Car makers get creative on April fools day

BY DANIEL GARDNER | 2nd Apr 2013


CAR manufacturers from around the world have once again embraced the spirit of April Fools with a host of cheeky gags.

In anticipation of a royal baby arriving later this year, not-so-dour German brand BMW launched its Postnatal Royal Auto Mobile or P.R.A.M.

The heavily styled pusher is powered by a Nurse-Assisting Petrol Powered Injection Engine (N.A.P.P.I.E.) and features air conditioning and hood to block prying Paparazzi lenses.

It’s not the first time BMW has used the date to pull a royally inspired prank. In 2011, the company celebrated the marriage of William and Catherine with a special M3 Royal Edition featuring an inverted M badge which read: Will.

Perhaps their most famous April Fools gag came in the form of a new M3 Ute promised for the Australian market. BMW even went to the trouble of producing a one-off working version to burnish the ruse.

For one day only Mini jokingly offered an update for its Connected App. The ‘Connect Us’ in-car dating application compared driving styles of Mini owners and invited compatible couples to meet in person.

The on-screen information indicated a driving style rating out of 5 and updated the user with other potential match similarities. Suspiciously the “update” was only available on April 1.

Subaru also got in on the fun by releasing a video demonstrating an extra-cost self-cleaning option on the XV crossover. Apparently, at the push of a button a soiled Scooby could instantly become showroom shiny once again.

Subaru claimed the self-wash function used some unusual technology including “nanogenerators and overlapping electrical currents” - but we suspect CGI may have been equally responsible.

Volvo is the only manufacturer to currently offer an airbag for people on the exterior of a vehicle so the notion that they would introduce a “car-enveloping External Protection System” may just have fooled a handful of people.

The mock system was said to deploy a roof-stowed series of airbags which shielded the entire car before impact. A mention of surface water as a hazard implied the bag may even provide buoyancy, but until a demonstration is offered it may just be a lot of hot air.

Even Nissan decided to have a poke, announcing their GT-R branded Toast-R sandwich toaster boasting a zero-to-toasted time of just 2.9 seconds. It even had a ‘turbo’ light resembling the tail light of the GT-R road car.

While all of the pranks are made in the name of humour and publicity, let’s not forget that Mercedes have previously given us an ‘invisible’ B-class courtesy of clever LEDs, Nissan is currently developing a self-cleaning, self-healing paint and Porsche Design offer a range of kitchen knives.

Perhaps some of the suggestions in this years April gags aren’t so preposterous after all.

Read more

Fool’s gold
Joke is on BMW’s M3 ute
Kia kids itself
Full Site
Back to Top

Main site

Researching

GoAutoMedia