Fly Fly Goggle Focus Youth Red Clear Lens 37-2212 on 2040-parts.com

Hyundai Suicide ‘Advert’ causes a rumpus

It’s not easy advertising your wares and finding the right balance between mainstream and innovative to capture attention, as Hyundai has found out to their cost with an ‘advert’ for the hydrogen powered ix35 FCEV which, rather distastefully, depicts a man trying to commit suicide by running a hose from the tailpipe to the cabin before realising he can’t achieve his aim as the FCEV’s only emissions are water. It’s a proper cock-up from Hyundai – usually so sure-footed with their PR – but, despite Hyundai US putting the blame at the door of Hyundai UK, there’s more to this suicide ‘advert’ than meets the eye. It seems the suicide video was put together by Innocean – a European Ad Agency owned by Hyundai’s Chairman Chung Mong-koo and his daughter, and responsible for much of Hyundai’s marketing output – and was a clumsy attempt to gauge reaction to the somewhat macabre take on the benefits of an FCEV.

Fisker ‘Project Nina’ to debut at New York Auto Show

Fisker's Project Nina teased ahead of the New York Auto Show The ‘Project Nina’ from Fisker – a smaller take on the Karma – will debut at the New York Motor Show in April. It’s taken a very long time for Henrik Fisker to get the Karma out to the public, and even then it looks like it still wasn’t really ready to go, with reports of faults and breakdowns already starting to filter in from the handful of Karma owners. But the next stage of Fisker’s evolution in to a fully fledged maker of range-extending EVs is ‘Project Nina’, a smaller car that the Fisker – thing 3 Series – which has been funded to a great degree by the US taxpayer.

British cars dominate desirability survey

BRITISH cars are the best of the best, according to a huge new car popularity survey that has thrown up some shocks. British cars took five of the top six places in the study from Best of the Best, the in-airport and online competition operator that gives away cars as prizes. And among the amazing turn-ups that emerged from the 55,000-person study focusing on desirability, no Ferrari even made the top 20.