World Economic Forum: In Davos, Women Sell Leafs While Others Go Naked

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Patrolling the interwebs for TTAC-worthy content, we find a woman selling Nissan Leafs on the streets of Davos. Rachel Konrad, formerly spokesperson of Tesla, is now the Communications Director of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Her boss Carlos Ghosn is a fixture at the World Economic Forum, which ends today in Davos. Rachel is using the fact that Davos has received more snow than in the 42 years before to praise the virtues of the Leaf in winter weather. At the same time, three topless women steal her thunder and get arrested.

Ms. Konrad says that the Leaf is perfect on slippery roads, because there is no lag between touching the accelerator and the car getting torque. Also, an electric motor is impervious to the altitude sickness that besets the ICE. Ms. Konrad forgets that people think something else when they see snow and an EV: Won’t running on battery be just awful when it’s cold?

Thankfully, her Japanese colleagues at Nissan just came back from Hokkaido, which is a stone-throw from Siberia. There, they covered that topic. Here is the video.

Back to women of Davos. Three women from the Ukraine demonstrated how easy it is to get attention: They took their tops off. Works all the time. After they climbed a fence and attacked a female police officer, they were arrested. A massive media contingent then set out to pixelate video and to close-crop photographs. Jobs creation in action!

Nevertheless, in a prude company (or in prude company), watching the following report from snowy Davos may get you in hot water.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Jan 30, 2012

    What happens to a Leaflet in the snow with its high beams on? Does its battery become 'poor because of you'?

  • Rpn453 Rpn453 on Jan 31, 2012
    Ms. Konrad says that the Leaf is perfect on slippery roads, because there is no lag between touching the accelerator and the car getting torque. At least we know she's a true automotive enthusiast! Most people wouldn't even notice how badly modern electronic throttles tend to lag.
  • THX1136 Always liked the Mustang though I've never owned one. I remember my 13 yo self grabbing some Ford literature that Oct which included the brochure for the Mustang. Using my youthful imagination I traced the 'centerfold' photo of the car AND extending the roof line back to turn it into a small wagon version. At the time I thought it would be a cool variant to offer. What was I thinking?!
  • GregLocock That's a bodge, not a solution. Your diff now has bits of broken off metal floating around in it.
  • The Oracle Well, we’re 3-4 years in with the Telluride and right around the time the long term durability issues start to really take hold. This is sad.
  • CoastieLenn No idea why, but nothing about a 4Runner excites me post-2004. To me, they're peak "try-hard", even above the Wrangler and Gladiator.
  • AZFelix A well earned anniversary.Can they also attend to the Mach-E?
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