The Capital Committeemarket of the United States (SEC from the Securities and Exchange Commission) is investigating Volkswagen's “Voltswagen” name to find out if the stunt affected the automaker's stock price and if any laws were broken, according with Der Spiegel.
The new name was announced on March 29, when the US subsidiary Volkswagen "accidentally" published a draft press release for change of the local name companys to Voltswagen for its promotion of electric vehicles.
Some newsgraphics agencies published the news and the company released an official press release on March 30, which included excerpts from Volkswagen CEO Scott Keogh who claimed the change would actually happen.
In the end, it turned out to be an April Fool's joke, and several news outlets – including Associated Press they reproduced the news.
Volkswagen stock price rose as much as 12,5 percent at this stage, equivalent to billions of dollars in market value.
So the SEC wants to know what really happened, or what laws could have been violated by VW.
