By William Boston

BERLIN -- A press release published on the website of Volkswagen AG's U.S. subsidiary's Tuesday said the company will rebrand itself as Voltswagen of America to emphasize its multibillion--dollar drive to transform itself into the world's leading maker of all-electric vehicles.

Or will it?

By midday on Tuesday at the German car maker's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, company officials were adamant that the press release and name change were nothing more than a joke -- a spoof marketing move to raise awareness about the company's first all-electric sport utility vehicle, the ID.4, which went on sale in the U.S. this month.

"It's a premature April Fool's joke. It's part of a marketing campaign for the ID.4," said one of the people in Wolfsburg. "There will be no name change."

The press release had first gone out briefly on VW's U.S. media-relations website late on Monday before being taken down. After it was reposted early on Tuesday, the news took a momentum of its own despite the push-back from headquarters.

Shares in Volkswagen were up 3.6% by midday.

The press release quoted Scott Keogh as president and CEO of Voltswagen of America saying: "We might be changing out our K for a T, but what we aren't changing is this brand's commitment to making best-in-class vehicles for drivers and people everywhere."

On Tuesday, Mr. Keogh's Twitter account pushed the new name again, following the press release with a message about the name change.

By late afternoon in Europe, VW USA had yet to return a call for comment.

Among old-school auto makers, VW has been a leader in developing and launching new electric vehicles, aiming to switch to a largely electric fleet within the decade. But not all the press has been glowing, and executives at the company often complain that they don't get enough credit for the company's transformation.

VW shocked consumers around the world six years ago when U.S. authorities charged the company with rigging diesel-powered vehicles to cheat on emissions tests. VW pleaded guilty to charges of fraud, conspiracy and selling goods in the U.S. under false pretenses. The dieselgate scandal has so far cost VW more than $35 billion in fines, compensation and legal fees.

With its reputation shattered, VW has since rebuilt itself into a leader in making electric vehicles, investing tens of billions of dollars to build a new generation of EVs as the company vies to overtake Tesla Inc. as the biggest EV maker in the world.

The road to electric cars has been fraught with setbacks. The new vehicles -- VW's ID.3 and ID.4, the e-tron built by its luxury car maker Audi, and the Taycan made by its sports-car brand Porsche -- have had to overcome obstacles and met with mixed reviews. The ID.3, which wasn't released in the U.S., initially struggled with software glitches.

The press release about changing the name of the U.S. business comes as the company is eager to get U.S. consumers jazzed about the ID.4, which went on sale in U.S. showrooms this month. The vehicle is a competitor to Tesla's Model Y and has been praised largely as very good, but still not quite a match for Tesla's offering.

Earlier this month, VW released earnings for 2020, which showed that the company had weathered the Covid-19 pandemic well. Despite the pandemic, VW generated pretax profit of EUR12 billion, equivalent to $14.07 billion, down about 36% from 2019, on sales of EUR223 billion, down 12%. The company benefited strongly from China's recovery, where VW generates more than 40% of its sales.

Write to William Boston at william.boston@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-30-21 1216ET