A dealership in Rochester, NY had a brand-new, German-built Volkswagen arrive for its pre-sales inspection, and with it came a little message. A message that wasn’t exactly grammatically correct, but the meaning behind it was unmistakable. The message? “Welcome Fuck of USA.”
I’m pretty sure the message-enterer wanted to say “Fuck off USA” instead of “Fuck of USA,” but I think we get the gist either way. Somewhere between the factory and the dealership, with that vast ocean in between, someone in that chain decided they needed to send the U.S. a clear message of how they felt, so they used the only tool they had available: the customizable welcome message setting deep in the menus of the Multifunction Display. It’s totally possible to do this, if you want.
I’m not going to reveal who tipped us to this or took the picture of the display, since I’m pretty sure there’s going to be people in trouble over this, but I’m pretty sure this message will be changed before any potential customers get a chance to even look at the car.
Unless it’s not the only one.
Uh oh.
I reached out to Volkswagen for comment, and while I haven’t heard back yet, I’m pretty confident that we’ll hear that this message is definitely not on-brand for Volkswagen, and Volkswagen has no desire to tell the United States to fuck off, or even to fuck of.
If I hear anything different, or even basically this from VW, I’ll update.