Volkswagen’s Identity Upgrade at the Frankfurt Motor Show

Volkswagen's Identity Upgrade at the Frankfurt Motor Show
Volkswagen has upgraded its logo which is to be unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show 2019.
Volkswagen's Identity Upgrade at the Frankfurt Motor Show
Volkswagen has upgraded its logo which is to be unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show 2019.

Volkswagen has gone through some major rebranding and their new logo is just a spoiler of the things one would see at the Frankfurt motor show.

The logo has been developed to present a younger, more futuristic persona for the German automobile giant. The logo has been in the works for almost three years now and is one of the major changes that the company has made after the Dieselgate emissions scandal.

The Diesel-gate also known as the Emission-gate or the Volkswagen emission scandal happened when the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice of violation of clean air Act by the company in the month of September, 2015.

According to the Agency the German automakers had allegedly programmed their turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engines in such a way that they only activated their emission controls during laboratory testing and not during the actual world driving. This made the company pass the regulatory tests as the nitrous oxide emissions would meet the standards set by the regulatory body but driving in the real world the vehicles would emit significantly more nitrous oxide than in testing (approximately forty percent more).

This programming software was deployed in more than eleven million cars worldwide by Volkswagen, from which around five hundred thousand were in the United States, this went on from 2009 until late 2015 when the company’s fraud was finally revealed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Ever since the aforementioned incident, the Volkswagen Group has been trying to bounce back up from the trench of this so called scandal, rebranding has been a big part of their executive plan which also includes the unveiling of their electric hatchback ID 3.

ID 3 is the German group’s first production vehicle based on full electric MEB platform. The eighth generation Golf will be the first car to go on sale with the new logo, with its launch due at the end of this year and sales are expected to begin from the early months of the year 2020.

The current logo has been there since 2010. The new logo has been developed completely in house by the firm, which still has the letters V and W in circle but in a much simpler two dimensional design. The letters on the logo will be in gloss white on a black background, although this may not be permanent; it will be presented as a red version in the future GTI models.

Jochen Sengiehl, head of marketing at Volkswagen said that the old three dimensional was becoming a bit heavy and somewhat immobile, especially in today’s digital era. Therefore the new logo was made keeping in mind the digital form. The new logo has been stripped to its most essential components, full of contrast and perceptive clarity. The rebranding also includes a new typeface and a light blue garnish along with the official white and dark blue, brand colours of Volkswagen.

The Chief Operating Officer of the auto manufacturing company, Ralf Bradstätter says the new logo was the consequence of the changes they went through in the wake of Dieselgate, which also included the company’s heavy focus on electric vehicle technology and on reducing its carbon dioxide emissions. What started as fundamental crisis turned out to be the very catalyst for the transformation of Volkswagen, according to Bradstätter. They plan to be leaders in electric mobility in the world market by 2025 and their goal is to sell one million electric vehicles per year by then. Volkswagen has also reduced the number of parts used in production and simplified its product range, allowing greater regional focus.

Volkswagen now has a mindset to provide Emissions free mobility for all, and their chief operating officer adds that it is not a claim but a goal they want to achieve but it won’t happen overnight.

The reconstruction of Volkswagen also includes how they interact with the dealers; keeping this in mind the company has renegotiated its contracts with the European dealers so they can deal more directly, with a greater use of digital platforms in the future.

The new logo’s public unveiling will be done at the Frankfurt motor show, and at the same time it will also be installed at the firm’s headquarters in Wolfsburg. The logo will be rolled out to more than ten thousand dealers in one hundred and seventy one markets over the period of next two years. The company has estimated tax minimum of seventy thousand logos to be replaced.

Other than their logo, Volkswagen has a lot to showcase at this year’s international motor show, like the unveiling of the ID 3 Hatchback, but the most awaited of all unveilings will be Porsche’s Taycan – the company’s newest electric vehicle.

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