At this year’s IAA International Motor Show in Frankfurt, the Volkswagen brand is celebrating two world premieres. In addition to the full-electric ID.3, the brand is presenting its new logo and its new brand design to the public under the motto of “New Volkswagen”.
With the new brand design, Volkswagen's objective is to create a new 360° customer experience that is modern and fascinating throughout the world and across all channels. Volkswagen’s Chief Designer Klaus Bischoff, who played a key role in the development of the new CI, said: “The new brand design reflects a type of mobility that forms a natural part of people’s lives. Volkswagen has always been a key element in these efforts. In the new age of mobility, the motto is ‘digital first’, without any filters.”
In contrast to normal practice in the industry, the new brand design was not developed by external agencies but by a joint team of Volkswagen Design and Marketing. The design was implemented with the full integration of all departments of the company in the record time of nine months using a powerhouse concept developed by Volkswagen, especially for this purpose.
The symbol and trademark will be the new logo. This will be more modern, clearer and simpler. The logo will be reduced to its essential elements and presented with a new design that is flat and two-dimensional. It will allow more flexible use and will be outstandingly recognizable in digital media. This also applies to the new brand signals such as pictograms, typography, colors or layouts. For the first time, the brand will have a sound logo, which will replace the former brand claim. In addition, the Volkswagen brand will have a female voice in the future.
Volkswagen ID.3 full-electric hatchback is almost ready
The international roll-out of the new brand design will begin at the IAA Frankfurt International Motor Show in September. The starting signal will be given by the unveiling of the new logo at the company headquarters in Wolfsburg. Initially, the brand’s locations and dealers in Europe will be changed over, followed by China and other global markets. All in all, 171 markets will be affected. At the more than 10,000 facilities of dealers and service partners throughout the world, about 70,000 logos will be replaced. Volkswagen’s rebranding will, therefore, be one of the largest operations of this type in the industry worldwide.
The new brand design is the result of the Transform 2025+ strategy adopted by Volkswagen in the fall of 2015. The brand is now preparing for phase 2 of Transform 2025+, the roll-out of its e-mobility and digitalization strategy. This also includes the fundamental realignment of the company’s communications with its customers.
