{"id":7871,"date":"2024-04-01T10:00:21","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T09:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scrapcarnetwork.org\/news\/?p=7871"},"modified":"2024-04-03T08:44:45","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T07:44:45","slug":"our-5-top-favourite-april-fools-by-car-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scrapcarnetwork.org\/news\/our-5-top-favourite-april-fools-by-car-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"Our 5 top favourite April Fools by car companies"},"content":{"rendered":"

We love a good prank here at Scrap Car Network. We\u2019ve covered one or two on the blog before actually \u2013 such as the joke by US president and notorious trickster Lyndon B Johnson, who liked to frighten visiting dignitaries<\/strong><\/a> with his amphicar. And every year on the 1st of April, just like the rest of us, car manufacturers like to have a little fun.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got more than 40 years of experience ourselves helping customers get the best price when they scrap their car \u2013 so we\u2019ve seen a fair number of these efforts in our time. It was tough to make a shortlist, but after lots of discussion, here are our five top contenders.<\/p>\n

BMW\u2019s attractive new design<\/h2>\n

An ambitious (but to be clear, fictional) idea to kick us off with, courtesy German automaker Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, better known by their catchier moniker of BMW. Now, Germany does have a totally legitimate reputation in the automotive industry as a country with a long history for innovation, but perhaps \u201cmagnetic tow technology\u201d<\/strong><\/a> is pushing the limits of that credibility.<\/p>\n

The MTT system involves BMW\u2019s engineers granting its vehicles the ability to \u201clatch on\u201d to traffic using an electromagnetic beam \u2013 which would make them, arguably, the only \u201ctrue\u201d Beamers.<\/p>\n

\"Horseshoe\"<\/p>\n

Developed in conjunction with NASA, who apparently have nothing better to do, the system projects this beam 20 metres in front of the BMW. Once a suitable \u201ctarget car\u201d has been identified (the press release doesn\u2019t elaborate further on this rather ominous turn of phrase), the BMW driver can then feel free to take their foot off the accelerator. The towing car, we are assured, will not notice any change in manoeuvrability.<\/p>\n

The BMW driver can then unlatch themselves at their leisure simply by depressing the clutch pedal to start their engine. A specialist in Kinetic Ride And Propulsion (KRAP) at BMW, Dr Noitt All, has suggested that you may even want to flash the car in front and give the other driver a friendly hand gesture to thank them for the free ride, although that rather raises the possibility that they may respond with one or two hand gestures of their own.<\/p>\n

Dacia needs more space<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Outer<\/p>\n

Not to be outdone by the suggestion of NASA\u2019s involvement, Romanian manufacturer Dacia apparently unveiled big plans for its Duster in 2023. Or, to give it its proper spacefaring name, the Dacia DUSTAR<\/strong><\/a> (capitals theirs). Now, it\u2019s boldly going where no four-wheeled vehicle has gone before (except three LRVs<\/strong><\/a> and someone\u2019s Tesla roadster<\/strong><\/a>, for some reason).<\/p>\n

Proudly proclaimed as the world\u2019s first affordable space venture, the company claimed the DUSTAR represented a new dawn in value-for-money space travel. In case you\u2019re wondering, that quote is directly from the head of DUSTAR operations, named by the media as one Noel Armstrong.<\/p>\n

Fictional he may be, but he is also the source of what is unquestionably our favourite standout line in the press collateral: \u201cWe are all about delivering best-value-for-money without compromising on quality. We have achieved this on Earth, so launching a car into space is the obvious next step.\u201d<\/p>\n

And yes, there\u2019s footage of the launch<\/strong><\/a>. As they say, the dream is alive.<\/p>\n

Nissan wants you to hit the GYM<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Biking to work? Not always appealing, is it? Well, Nissan\u2019s highly unrealistic innovation may hold the answer. When you\u2019re behind the wheel, it says, you could still easily burn 1415 extra calories per week on the average commute. (If you\u2019re counting, that\u2019s five and a half Big Macs.)<\/p>\n

The secret? Well, there isn\u2019t one, because it\u2019s a made-up scenario. But if there was, it would be the GYM button<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take the health and wellbeing of our customers very seriously,\u201d said the suspiciously-named Dr P Taka, Director of Customer Welfare, \u201cas we want them to live longer and buy more cars. So, we developed a system to help them achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supposedly available in leading Nissan X Trail and Quasqai models, the idea is simple \u2013 this button turns off all driver assistance. That includes the power steering, and it also increases the resistance of the accelerator, brake, and clutch pedals, while stiffening up the gate of the gearbox. Suddenly, driving becomes a lot more exertion \u2013 giving you a proper workout at the wheel.<\/p>\n

For context, lots of us probably don\u2019t realise how much of the work that power steering does on our behalf these days. In the days before power steering though, it wasn\u2019t unknown to compare the turning circles of most cars to \u201cyachts and small boats\u201d<\/strong><\/a>. So were someone to invent a button that turned that off \u2013 yeah, there\u2019s no doubt that you would suddenly find driving a lot more tiring.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Personally, we find this one particularly fun for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because unlike spacefaring cars, the science to this one sounds sort of plausible, as long as you don\u2019t look at it too closely. Exerting twice as much effort just to control your car would indeed probably make you at least a tiny bit fitter, although that 1415-cal statistic seems (to put it generously) a tiny bit dubious.<\/p>\n

Secondly though, we love it because of how obviously, ludicrously unsafe it is. Drivers always need total control of their car in order to properly respond to developments on their road, so any kind of system that wrests control away from them would be anathema to any sane engineer. It\u2019s one of those ones that you hear about and think \u201coh yeah, that\u2019s quite a good idea actually!\u201d before you consider it for more than about ten seconds and realise \u201coh no, it would be a complete disaster\u201d.<\/p>\n

