Volkswagen’s U.S. name change to ‘Voltswagen’ was April Fool’s marketing prank

German automaker Volkswagen will not be changing the name of its U.S. operations to Voltswagen of America after all.

The news, which appeared to leak out on its U.S. media site Monday and was formally announced in a press release Tuesday, was part of an elaborate April Fools’ Day joke, the company confirmed in a statement later Tuesday.

“The renaming was designed to be an announcement in the spirit of April Fool’s Day, highlighting the launch of the all-electric ID.4 SUV,” said Mike Tolbert, VW’s U.S.spokesman, in an emailed statement.

The company is expected to issue a follow-up announcement explaining the marketing strategy by Wednesday morning, a person familiar with the plans said.

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