Volkswagen Kills Rabbit NameplateThree years ago, Volkswagen of Americaâ€â€under the guidance of Kerri Martin, then the "director of brand innovation," and then-advertising darling Crispin Porter + Boguskyâ€â€ditched the globally successful Golf nameplate and renamed the popular hatchback the Rabbit in the North American market, reviving the name under which the first-generation Golf was produced in Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, in the 1970s and ‘80s. And it was as the Rabbit that the perky, fun-to-drive car was "Americanized" and allowed to deteriorate into a low-quality, softened caricature of the German-built original. When its successor arrived, it was rechristened the Golf to erase memories of the Rabbit.
Apparently, this footnote of automotive history was forgotten at company headquarters when Martin, backed by head honcho Wolfgang Bernhard, came up with the astonishing name change for the Golf MkV. She offered this explanation: "Volkswagen customers want a relationship with their cars. Names like The Thing, Beetle, Fox, and Rabbit support this." (Remember the iconic Fox?)
In hindsight, the Golf MkVâ€â€a.k.a. Rabbitâ€â€did not multiply quite as successfully as VW hoped three years ago, and in fact it will most likely go down in history as the shortest-lived generation of the model ever. So it's no wonder VW has now decided in favor of another name change, ditching the Rabbit moniker for a second time. "The car will be called the Golf again in North America," Jochen Sengpiehl, executive director of Volkswagen marketing, told us as an aside at the international GTI launch in St. Tropez, France, thus ending a mystery that has kept internet forums and chat rooms busy ever since the Golf MkVI was launched last summer.
May the Rabbit rest in peace, and long live the Golf
BY JENS MEINERS
March 2009
well my girl wears her chrome Rabbit with pride