In short, the real-world design of such a system would raise the very real possibility of a scenario in which your car\u2019s wrapped around a lamppost, while next to it you\u2019re blowing a zero on the breathalyser as you\u2019re forced to explain to the nice officers that you were actually not the slightest bit merry, but rather just trying to get a bit more definition to your glutes.<\/p>\n

Hyundai\u2019s very special delivery<\/h2>\n

\"Drone<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve heard of Click To Buy \u2013 but what about Click to Fly<\/strong><\/a>? In 2017, Hyundai told us they had that market pretty much cornered. When you buy a car from us, they said, you\u2019ll be able to use our Click to Fly service to have your new ride delivered by specially developed \u201cHy-drones\u201d. They had some quite impressive fictional delivery windows too \u2013 customers who ordered the express Click To Fly could expect to have their delivered to their driveway in less than two hours (although, of course, they couldn\u2019t really).<\/p>\n

As the story goes, the technology was supposedly suggested by one of Hyundai\u2019s customers, Amelia Darhart<\/strong><\/a>. Working with \u201cAmelia\u201d, Hyundai developed the delivery drones with pioneering fuel cell technology, powered by hydrogen and emitting nothing but water vapour. We get it \u2013 when you\u2019re creating an entirely imaginary service, you might as well go all-in on its carbon credentials, too.<\/p>\n

Each new car will then be driven into, we quote, a \u201clarge delivery box\u201d at the company\u2019s Import Centre in Essex. (We\u2019re enjoying how vague this particular detail is.) Then, presumably immediately afterwards, it\u2019s ready to be flown anywhere in the UK. That will probably be a challenge in itself<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, you may note that a real marketing campaign would probably not have invoked the name of Amelia Earhart \u2013 though it\u2019s true she had a very distinguished flying career behind her, she\u2019s arguably equally famous for going missing midway through a trip, with people then wondering where she went for the following 80-odd years. (Not too dissimilar from some online ordering experiences, to be fair.)<\/p>\n

\"Vintage<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s easy to understand why so many onlookers still got sucked in to the ruse when you read one of the official statements accompanying it. We\u2019ve reproduced it in part below:<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the success of our new website, Click to Buy, we\u2019ve spent time listening to our customers. When I read Amelia Darhart\u2019s feedback I thought to myself that we really should consider this. Then in the short space of just three months, Click to Fly was born.\u201d<\/p>\n

The author of that statement was one Tony Whitehorn. If you\u2019re looking for the pun in that name, there isn\u2019t one. He\u2019s a real person, and at the time, he was their actual President and CEO.<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s worth noting that there\u2019s a reason that car companies use names like Dr Noitt All, Noel Armstrong and P Taka for these stunts. It\u2019s because there are, unfortunately, some pitfalls to using real people and real names to put out a fake story. And Volkswagen learned that lesson the hard way in 2021.<\/p>\n

Volkswagen gets a nasty shock<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

This one is a bit different from the others, in that while the intent was the same, the joke definitely didn\u2019t land. We actually covered the full story<\/strong><\/a> at the time, but to summarise it quickly:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Volkswagen told the world that their US branch would be rebranding<\/strong><\/a> as Voltswagen of America, to highlight its electric vehicle offering<\/li>\n
  2. Somewhat puzzled journalists around the world called the company\u2019s US press office to do their due diligence. The company reconfirmed the news directly, multiple times<\/li>\n
  3. Everyone reported it as fact<\/li>\n
  4. Volkswagen was forced to admit it was an April Fool\u2019s joke. Lots of people didn\u2019t find it very funny<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So, you\u2019re probably wondering, how in the heck did that happen? Well, we don\u2019t know for sure, but the suspicion is that someone accidentally published the joke press release a few days too early. Rather than admit the ruse and ruin their campaign, staffers at Volkswagen made the (possibly panicked) decision to run with it.<\/p>\n

    They even had official quotes ready, not from joke figures like Buzz Mighty or Betty Driveswun, but rather Scott Keogh and Kimberly Gardiner, respectively the president and CEO of Volkswagen America and their US marketing vice president. Journalists had every reason to believe the announcement was genuine.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s a bit of an understatement to say that people were not happy. One thing that our previous piece didn\u2019t cover is that the whole episode absolutely tanked Volkswagen\u2019s stock prices, which dropped 4% in the immediate wake of the incident. We\u2019ll save you the maths \u2013 it was a lot of money.<\/p>\n

    And while it\u2019s true that Volkswagen is still investing heavily in electric vehicles, the botched stunt sent waves of confusion through the stock market at large. People make investing decisions based on moves like this, which meant that Volkswagen found itself facing down the barrel of some big lawsuits from some very irritated investors. For the same reason, the stunt also drew the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which doesn\u2019t look kindly on companies making false or misleading statements to investors.<\/p>\n

    So, yes. As marketing stunts go, it went wrong quite spectacularly in almost every conceivable way. Still, you can\u2019t say it wasn\u2019t memorable \u2013 and for that reason alone, we\u2019d be remiss not to put it amongst our top five.<\/p>\n

    Now, your own car may not be soaring the skies, shooting through space, or even mysteriously magnetised. But rest assured that when you come to finally wave goodbye, we\u2019ll be here to get you the very best prices right here at Scrap Car Network. You can get a free online quote by simply entering your registration and postcode<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0on our website into the fields on our site, and we\u2019ll have your scrap car quote to you in seconds.<\/p>\n

    So then\u2026 curious to find out how much your car is worth?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We love a good prank here at Scrap Car Network. We\u2019ve covered one or two on the blog before actually \u2013 such as the joke by US president and notorious trickster Lyndon B Johnson, who liked to frighten visiting dignitaries with his amphicar. And every year on the 1st of April, just like the rest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":7875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n