Beep! Beep! Who's got the keys to the....zero-emission car?

Posted by Rowland Hobbs on May 5 at 7:29 AM First, and topping the PR charts, is the launch of the all-electric, super-sexy, Tesla. You may have already heard about it. I’ll refrain from going over all the details, but you should see the WSJ Environmental Capital Blog’s question “Can Fighting Global Warming Still be fun?” From a strict branding perspective, I think this is where consumer green branding—pure play green branding—is going.



Now, I'm truly indulging myself with the rumors surrounding a potential smart car from BMW. Pictured below is purely a mock-up of what people think it might be like, as I read about on Eco Geek.  I love a Mini, and haven’t been a fan of the Mercedes Smart Car due to the high MPG, but perhaps BMW will use this type of approach for a zero-emission car? A man can dream...





My early car obsession was mostly focused more on the interior design, ergonomics, and general comfort of the car for the driver and passengers. I could understand those that fixated on the engine, but I thought a little more time should be spent on the location of the radio and AC controls as opposed to the right amount of torque.

So, it may not be surprising that I was never a fan of the hummer. Yet, I was intrigued by their sheer audacity, and once climbed inside of the vehicle at a rental car company: I was displeased with how boring the interior was, looking and feeling like any GM vehicle.  Terrible.

Anyway, Hummer is getting super-shrunk, making this hulking beast smaller, more compact, and potentially adding a diesel or gas-electric hybrid! Following from the WSJ article, this might actually be the perverse salvation of “making green fun” that drives down emissions, but also drives up Detroit’s profits. I would also advocate that they attack those interiors as well, but I'm certainly not the target audience here.

Topics: branding, design, green        SHARE: