QOTD: Corporate April Fool's Jokes - Chuckle or Chuck 'Em?

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

Check your sugar bowl for salt, watch for shaving cream on the toilet seat, and take tentative steps on the linoleum. On the off chance you’ve forgotten: it’s April Fool’s Day.

Automakers reliably get in on the game, especially in this day and age of instant social media messages, creating all manner of wacky and groan-inducing marketing plays. There have been a couple of good ones over the years — but also plenty of stinkers. Do you like it when car companies trot out an April Fool’s Joke?

I will defend to the death my placement of that apostrophe, by the way.

Sure, one can view an OEM’s April Fool’s Day efforts as a cynical marketing effort designed to grab a few Likes online, but the practice predates Instagram by ages. Thirty-five years ago, BMW printed ads claiming one of its engineers, Herr Blöhn, had designed a sunroof that could be kept open even in the rain, thanks to jets of air that blasted the water away from the top of the car. Come on — in the grand scheme of corporate April Fool’s, that one’s not bad.

Likewise, Vauxhall’s announcement of the Accelerator Pedal Retarding Intervention Lump in 2006 was good for a chuckle. This detachable chunk of floor mat sat underneath the loud pedal, preventing drivers from giving it the beans. Your humble author may deploy something similar in the Charger when ankle biters get their driver’s license, come to think of it.

Are corporate April Fool’s jokes up your alley? Or do you give them the thumbs down?

[Images: Toyota, BMW, Vauxhall]

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • NeilM NeilM on Apr 01, 2019

    The best part about the BMW April Fools' joke (with correct apostrophe placement unless you think there's only one eligible fool in the world) is the recipient named on the mail-in coupon.

  • JohnTaurus JohnTaurus on Apr 01, 2019

    The Hyundai N roadster concept posted elsewhere is a very cruel Apeil Fool's joke. It's the Honda S2000 successor that Honda simply wont build.

    • JohnTaurus JohnTaurus on Apr 01, 2019

      *April lol not Apeil. Lost the edit window before I noticed.

  • Master Baiter "That said, the Inflation Reduction Act apparently does run afoul of WTO rules..."Pfft. The Biden administration doesn't care about rules. The Supreme Court said they couldn't forgive student load debt; they did it anyway. Decorum and tradition says you don't prosecute former presidents; they are doing it anyway. They made the CDC suspend evictions though they had no constitutional authority to do so.
  • 1995 SC Good. To misquote Sheryl Crow "If it makes them unhappy, it can't be that bad"
  • 1995 SC The letters on the hatch aren't big enough. hard pass
  • Ajla Those letters look like they are from AutoZone.
  • Analoggrotto Kia EV9 was voted the best vehicle in the world and this is the best TOYOTA can do? Nice try, next.
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