VOW Volkswagen AG

By Ben Foldy 

The chief executive of Volkswagen AG's U.S. subsidiary said Thursday he took personal responsibility for an early April Fools' Day prank this week in which the company sent out a news release saying it was changing its U.S. name to "Voltswagen."

"Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine it taking hold," said Scott Keogh, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "If there's any trust or credibility to be rebuilt from me, I'm going to do it."

The German auto maker later admitted that the name change was a joke and a marketing stunt, but that was only after many news organizations reported it as a legitimate development and social media lighted up with commentary about the move.

The gag-gone-wrong started Monday when VW communications in the U.S. published a draft of the release on the company's website and quickly took it down.

The release, initially picked up by several news outlets, said the company would rebrand itself "Voltswagen of America" to promote its electric-car strategy. The fake news release also quoted Mr. Keogh as saying: "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."

The next day, Volkswagen's U.S. unit published the release in full on its website, a move that suggested the name change was in fact real and would take effect in May. The company's stock rose 4.7% on the Frankfurt stock exchange that day.

It was only later that day that a Volkswagen spokesman in Germany confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that the name change was an early April Fools' Day stunt, meant to get people talking about the company's first all-electric sport-utility vehicle, the ID. 4.

"We didn't mean to mislead anyone," the spokesman said at the time.

Mr. Keogh said Thursday the stunt was in some ways a success in drawing attention to the brand's commitment to electric vehicles and the intent wasn't to deceive the public. He said the company thought it would be obvious to everyone that it was a joke, but bungled the execution.

"It was a gag with humor, whether you like it or not," he added. "The upside is, obviously, the social response has been the biggest numbers we've ever seen."

Write to Ben Foldy at Ben.Foldy@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 01, 2021 17:59 ET (21:59 GMT)

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