Axon's Automotive Anorak: The best fake car news ever

Time was that you could always rely on BMW, for example – as if to prove that the Germans do have a sense of humour – to produce a rib-tickling prank for 1^st April. When the Channel Tunnel first opened, for example, BMW placed full-page ads in all of the main UK national newspapers to explain the benefits of its steering control change device, which automatically shifted the BMW’s steering wheel, instrumentation and foot pedals from the RHD position to LHD once the car was halfway through the Tunnel France-bound.

In 2010, just a few weeks ahead of that’s year’s inconclusive General Election, BMW ran another April Fool’s prank ad campaign, informing would-be BMW buyers that they could choose the colour of their BMW two-tone badge roundel according to their political preferences, so red and white (for Labour), yellow and white (for the Liberals) or the traditional BMW blue and white (for the Tories) could be specified. BMW hadn’t anticipated the hung Parliament that year, however, by offering a coalition badge in blue, yellow and white!

More recently, BMW predicted the latest trends for ‘posh pick-ups’ early on by announcing its 414 bhp M3 pickup model, set for a 1^st April release, bettered only by its Magnetic Tow Technology presentation, which enabled BMW drivers to use a magnetic field to secretly creep-up behind other road user’s vehicles and cling on closely to save fuel, something that some might argue already happens with a handful of drivers! This April’s BMW spoof was an i8-shaped ‘dDrive’ dog basket accessory for a wind-in-the-fur motoring sensation, aided by a Twin Power turbofan.

BMW doesn’t have the monopoly on spoof April Fool’s fun though. It’s former relations at MG this year claimed it can now run its new ZS SUV on alpaca power; basically, poo pellets deposited by the animal. Previous MG 1^st April pranks include the launch of the world’s first invisible car (not great in accidents or to find in the car park!) and voice-controlled emojis appearing on the inside of an MG 3’s windscreen.

Last year Dacia joined in the April fun with the announcement of its new ‘Sundero’ model, equipped with UV tanning tubes in the front seats to assure the occupants a warm, orange ‘healthy’ glow. Mazda tweeted its stretched four-seater long-wheel-base MX-5 in 2014, with Honda revealing it’s hastily-photoshopped CR-V Roadster four-door concept just last Sunday! 

That same day Skoda revealed its new noise-cancelling headrests, to block out the sound of the kids squabbling in the back of the Karoq, with Aston Martin ‘previewing’ its new Welsh-produced crossover SUV with its Project Sparta monster truck!

In years past, other 1^st April debutants have included the 2009 Hyundai i10 Popemobile, Vauxhall’s clockwork Adam, with a giant wind-up key in the rear, and Land Rover’s self-levelling tax disc holder for when its 4x4s were traversing challenging off-road terrain. 

I joined the automotive April Fool’s Day gags some years ago at a time when there was much speculation about the identity of The Stig in BBC’s Top Gear show. I jokingly suggested that it was Lord March (before he became the Duke of Richmond), much to the hilarity of many motoring press the world over, with some media even reproducing the spoof story, much to my surprise!

And you probably thought the serious folk of motor industry didn’t have a sense of humour!