As you surely will have known and noticed, we’ve all survived another year of April 1st and Fool’s Day pranks! We hope you all managed to get through the day unscathed too and didn’t have to do your commute home covered in gunge as a result of your hilarious co-workers.
One thing that all of us really have to watch out for during this day of fools are news releases, or basically anything that provides any information. Thanks to the internet, it’s really easy to write articles to fake-out the reading public and we’ve been susceptible ourselves. It’s a bit like treating everything as though it’s been written by the masters of puppetry over at The Onion, or The Daily Mash.
Naturally, official news release sites aren’t exempt from the fun and we’ve had to be pretty careful in our time to make sure that we don’t promote false news. Take part in the fun, we decided to do a round up of a couple of the best prank car releases, not just from this year, but in years gone by. If you’ve seen any that you thought were good – or even tricked you for a moment – let us know.
MINI Cooper T
BMW MINI is better known for building cars that take themselves very seriously: efficient dynamics, powerful engines and minute attention to detail in their appearances see this manufacturer producing models that have sheer luxury appeal.
However, just because a company can produce some serious cars, doesn’t mean that the makers and the PR team aren’t capable of having a good laugh.This was clearly evidenced when MINI released their Cooper T model back in April 2014, the witty scamps even put an embargo on the press release.
It was advertised as a revolutionary new model and the first vehicle to be powered by a tea-leaf biofuel composite that could cover 40 miles on a single brew. Very exciting for all of us British folk in particular, wouldn’t you say? Even better were the colours, which included Chamomile Yellow, Red Bush and Earl Grey. *Slow Clap*
MINI Hipster Hatch
You just can’t control this company over April Fool’s Day because it was at it again this year with the Hipster Hatch model. A pretty sarcastic snub if ever we saw one, we chuckled away into our flat whites in the office when we read the description of the new hipster-mobile.
It features Instagram-filtered windows, twin-deck cassette player, fixed-gear drivetrain, upcycled alloy wheels and stonewash denim upholstery – all of which was to be receiving its world premiere in Hoxton in London Town. MINI really went for this one and we’re sure that you appreciated it as much as we did – crying with laughter emojis for everyone we reckon! #Hilarious #SomethingAboutMoustaches
Honda and its new license plates
Speaking of emojis, Honda jumped on a similar bandwagon to MINI this year by unveiling – for lack of a better word – plans to introduce emoji registration plates for the UK market. While half of us were getting riled up about how the digital age needs to get a grip, the other half were giving us withering looks by reminding us that the DVLA takes care of car registrations. Well played, Honda.
The fake plans included its pioneer plate, which would have seen images of the Japanese flag as an homage to its roots. We’re relieved this was a prank, because there were have doubtless been many of them driving around if it had been real.
Skoda for dogs
Of course, some car manufacturers decided to sidestep the press release pranks for their cars and instead focused on hoodwinking the public into thinking they could get some nifty accessories. Skoda did this with particular flare this year, by launching a Simply Clever dog umbrella, which adds to the brand’s existing range.
The umbrella was integrated into the door frame of the Skoda Superb model and was made of unobtainium… get it?
Vauxhall Vivaro Taxi Kebabi
This one is pretty much what it says on the tin: it’s a taxi and also a kebab shop, which could cut a few steps off your next night out. Vauxhall’s ingenious fakery came about in April 2015 and it was based upon its nine-seat Combi Vivaro model but featured two gas-fired spit rotisserie grills.
Not only this but there were salad bowls integrated into the armrests, chilli dispensers and an array of sauces all sure to give you the worst bout of next-day indigestion you’ve ever experienced. May the world rest easy that this doesn’t exist, so far anyway.
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Be good to get that kebab truck up and running!
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