name-is-an-april-fools-joke-wsj https://www.thedrive.com/news/40001/now-the-germans-say-vws-... April fools!
- LeonM 6y ago403 ERROR The request could not be satisfied. The Amazon CloudFront distribution is configured to block access from your country. We can't connect to the server for this app or website at this time. There might be too much traffic or a configuration error. Try again later, or contact the app or website owner. If you provide content to customers through CloudFront, you can find steps to troubleshoot and help prevent this error by reviewing the CloudFront documentation. So, did they take it down, or is VW really blocking European countries? EDIT: it's back up now. Site was probably just hugged to death.
- iSnow 6y agoI can see it from Europe.
- LeonM 6y agoIt's back up now. Site was probably just hugged to death
- flohofwoe 6y agoSeems to work fine from Germany, but here's the archive.org link: https://web.archive.org/web/20210330121521/https://media.vw.com/en-us/releases/1499 https://web.archive.org/web/20210330121521/https://media.vw....
- mey 6y agoCan confirm it is still up and working for me. I am located in the continental US with an IP that nominally appears to be US based. Maybe they have configured CloudFront in an "interesting" way.
- jedberg 6y ago> site was probably just hugged to death. That's highly unlikely, given that it is on CloudFront. Also that error is not a "too much traffic" error, it's a specific config change. More likely is that someone accidentally pushed a bad config blocking your country for a little bit.
- boatsie 6y agoThey should have gotten rid of the “wagen” part too since this is the US. VoltSUV might work better.
- simoneau 6y ago"expresso"
- tomphoolery 6y agothis is the "IHOB" of cars
- samblr 6y agoVolkswagen to Voltswagen By having 'Volts' can they can grow market share ? Can anybody think of a similar name change that worked before ?
- interestica 6y agoSo we have car companies who can trace their names to Alessandro Volta and Nikola Tesla. Up for grabs: André-Marie Ampère? Faraday? Edison?
- decafninja 6y agoFaraday and Edison is already taken. See: Faraday Futures, Edison Motors
- amelius 6y agoMaxwell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_automobile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_automobile Interesting: > Maxwell was one of the first car companies to market specifically to women.
- hinkley 6y agoMaxwell should produce an electric motorcycle called the Demon.
- mdelias 6y agohttps://www.evfaraday.com/ https://www.evfaraday.com/
- ignoranceprior 6y agoWatt? Joule?
- js8 6y agoHenry Ford!
- myself248 6y agoFor decades, people have been doing DIY EV conversions based on the VW Beetle, and the colloquial term for them has been "Voltswagens". It's surreal to see it embraced by a company that, just a few years ago, was pushing diesel to the point of a planet-scale fraud. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then... you win?
- duxup 6y agoI'm no fan of the fraud but I'm happy to see the agility / change.
- Hamuko 6y agoI first thought that it was a pretty poor decision considering the brand value of Volkswagen, but then I remembered that I've used the phrase "Volkswagen engineering" at work to refer to a suggestion that we optimise our application to work better in customer benchmarks.
- KingOfCoders 6y agoNew Coke?
- failwhaleshark 6y agoVolkswagen Wintage to stem the outrage.
- jeromenerf 6y agoPronunciation is no longer “folks wagen” but “faults wagen”. The classic German ironic sense of humor.
- pinguin7 6y agoNot really. Volt is pronounced like a soft w, not like an F. But they must have known that people won't know that, so you still have a valid point.
- zwieback 6y ago"V" can be randomly soft or hard, "Volk" is pronounced like "Folk" but "Volt" like "Wolt". THere's no real equivalent sound in English, I think. But, yeah, I've owned several VWs and electrical wiring is usually faulty so I'll go with Faultswagen as well.
- itronitron 6y agoI see what they did there.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- noisy_boy 6y agoChevy Volt marketing guys must be pouncing on ideas to make fun of this.
- antattack 6y agoGM will sue, for sure.
- moklick 6y agohttps://www.theverge.com/2021/3/30/22357166/volkswagen-name-change-voltswagen-us-division https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/30/22357166/volkswagen-name-...
- grayprog 6y agoVoltswagen - Resistance is futile
- fraculto09 6y agoHigh time, should've done that in 1945.
- vmception 6y agoAh right, those 72 hours where I don't give any mental energy to things on the internet. Did we even do April Fools last year?
