April Fools! The best seasonal jokes from car manufacturers

Everybody loves a laugh every now and then, and so it is in the world of cars, with automotive PR departments unable to resist the occasional giggle by sending out a humorous press release for April Fools’ day.

With the stress of major events such as the Geneva and New York motor shows barely out of their memories, car manufacturers often let their hair down and take one of two routes with their joke. Some go for pure ridiculous hilarity, while others take the time and often put in a great deal of effort to make their April Fools’ press release as convincing as possible.

Some past efforts are certainly memorable – who could forget Honda’s emoji number plate, Peugeot’s personalisable car horns, the BMW M3 pickup truck or Mercedes’ AMG Sprinter?

Read on for the best jokes that the UK’s automotive press teams came up with for April Fools 2018.

Seat Arona Copper Edition

The Spanish manufacturer points to proposals by HM Treasury to scrap the 1p and 2p, which would leave the country with over 15 billion redundant coins. “Seat has found a way to keep these soon-to-be historical artefacts motoring on for years to come,” it says.

MG’s Alpaca-powered crossover

Daniel Gregorious, head of sales and marketing at MG UK, said: “We look forward to the day when people resign horsepower to the history books and refer to alpaca power. It really packs a punch.”

Honda CR-V Roadster

The team, however, notes that the prototype does suffer from its total lack of a convertible roof, making it somewhat unsuitable for the UK’s two-day summer, while the loss of structural rigidity makes it ‘completely undriveable.’ Shame.

Hyundai’s Cacao Corner

The biodegradable and viscous material of Cacao Corner (located at Hyundai’s test track and paved with just cocoa, butter and milk) enables the brand to capture tyre prints for later analysis. Remnants of the track are, the brand says, responsibly disposed of during Easter.

Aston Martin Project Sparta

Fitted with a 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 engine, it will produce 1,100bhp and go head to head with some of the most famous trucks out there such as Grave Digger, Big Kahuna and Jailbird.