Volkswagen America may or may not be changing its name to Voltswagen, maybe #Breaking112
CNN Business has been unable to confirm whether or not the plan is real. As of Monday afternoon, the name Voltswagen did not appear in a search of the US Patent and Trademark Office’s database of trademark applications, though that does not prove the plan isn’t real either, as the company would not have had to apply at this point and could for instance have opted to hold off on such an application for fear its plan would be discovered.
There is a Voltswagen Twitter account, though, used by Volkswagen UK. That account has not been active for several months, however, last tweeting in September of 2020. According to the now-removed press release the name change of Volkswagen of America to Voltswagen of America is to begin in May.
That leaves several possibilities for what’s going on: This could have been just a joke, or it could be a real plan as some media outlets have reported citing an anonymous source or sources. It also might have been a tentative plan, revealed before it was fully baked, that never ultimately transpires.
The name Volkswagen means “people’s car” in German. A volt — as in Voltswagen — is a measure of electrical force. If real, the “Voltswagen” name would also not be the first use of the measurement in relation to a vehicle. General Motors built the plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt, known as the Opel Ampera in Europe, from 2011 to 2019.