- sremani 6y agoVoltsWagen will make sense if its similar to Ionic (Hyundi branding their EV, PHEV lineup). Anything else is Carnival barking.
- hinkley 6y agoGood opportunity for Hyundai to announce Alanis Morissette as the spokesperson for Ionic tomorrow...
- ThePhysicist 6y agoReminds me of the "Siemens Healthineers" madness. German companies are really good ruining perfectly fine brands (look e.g. at the new BMW logo), so I wouldn't be suprised if this was real. If they really want to change the name why not just use "Volta", which at least is short.
- MauranKilom 6y agoVolta is already taken.
- s_dev 6y ago>really want to change the name why not just use "Volta" Because that would be undoing the entire VW brand they've been building for decades at the cost of billions. Voltswagen is a natural increment to Volkswagen while still maintaining that legacy branding.
- failwhaleshark 6y ago"Farfrompuken" now has be known as "fartfrompuken" due to concerns over weight-shaming.
- kbos87 6y agoI previously owned a VW, but swore on my life that I'd never buy another one after the emissions cheating scandal. There are plenty of reasons why a VW likely wont be my next choice, but I'm softening my stance a bit. What they did was absolutely reprehensible, but I later learned that the more accurate story is that they bore the brunt of media attention for something that nearly every auto manufacturer was later found to be doing - https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterlyon/2018/07/09/nissan-admits-to-falsifying-emissions-tests/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterlyon/2018/07/09/nissan-adm... That doesn't make it any less wrong, but it does put them back on par with just about every other auto manufacturer in my mind. And it does seem (as others have cited) like there was some genuine change that followed.
- milkytron 6y agoSame boat here, I had a VW and sold it about a year and half ago. I will not be buying one again, they've lost me. But also, I don't really appreciate what any of the car manufacturers have been doing (location tracking, internet connectivity, subscription services, etc). Since I sold the VW, I haven't bought a car, and am currently without a car. I don't plan on buying one anytime in the near future.
- selimthegrim 6y agoMe too, only owned a used old Toyota (pre ABS and OBDII) since and right now nothing. The VW I leased was a 2014 so I just managed to miss out on the era of rearview cameras though
- anticristi 6y agoD00d, pre ABS and OBD II? My 13-years-old car feels state-of-the-art! :))
- olyjohn 6y agoAftermarket rearview cameras are dirt cheap if you really want one. Tons of kits less than $100.
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- dalbasal 6y agoIf this isn't a joke, it actually does make sense. Easier to pronounce in english. Means electric car... the growth category. Why not? "Volkswagen" is big enough that the name just means the company/product. But, it isn't really good brand name for an anglo market. You either can't pronounce it, or the literal connotation makes you a little uncomfortable.
- pySSK 6y agoI guess Tesla and Faraday were already taken. This is ridiculous. I hope this is a case of an April fools joke delivered according to German punctuality.
- dalbasal 6y agoPersonally I'm a fan of fluidity. I have no problem with voltswagen as an aka. Why not. Brand names change, evolve. If it is a deadpan joke, I kind of like it too. Overall, I can see no reason for outrage of any kind.
- dwaltrip 6y agoIt's funny to me how some people find this "ridiculous".
- chrisshroba 6y agoWhat is the literal connotation?
- pkulak 6y agoPeople's Car https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen#1932%E2%80%931938:_People's_Car_project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen#1932%E2%80%931938:_...
- jlelse 6y agoI guess that's because they didn't change the name in Germany as well. "Volkswagen" is really easy to pronounce in German, but "Voltswagen" is just weird.
- cwwc 6y agoApril fools!
- hbbio 6y agoMann sagt: Der Fahrer eines Voltswagen aber nicht: Der Führer von Volkswagen
- JoshTko 6y agoAside from the odd naming change, the main purpose of a move like this is to signal to employees the extent that the organization is making a shift. It may especially be necessary for such a long standing organization such as VW.
- silentsea90 6y ago+1 The cynics here are a bit blind to how deep rooted the intent to change must be, down to changing the name of the company. Win or lose, this is strictly better for humanity than the gas fueled past
- sequoia 6y ago"Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer" And in case you're wondering, yes the company was founded by the Nazi party. I think it's good they changed the name.
- Tepix 6y agoAccording to at least one German media site it's an April fool's joke that was released prematurely. https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/news/unternehmen-verbraucher/id_89754220/neuer-volkswagen-name-in-den-usa-ist-aprilscherz.html https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/news/unternehmen-verbrauche... However there are now several other sites claiming it is not a joke.
