Electric Volkswagens To Feature In Zootopia 2 … Sort Of – CleanTechnica

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As the parent of a 6th grader and a 3rd grader, I have gotten to watch many kids’ movies and shows over the past several years. The amount of work and thought and skill that goes into some of these is really amazing. One of my absolute definite favorites, though, is Zootopia. It’s a great film in multiple respects. It’s hilarious, it’s a wonderful social commentary, and it provides important lessons on racism, prejudice, and mistaken assumptions.

My hopes for Zootopia 2 are probably too high based on my feelings and experiences from the first movie, and I’m trying to temper expectations, but the good news is that we already have some good news about the movie. Volkswagen announced today that it is collaborating with Walt Disney Animation Studios on promotion of the movie, and not only.

“The highlight of the collaboration is the appearance of three custom-animated vehicles in the film inspired by the all-electric Volkswagen models ID.3, ID.4, and ID.7 Tourer. The product placement is part of a new 360 campaign from Volkswagen, that will be rolled out globally,” Volkswagen announced. So, that’s something. More promotion of cool, fun, exciting electric vehicles that are focused on making the world a better place.

“Ahead of the film’s theatrical release in November, Volkswagen have released their co-branded campaign commercial. The 30-second spot builds anticipation for the new animated adventure and shows the Volkswagen models with a ‘Zootopified’ look to match the film as well as featuring Gazelle’s new song. The spot will run in theaters, on TV and across social media worldwide.”

Unfortunately, the company does also feature non-electric cars in the promos. Here’s the first one:

Volkswagen must have paid a pretty little penny (or eurocent) in this partnership, as it is also included in a fun way in the movie. It is referred to as “Wolfswagen,” which is a play on Volkswagen and its HQ city of Wolfsburg. Clever. Fun. Fitting.

“Cooperation plays an important role when it comes to effectively implementing emotional storytelling for the Volkswagen brand and reaching new customer groups. ‘Zootopia 2’ shows how important it is to question prejudices and break new ground together in an entertaining way; these are values that Volkswagen also embodies,” Christine Wolburg, Chief Brand Officer of Volkswagen, nicely says. “We are thrilled to collaborate with the Walt Disney Animation Studios to ‘Zootopify’ our brand in the film in a perfectly funny way.”

Volkswagen has been combining with Disney for a while now. I always wonder how much it actually helps the brand. I assume it does, but it’s clearly unquantifiable and it’s anyone’s guess how much it helps to actually sell vehicles. Volkswagen previously partnered in promoting the Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Marvel Studios film Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.

The disappointing thing here is just that Volkswagen is using the collaboration to non-electric vehicles as well as electric ones. It seems we can’t go a day without an automaker disappointing us at least a little bit. But let’s focus on the positive. I look forward to seeing the ID-inspired cartoon EVs in Zootopia 2. Hopefully they inspire more people to buy Volkswagen ID electric vehicles.