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> Just change the name and change it back For real? A company with global presence, to LEGALLY change their name? And then run through the bureaucratic hell wi

> Just change the name and change it back For real? A company with global presence, to LEGALLY change their name? And then run through the bureaucratic hell with countries, tax authorities, customs, contracts, insurance companies, changing logos/templates.. Do you have what is the actual cost to change a name for a company? The top hit on a DDG search: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-do-i-change-my-business-name-398664 https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-do-i-change-my-business-na... Before you start the process, think about the costs and time to change a business name. The legal change of business name is only one part of the process and the cost. The other part is making the change in all the places where your business name is displayed to the public and internally and on legal documents. Now take this and apply it in (practically) every country on the planet, as VW is not a single store across the street.

dheera 6y ago
You don't have to legally change your name, you can just change it on your website as long as nobody else is using it.
pvorb 6y ago
Well, Daimler announced something similar just about two months ago: https://www.daimler.com/investors/reports-news/financial-news/20210203-project-focus.html https://www.daimler.com/investors/reports-news/financial-new... It wants to separate its car business from truck business and plans to rename the car business to Mercedes-Benz - the brand name it's been using since virtually forever. It's probably also a PR stunt, I don't know.
- selimthegrim 6y ago
  Oddly enough, they are taking their name off the Superdome.
wahern 6y ago
You don't need to legally change the business name. In fact, many of the businesses you're familiar with are incorporated under unfamiliar names. Rather, you can often just register a trade name (aka DBA name), which is a sort of formal alias which in principle is readily resolvable to the business name. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_name
- HenryBemis 6y ago
  But that still requires plenty of costly changes. They will still have to amend the name in every country, every poster/sign, paper templates, stamps, cards. When you create yor company you still have to declare both the legal entity name "XYZ Ltd" and trade name "X". It means that they have to send teams (outsource most likely) to every building, in every country, measure, create new models for each dimension, replace. Then, one month(?) later after the fun part is done, they will have to go back and redo everything. Perhaps it won't cost them 100m, but it will cost them 50m. And then another 50m to change it back.

dheera 6y ago

You don't have to legally change your name, you can just change it on your website as long as nobody else is using it.

pvorb 6y ago

Well, Daimler announced something similar just about two months ago: https://www.daimler.com/investors/reports-news/financial-news/20210203-project-focus.html https://www.daimler.com/investors/reports-news/financial-new... It wants to separate its car business from truck business and plans to rename the car business to Mercedes-Benz - the brand name it's been using since virtually forever. It's probably also a PR stunt, I don't know.

selimthegrim 6y ago
Oddly enough, they are taking their name off the Superdome.

wahern 6y ago

You don't need to legally change the business name. In fact, many of the businesses you're familiar with are incorporated under unfamiliar names. Rather, you can often just register a trade name (aka DBA name), which is a sort of formal alias which in principle is readily resolvable to the business name. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_name

HenryBemis 6y ago
But that still requires plenty of costly changes. They will still have to amend the name in every country, every poster/sign, paper templates, stamps, cards. When you create yor company you still have to declare both the legal entity name "XYZ Ltd" and trade name "X". It means that they have to send teams (outsource most likely) to every building, in every country, measure, create new models for each dimension, replace. Then, one month(?) later after the fun part is done, they will have to go back and redo everything. Perhaps it won't cost them 100m, but it will cost them 50m. And then another 50m to change it back.