- ralmidani 6y agoGot a Subaru Outback 10 days ago. After I saw this, I told my wife that will probably be the last vehicle we buy that is not at least a plug-in hybrid. We had also test-driven a Toyota Avalon Hybrid, but the Subaru was a much better value and had more vertical trunk space, AWD, and every safety/convenience feature we could imagine getting (and some we weren't even aware of) without buying a $70k+ Lexus/BMW/Mercedes. I really wish Subaru made plug-in hybrids, hopefully they will by the time our minivan is 8-9 years old.
- rige 6y agoSubaru already has a Crosstrek plug-in hybrid, but it's not available very widely. I would have been interested if I'd known they existed before buying my current car, but they're only available in certain states with seemingly low stock.
- unethical_ban 6y agoI wish Subaru didn't go all-in on touch for critical controls like climate and radio. It may be the #1 reason I don't look to them for my next vehicle.
- ralmidani 6y agoI used to say I would never buy a phone without a physical keyboard. My last phone with a physical keyboard was the original Moto Droid, which I lost in 2012.
- unethical_ban 6y agoUnderstood, but I think the ability to adjust things tactile is more important in a driving scenario. Also, The UI lag on some of these infotainment systems feels like a 2010 iphone running iOS 13. If only one could update the processor in their infotainment the way one does a phone, instead of having to buy a new car.
- ralmidani 6y ago
- adolph 6y agoNothing for "Voltswagen" in the United States Patent and Trademark Office Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) yet. https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=login&p_lang=english&p_d=trmk https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=login&p_lang=engli... Don't see anything in Germany either: https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/basis.kopf.form https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/basis.kopf.form
- otterley 6y agoThis is the best evidence yet that this is indeed an April Fool's prank.
- rdsubhas 6y agoIf it was, it's gotta be one of the good ones. Bordering on truth (still people are trying to work out whether it's real or prank), good media coverage, and even if called out – will only end up having a positive association with their electrification efforts.
- adolph 6y agoI'm not certain but if they were serious there would be legal filings of some sort. I'm not an expert in trademarks and I understand that sometimes trademarks can be filed but held in confidence until a company is ready--Apple does this if I recall correctly. Whois is also less than certain. Domain redirects to a generic parking site. https://www.whois.com/whois/voltswagen.com https://www.whois.com/whois/voltswagen.com
- otterley 6y ago(IAAL but this is not legal advice, and I could be incorrect in certain aspects. Consult a licensed attorney for legal advice.) With respect to the USPTO, I believe only patent applications can be filed confidentially. FCC applications can also be filed confidentially. But I believe trademark applications are published immediately upon filing, because the essence of a trademark is use in commerce. You don't need to file a trademark application with the USPTO to be protected by trademark law, but it is an important element of notice, which is relevant when determining certain aspects of infringement claims.
- tumblewit 6y agogoogle apparently has trouble when you search for ‘voltswagen’
- jedberg 6y agoOk this is kinda brilliant. Almost everyone already refers to them as “VW”, which will still be accurate after the name change. So they get the media boost of the brand name change without actually having to suffer any hit from lack of recognition.
- fy20 6y agoBP tried something similar in the early 2000s, but abandoned the new name after their incidents in the following decade: https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottcarpenter/2020/08/04/bps-new-renewables-push-redolent-of-abandoned-beyond-petroleum-rebrand/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottcarpenter/2020/08/04/bps-n...
- GhostVII 6y ago> Founded in 1955, Voltswagen of America, formerly Volkswagen of America, Inc., is an operating unit of Volkswagen Group of America and a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG So Voltswagen is a unit of Volkswagen Group of America? That's not confusing to say at all... I feel like having your subsidiaries name differ by one letter (which both looks and is pronounced similarly) is a bold choice. Too bad, I liked the Volkswagen name.
- danans 6y agoA shocking change in their current direction. One hopes they have the capacity to close the circuit on this. But beyond this press release, they really have to charge forward to transform themselves.
- Igelau 6y agoThe first model in the Voltswagen line should be called the Eggcorn.
- flaque 6y agoIs this an early april fools joke?
- ceilingcorner 6y agoI’m mostly surprised they haven’t just rebranded to VW. Kentucky Fried Chicken did the same thing years ago.
