Summary on April Fools Auto Gags in the UK:
HAD YOU FOOLED? THE PH 1 APRIL ROUND-UP
We bring you the best (and worst) of Sunday's automotive gags
Given the intelligence of the PH collective, we've no doubt you twigged our April fool's day story in - ooh - about three seconds. But what about the other automotive giggles out there?
We thought we'd collect up a few of the best (and the worst) joke stories doing the rounds on Sunday into one handy ain't-they-a-riot story. The big question is: would any of them have fooled you?
Peugeot mood paint
First up in our fools' gallery is Peugeot's effort, a new type of paint that changes colour according to the driver's mood - like a mood ring, only on a much grander scale. Kudos goes to Peugeot for going to the trouble to produce a video with pretty slick production values. In fact, we might almost have fallen for it, had it not been for one thing - 'Flora Polis', the alleged head of innovations at Peugeot is far too polished a presenter to be anything other than an actor...
Subaru self-cleaning car
Like Peugeot, Subaru has gone to the trouble of creating a video, so good work there, guys and gals. We must also applaud them for a) shoehorning in a new product (the new XV Crossover) and b) coming up with a product that plenty of people would love to see for real. We also particularly like the effort Subaru has gone to with the small print, which says "Optional Subaru AF Self-Cleaning Technology from £1,412 + VAT. Sunlight required, results may vary." Genius.
In fact, the whole thing only falls down completely when we see the car go through the 'self-cleaning' process. Which is not exactly convincing.
NASCAR driverless car
This is a winner on the basis that it takes embryonic but real technology (Google's driverless car programme) and riffs on it to surreal effect. The best bit is that all theNASCAR drivers interviewed play along with the joke superbly. The only thing is that we just can't see the famously anti-technology NASCAR crowd embracing a driverless racer. A+ for effort and sense of humour, but C- for believability...
BMW Group: Mini camping stuff, Yachtsman and BMW driverless running coach
Top marks from us must go to the BMW group, for sheer effort and volume of jokes. First up there's BMW itself, which has been attempting to introduce us to the idea of the car as a 'running coach'. Basically, your 3 Series follows you on a jog while exterior speakers encourage with motivational words.
Over at Mini, meanwhile, the marketing team have been very busy. First, they've come up with the Cowley Caravan and Swindon roof-top tent, both of which are thoroughly believable, based on the fact that teeny caravans and roof-top tents actually exist. Fortunately, even Mini won't stretch its brand this far... other than or a laugh...
The final Mini creation is the 'Yachstsman', an amphibious cooper hatch that looks frankly ridiculous and has a 0-60mph time (on water) of 2.4 minutes and a top speed of 61 knots. Yeah...right...
And the wooden spoon...
It's pretty easy to make fun of Lotus at the moment, and somebody has done just that, creating
www.rotuscars.com (which has now been removed from the web). "Wercome to the website of Rotus Cars," it says (or said), "the reading Manufacturer of road-going sportscars, inspired by the ethos 'simpricate and add rightness'. Take a rook around this site to see our ratest range of cars, contact us for a test drive, or contact your nearest Rotus Agent for further misinformation."
We can't decide whether this is hilarious or offensive. We're going to go with offensive but, beyond the potentially casually racist overtones, there was some funny stuff about the products themselves...
