VW unveils brand-new logo
The Volkswagen brand has unveiled its new logo and its new brand design at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt.
This world premiere marks the start of a new era for Volkswagen. The new Volkswagen logo with its flat two-dimensional design is clearer and has been reduced to its essential elements.
The brand design and the logo aim for high flexibility and are intended for digital applications. The realignment of Volkswagen’s brand design is one of the world’s largest rebranding campaigns. For New Zealand, the changeover will take place in February 2020.
“The new brand design marks the start of the new era for Volkswagen,” says Jürgen Stackmann, member of the brand board of management. “By formulating new content and with new products, the brand is undergoing a fundamental transformation towards a future with a neutral emission balance for everyone. Now is the right time to make the new attitude of our brand visible to the outside world.”
The new brand design applies both to Volkswagen passenger cars and to Volkswagen commercial vehicles.
Volkswagen’s chief designer Klaus Bischoff played a key role in the development of the new corporate identity: “In the new brand design, we have created an authentic communications platform for the emotional presentation of e-mobility. We are showing the Volkswagen of the future under the motto of 'digital-first' and 'no filter'.
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. A total of 19 internal teams and 17 external agencies were involved in the project.
The international roll-out of the new brand design has begun at the IAA Frankfurt International Motor Show. The global changeover is to be implemented using a cost-optimised, resource-conserving approach.
Initially, the brand’s locations and dealers in Europe will be changed over, followed by the rest of the world from the beginning of next year.
Volkswagen’s rebranding is one of the largest projects of this type in the industry worldwide. All in all, 171 markets in 154 countries are concerned. At the 10,000 facilities of dealers and service partners throughout the world, about 70,000 logos will be replaced.
How has the logo changed?
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.
To date, the logo has been blue and white. A new blue tone is now being added, allowing additional colour variants. As the digital application with simple, user-friendly interfaces has become extremely important, the logo will be positioned flexibly with the new “moving frame” in the future.
Instead of a brand claim, Volkswagen will have a sound logo for the first time. This will make also make the Volkswagen brand distinctive in acoustic terms, both in the vehicle and in communications.
The new visual language of the brand will be very different from that presented by Volkswagen to date – it will be bolder and more colourful.
In the future, the logo will be illuminated, on the vehicle, at the brand locations and at the dealerships. At the dealerships too, the logo, the moving frame and light will play a key role, with a view to creating a pleasant atmosphere.
In architectural terms, there will be no change to the interior of the dealerships. For several decades, Volkswagen has used a male voice to present its vehicles and for advertising purposes. The brand is now to become female.