- jlelse 6y agoVW is really pushing EVs. In my neighborhood in Germany there are already many, many ID.3 and ID.4. It's a city near Wolfsburg (VW HQ), that might influence that as well.
- socialist_coder 6y agoBut the German company is still called Volkswagen?
- RedComet 6y agoWhat is it they say on reddit... "thanks, I hate it"
- adaisadais 6y ago_April Fools_
- rhplus 6y agoSomeone has been playing the long game of domain speculation: https://who.is/whois/voltswagen.com Registered On: 2003-04-18 Expires On: 2021-04-18
- bilater 6y agoApril Fool's
- Vrondi 6y agoEarly April Fools' joke?
- ricardobayes 6y agoAn out of season April 1 joke?
- ricardobayes 6y agoTo all the nice people downvoting this, it was an April's fools joke.
- eric_b 6y agoI think names are more important than people think. I am frankly shocked they would make this change (assuming it's not an April Fool's joke) This has to be the worst branding move I've ever seen, with the exception maybe of Netflix and Qwikster
- melvinram 6y agoImagine telling someone in 2003 that this was going to happen. It would have been seen as a joke (as some are seeing it today) or something that absolutely wouldn't happen. If this is not a joke, this seems like the best indicator that Tesla is meeting it's mission to "accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy." Tip of the hat to Elon.
- barbazoo 6y agoIt is a premature April fools joke.
- balozi 6y agoReminds me of the Netflix / Qwikster fiasco. They can still transform without changing their name. Less effort and resource on PR, more effort on the sustainability part.
- jonplackett 6y agoJust checking the calendar. Nope not April 1st yet!
- croes 6y agoIt's more like Volkswagen's attempt to get rid of the bad PR from the emission cheat scandal. Without that electronic cars wouldn't be on VW's agenda.
- shrimpx 6y agoI don't believe that at all. These giant companies are not just in the business of fending off bad PR, they're looking to make a lot of money for their investors, for decades to come.
- 6gvONxR4sf7o 6y agoIsn't it more likely that it's just electric's time? Like when you see a bunch of people inventing similar things, not because they're copying the first person, but the rest of the context is such that the invention is finally important and achievable? Maybe I'm just being contrarian, but I feel like this "first mover was a visionary compared to the second or third" thing is like the Great Person theory of history and overdone. And people will twist it either way. A second mover doesn't appear soon, so the first is way ahead, or a second mover does appear, so it must be because of the first's influence.
- firmnoodle 6y agoWhy didn't they wait until April 1st to make this announcement? Clearly they haven't learned enough about the internet culture from Elon.
- ElijahLynn 6y agoWell, if that doesn't signal the end of combustion consumer vehicles, I don't know what does!!
- imwillofficial 6y agoThis is the dumbest shit I’ve read all week. I had to read it twice and slap myself to believe it.
- ibejoeb 6y agoPR the week of April 1 isn't adding to the credibility either.
- gigatexal 6y agoWait so is this real? I thought it was a joke?
- JBiserkov 6y agoComing soon: Voltvo, Chevoltlet, BMV, Tovolta, ..
- p1mrx 6y ago> Tovolta "It's electrifying!"
- jl6 6y agoFast forward a decade or two to when electric is no longer a novelty, and this brand will not have aged well. They will first do a soft revert to “Voltswagen, by Volkswagen” and then a full revert.
- ppf 6y ago>the ID.4 is the first product to be sold nationwide that confirms the company’s commitment to sustainable mobility. Exactly what about the mass extraction of lithium is at all sustainable to provide the energy storage for all motorised personal transport?
- dgellow 6y agoThat's an april fool joke, right?
- S_A_P 6y agoVirtuesignaling of America is how I interpret this. How about General Electric Motors next? Voltvo? Big Mega Watts? Im all for electrification where it makes sense, but this seems like a bad pun more than a good idea.
- burlesona 6y agoI don't know if anyone else took like 3 paragraphs to realize this, but point is Volkswagen is is changing their name to Voltswagen -- as in VOLTS wagon - as in electricity. I hate to admit this but I somehow couldn't see the change until I got to this quote: “We might be changing out our K for a T, but what we aren't changing is this brand’s commitment to making best-in-class vehicles for drivers and people everywhere,” said Scott Keogh, president and CEO of Voltswagen of America. Also, apparently not an early April Fool's joke: they confirmed the name change to Car and Driver: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a35970854/vw-name-change-voltswagen-reported/ https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a35970854/vw-name-change-v...
