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With April Fool’s Day now out of the way, we thought we’d link to a few of the witty stories that car manufacturers released upon the probably-not-that-unsuspecting public last Friday morning.
First up is SEAT, with its SEAT Media Audio Recognition Technology, or SMART — a revolutionary sat-nav system that detects the region being driven through and adopts a suitable local accent for its spoken instructions.
So, a driver navigating his way through East London might hear “Awright geezer, it’s straight on at these lights, innate?”, while a drive through the West Country might lead to “Now then lovely, turn right at the T junction”.
Next is Land Rover and its self-levelling tax disc holder, designed to adhere to new legislation that maintains that tax discs should not be displayed more that 10 degrees off the horizontal.
Roger Crathorne, Land Rover’s technical manager, is quoted as saying “Given as a Land Rover isn’t always going to be operating on even ground, this simple device employs Contra-Motion technology to ensure that the tax disc always remains on the level and legally compliant.”
Land Rover posted a helpful video that shows the clever holder in action:
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BMW joined in the fun by leaking a set of images that showed its new M3 Pick-Up being tested at the German Nurburgring circuit. Reportedly an after-hours project, the Pick-Up is based on the M3 convertible and uses a 414bhp 4.0-litre V8 engine and six-speed gearbox to drive the rear wheels.
Finally, of course, comes the Practical Caravan scoop on an imminent European motorway ban for caravans during peak times… If there are any car and caravan-related April Fool’s Day stories that we’ve missed, let us know in the comments.
