• by Tanya Gazdik , April 9, 2020

Volkswagen is debuting a refreshed and digitally friendly re-imagination of its signature logo, now rolling out to the U.S. market, with its U.S. vehicle debut on the 2020 Atlas Cross Sport.

The new design is a minimalist take on the classic logo, allowing for more flexibility, according to the automaker.

The new branding was designed to be versatile, “digital-first” and reduces the logo to essential elements, which now presents as flat and two dimensional, says Volkswagen Chief Designer Klaus Bischoff.

“My personal drive in this redesign was to make the W float, bringing a new lightness to the Volkswagen brand,” Bischoff said in a release. “Of course, this rebrand also brings Volkswagen into the digital era, transforming our classic logo into a trademark that is easily displayed digitally on devices and applications.”

The strategic foundations for the new brand design were not laid by external agencies but by a joint team of Volkswagen Design and Marketing, a spokesperson for the automaker tells Marketing Daily. "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 new logo will function on small scales like a smart watch or phone as well as on the company’s vehicles. Last year, more than 6.2 million vehicles were built worldwide with a “VW” on their grilles.

“We have created a new holistic global brand experience on all channels and across all touch points,” said Jochen Sengpiehl, CMO of Volkswagen, in a release, noting that the company's advertising aims "to adopt the customer’s perspective to a greater extent and to tell authentic stories.”

The redesign also brings other significant changes to the Volkswagen brand and its marketing strategy. The logo’s blue and white colors have also been refreshed with a new deep blue tone, allowing for additional color variants.

The international rollout will include the transition of over 70,000 logos globally. By mid-2020, the brand plans to complete the rollout of the rebrand across the 10,000 dealers in 171 markets spanning 154 countries.