Does anybody really do April Fools' Day pranks anymore? Apparently so.
Over the years, along with funster family members and wacky work colleagues, car companies have also rolled out the practical jokes.
So with April 1 upon us again, here are five of the best/worst April Fools' Day jokes from car companies over the years.
Mini Vertical Parking Locator 2003
Mini is a repeat offender of April Fools' Day jokes. There was one when Mini announced the new Cooper S would come with a third headlight, another when the brand released a statement saying the new Convertible would be given two reverse gears, and another that "introduced" a perpetual motion propulsion system.
Then there’s this 2003 Mini April Fools' joke where full-page advertisements and even billboards around Australia, Korea and other countries heralded the arrival of a new 'Vertical Parking Locator' that allowed the little cars to drive up and park on walls.
Toyota PieAce Convertible 2019
Toyota also loves an April Fools' Day joke but they’re usually so obvious it’d be like somebody warning you they've put plastic wrap over a toilet seat before you use it.
In 2013 Toyota Australia released a press statement along with high quality images of its new Toyota PieAce. Toyota described the PieAce as a limited-edition convertible van with five or 12 seats. A play on the name HiAce, the PieAce came with an optional built-in pie oven. Groan.
Subaru's Suba-Shoes 2023
Not to be out done by Toyota in the lame April Fools' Day jokes stakes is Subaru which makes great cars that can handle tough and muddy conditions, but not shoes. But wait, on April 1, 2023 Subaru announced it was releasing Suba-Shoes that could match their cars ability off-road. If you fell for that then surely you wouldn't have believed they came with “All-Heel Drive technology”? Would you?
BMW M3 Ute 2011
If there’s such a thing as a good April Fools' Day joke then this is it - a BMW M3 ute. BMW’s engineers at the company's German development centre took an angle grinder to an M3 and Frankensteined it into a ute. Then they drove it around the Nurburgring test track and the surrounding neighbourhood in camouflage and the car fans went wild. It was the perfect April Fools' Day stunt and caused BMW to be flooded with requests asking if it really was making the high-performance ute. It was very much a real vehicle, but, unsurprisingly, never made it to production.
Hyundai Drift Bus 2019
This is a personal favourite. Not only is it an example of Aussie engineering but I drove the thing - the Hyundai iMax N.
Back in 2019 Hyundai Germany thought it would be a funny April Fools' Day joke to announce it was doing a high-performance N version of the iMAX people mover.
Hyundai Germany used social media with mocked-up images of the bus to ‘fool’ everybody. Meanwhile, Hyundai Australia unbeknownst to Hyundai Germany, was actually building the thing for real and although they didn't have it ready for April 1 they did reveal it in October.
And CarsGuide got to drive the bus - complete with V6 engine, blue paint scheme and aero kit - around the track.
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