- inson 6y agoGetting VW Jetta was the worst decision I've ever made, new or old doesn't matter because all of them have countless problem. Add to that emission scandal... Yeah, I won't exchange my old honda civic even for new VW because Japanese cars are affordable and reliable.
- rkagerer 6y agoI'm in Canada and my last car was a Volkswagen Eos. I'm unlikely to buy another VW, for reasons which have nothing to do with the emissions scandal. A few years ago I had to spend ~$10k to replace all the roof seals and repair damage after water leaked into the interior. I bought the vehicle new and diligently lube the seals according to the owners manual. Last month my girlfriend found a piece of a suspension spring that broke off. I took it into the dealer, who replaced the front springs and shocks. I specifically asked them to check the rear ones, which they said were fine. Also asked about any undercarriage rust, which they said wasn't bad, and in line with what they'd expect for a 10 year old car. Two weeks later this larger chunk of a rear spring fell off while I was driving: https://m.imgur.com/a/uHhdD1p https://m.imgur.com/a/uHhdD1p I've had other minor issues. eg. Ever since the new seals were installed, one window sometimes takes multiple tries to close right, despite several attempts to correct. It's a fun little car and the Service department has been very accommodating, but all in all the money I've spent on repairs could easily have paid the bump to buy the BMW hardtop instead. After the last incident I bought a Toyota RAV4 with green Consumer Reports reliability ratings across the board. VW has a lot to prove if they want me back as a customer.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- tigerlily 6y agoNext they'll appoint a Technoting.
- arendtio 6y agoSounds like the US brand is so burned, that they decided to try something bold.
- heshiebee 6y agoThat's nice. The original name represented the then German government and Nazi Party Leader Adolf Hitler to create a car for the perfect Nazi family as presented in his vision.
- outside1234 6y ago... and it turns out this was actually an April's Fools joke. And, right on brand, VW screwed up the execution...
- chrischen 6y agoIs this an April fools joke? https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-name/volkswagen-will-not-change-name-of-u-s-operations-sources-idUSKBN2BM2YJ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-name/volkswage... First fake emissions scandal... now fake name change?
- degoodm 6y agoPerhaps VW should focus on taking slave labor out of their supply chain. One could argue that their decision to work with Nazis was compelled b/c VW is a German company. What's their excuse for using slaves from a second genocide? https://www.dw.com/en/volkswagens-uighur-problem/av-55579947 https://www.dw.com/en/volkswagens-uighur-problem/av-55579947 https://newlinesinstitute.org/uyghurs/the-uyghur-genocide-an-examination-of-chinas-breaches-of-the-1948-genocide-convention/ https://newlinesinstitute.org/uyghurs/the-uyghur-genocide-an... https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium-from-jews-to-uighurs-why-would-volkswagen-want-to-be-complicit-in-another-genocide-1.9402677 https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium-from-jews-to-uig...
- manigandham 6y agoConfirmed fake: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/30/volkswagens-name-change-of-us-voltswagen-operations-was-april-fools-marketing-prank-source-says.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/30/volkswagens-name-change-of-u... "Media outlets ... reported it as news after it was confirmed by unnamed sources within the company, who apparently lied to several reporters."
- dawnerd 6y agoBut... they literally put it as a press release on their site with a date of today. Then again, VW knows a thing or two about faking reports
- bonestamp2 6y agoI happened to still have it in my browser so I took a screenshot for anyone who missed it. https://i.imgur.com/kJLMX5L.png https://i.imgur.com/kJLMX5L.png
- ldbooth 6y agoIf it's not a joke, it's a corporate branding error. If it is a joke, it's great PR.
- supergirl 6y agoI don’t know how ppl can think that this is real. VW group is the biggest or second biggest car producer in the world. People really think they would rename to something so silly. This is the equivalent of Musk twitting about doge
- efitz 6y agoThis is a dumb name. Two theories: 1. Some young VP convinced the company to do it; that person will only last a couple years before they move on. The company will change its name back shortly. 2. It’s an April fools joke that accidentally got published too early.
- efitz 6y agoNailed it. It was #2
- noxer 6y agoLe me go full zoomer and just call this cringe. Also its a PR gimmick.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- acjohnson55 6y agoVoltswagon actually would have been a cool idea, in my opinion