Everyone’s a comedian, or so the saying goes, and that’s certainly true on every pranksters favourite day; April Fools. All bets are off on the opening day of spring with a license for hilarious antics given traditioanlly all the way up to 12pm. We thought we’d take a look at the best from the car industry. Did you fall for any of these?
Vauxhall’s Taxi Kebabi
In possibly our favourite April Fool of this year – famous UK manufacturer Vauxhall announced ‘The Taxi Kebabi’. The vehicle took on the shape and style of the highly successful Vauxhall Vivaro, but with the added twist of a kebab shop in the back.
In a move that could have made your end-of-night cab a whole lot tastier Vauxhall took the sheets off a mouth-watering Vivaro Taxi with the words ‘Abra Kebabra’ sprayed onto the exterior with a number of rotating meats visible in the back.
Lucky owners of this vehicle won’t be starved of sides either with dispensers for Salad and Chili fitted into the armrests. The vehicle is set to spice-up your evening nights out and Vauxhall included a quote from taxi driver Jason Donervan who enthused: ‘’With Vivaro’s class-leading whole life costs, this incredible vehicle offers us hard-pushed drivers another valuable revenue stream that could ultimately see taxi fares being slashed’’.
Skoda's colour changing Fabia
Ever wanted your Skoda Fabia to be more noticed? Regretted your current colour choice? Then, fear not. Skoda have - sort of - revealed a £500 extra feature allowing drivers to change the cars colour by the mere touch of a button.
Presumably trying desperately to keep a straight face, Dr Gio Kyng one of the vehicle’s “engineers” had this to say: “Customers are no longer limited to the colour they choose when they order the car. When drivers are feeling in a jolly, spring-like mood, they can switch the whole car to a bright yellow. On the other hand, if they are feeling sad because their cat is unwell, they can switch it to black.”
Thanks for clearing that up Doc. The plan closely resembles the recent announcement from Nissan although, alas, that was not an April Fool.
Nissan GYM Button
Nissan did, however, weigh-in with their own joke of the day. In our fitness-obsessed society it's only a matter of time before we can start working out while behind-the-wheel. The GYM button means this is a very (un)realistic proposition. You won’t actually have to physically lift anything as pressing the button means you have tougher forces to work against and there is greater exertion required to use the wheel, gearbox and pedals. Nissan said the button will help you lose 1,415 calories a day, although of course it won’t.
Mercedes AMG Sprinter
Mercedes served up their own piece of van hilarity to kick-start the day by revealing the Mercedes-AMGSprinter63 S on Twitter. So far, so believable. However, the vehicle comes unstuck a bit when you take a look at what the van was inteding to offer in engine terms. Starting with a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 the powerhouse offered 503bhp, sports suspension as well as a host of features you could cherry-pick. It looked a little like something built on TopGear and we can’t quite imagine anyone ambitious enough to take a look at running costs. Even so, we’d love to have a go with one round a track.
Volkswagen Caddy Maxi-Mini
We like this one. Presumably seeing their competitors wading into the fun & frolics Volkswagen knocked up a quick, and quite funny, fool of their own. Say hello to the Caddy Maxi Mini. This 2.4m long micro van has only one seat with special compartments for your tool box and lunch. To add extra credibility to the announcement, Dr ‘Avin A’laf from VW commercial product development said: ‘’We see the Caddy Maxi Mini as our equivalent of the chocolate bars at the supermarket checkout. We hope that when customers come and buy one of our multi-award winning full size vans, they’ll add a Caddy Maxi Mini as a little treat’
It seems we can rely on the industry more and more for fools day thrills with some absolute gems of days gone by including Hyundai’s Popemobile, the self-driving tax disc from Land Rover and the world-cup themed Vauxhall Astra fully-loaded with turf seats and footwell sand.
If we’ve missed any-others then please send them into us on Twitter @SelectContracts although any manufacturer getting their act together now risks looking the fool themselves!
