Since being swept up in the Dieselgate scandal, Volkswagen has made a lot of changes. The German automaker publicly apologized for lying about its vehicles’ emissions, and it’s pledged an electric future. But the biggest change yet for the VW brand is coming later this fall.
VW announced on Thursday that it will use this September’s Frankfurt Motor Show to introduce a “new brand design” that will include a revised version of the company’s iconic logo. VW is making us wait until the start of the Frankfurt show, however, to get a glimpse of the new logo; the company didn’t even issue a teaser image with its press release.
According to VW, its new logo will be “bolder and more colorful” and “digitally oriented.” Although the iconic logo is getting a makeover, it sounds as if the ‘V’ and ‘W’ will remain part of it, just “reduced to its essential elements” in a new design that is “flat and two-dimensional.” VW says it's also planning a new "sound logo" and will use a female as the voice of the brand.
“Volkswagen has taken and implemented bold decisions in almost all areas of its activities. The comprehensive rebranding is the logical consequence of our brand’s strategic reorientation,” said Jürgen Stackmann, Member of the Brand Board of Management responsible for Sales, Marketing and After-Sales.
VW says its European dealers will switch to the new branding immediately following the Frankfurt show, with the outlets in China following suit in October. North and South America will start the switchover in 2020.
In addition to its new branding, VW will use the upcoming Frankfurt show to introduce the production version of its Golf-sized ID.3 battery-electric vehicle.