After fooling a slew of news outlets, Volkswagen said an announcement about changing its name to Voltswagen was a joke.
A press release leaked on Monday and blasted out to the media in an email on Tuesday insisted the name change was real, but the company conceded the same day that it was supposed to be an early April Fools’ Day joke to promote the release of its first electric SUV in the United States — the ID.4. April Fools’ Day, which annually takes place on April 1, fell on Thursday this year.
“At the end of the day, it was a bit of fun with the name and the brand,” Volkswagen spokesman Mark Gillies said. “We wanted to reinforce what we are messaging about the ID.4.”
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Several major news outlets, including the New York Times and the Associated Press, wrote about the announcement as though it were true.
The press release even quoted the company’s president and CEO, Scott Keogh.
“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,” he said.
The fake announcement even caused the company’s stock prices to rise by nearly 5%, causing some to question whether it will be in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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“I don’t think the SEC is going to see this as stock price manipulation any more than when General Motors or Ford or Toyota or anybody talks about their [electric vehicle] future,” Erik Gordon, a business and law professor at the University of Michigan, told the Associated Press. “It is incredibly stupid, but if being stupid were illegal, a third of the CEOs in the U.S. would be in jail.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Volkswagen and the SEC for comment but did not immediately receive responses.
