Detroit – Volkswagen plans to change its brand name to “Voltswagen” in the United States because it focuses heavily on its production of electric vehicles and seeks to exclude itself from a scandal surrounding a fraud in measuring its vehicle emissions. Reported on Monday. Projects.
The company is scheduled to release an official announcement on Tuesday, the person said, asking to speak anonymously as the plans have not been made public.
Announcing the name change, the company released a brief statement on its website early Monday morning. The USA Today reporter observed the report before withdrawing it. This document is dated April 29th.
Meanwhile, VW is accepting bookings for the new ID4 electric SUV in the United States. It is the company’s only new electric model, however there are several plans, including redistribution of the company’s nostalgia for the microbus.
Although the ID4 is for sale, only a small portion of the VWs on American roads bear the “Voltswagen” name.
In the future, most of the company’s vehicle sales in the United States will run on petrol and will continue to be branded “VW”. Last year, the German automaker sold 326,000 VW-branded vehicles in the United States.
A person familiar with the project said the Volkswagen Group of America, which also includes the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini brands, would not change its name. Conversely, only the “K” in the Volkswagen brand will be changed to “D”.
Electric vehicles carry an exterior badge with the name “Voltswagen”, while petrol will have the usual “VW” but no trade names, the person added.
The report said the move was similar to the company’s public statement on future investments in electric vehicles.
VW is trying to clean up its image after U.S. officials discovered in 2015 that so-called “clean” diesel vehicles had been rigged during emissions tests. During the Environmental Protection Agency tests, vehicles implemented pollution controls and then turned them off when used on the streets.
Volkswagen pleaded guilty in 2017 and agreed to pay $ 4.3 billion in civil and criminal fines, as well as billions of dollars more to buy cars. Two went to jail.