What Planet Is This, Anyway?

It has become a saying between Mrs. Graybeard and I that there isn't a week that goes by that I don't feel like saying, "what planet is this and how did I get here?"  I usually say it several times in a week, but not usually every day.  

This weeks story is that Ford Motor Company has contracted a company to produce a fragrance that is based on the smell of premium gasoline.  I swear I'm not making this up.  

The article is on a site called Electrek.co, and I'm guessing it's in the UK because it refers to petrol instead of gasoline.  They're big on electric cars, other electric transportation and green energy.  

Ford surveyed drivers and found that most of them would “miss the smell of petrol” if they go electric.

The automaker then came up with a Mach-Eau (get it?) scent to help those drivers transition to electric vehicles.

Yes, it’s a thing. Everyone knows a gearhead who loves the smell of burning rubber and petrol. It’s not entirely unusual, but can it actually become a barrier to go electric?

The backstory is that Ford did a survey.  

1 in 5 drivers said the smell of petrol is what they’d miss most when swapping to an electric vehicle, with almost 70% claiming they would miss the smell of petrol to some degree. Petrol also ranked as a more popular scent than both wine and cheese, and almost identically to the smell of new books.

With 20% saying the smell of premium gas would be the biggest thing they miss and 70% saying they'd miss it to some degree, Ford commissioned a fragrance company by the name of Olfiction to produce one.  Olfiction, incidentally, seems like a nice play on the word "olfactory" with the emphasis on fact vs. fiction.  The name of the fragrance is Mach-Eau^GT, which I'm guessing is using the French word for water (pronounced "Oh") as another pun; Mach - 0?  (as in Mach zero).  They even designed a bottle for the perfume that's reminiscent of a gas pump, complete with the Mustang logo. 

Here's where the story gets even weirder. Ford says they're not going to sell it, and don't seem to be trying to use it to incentivize buyers. 

The automaker did clarify that it doesn’t necessarily smell like petrol, but it was designed to remind them of it:

The new scent is designed to help usher these drivers into the future of driving through their sense of smell. Rather than just smelling like petrol though, Mach-Eau is designed to please the nose of any wearer; a high-end fragrance that fuses smoky accords, aspects of rubber and even an ‘animal’ element to give a nod to the Mustang heritage.

Ford says that it doesn’t actually sell the scent, but it was created to “help dispel myths around electric cars and convince traditional car enthusiasts of the potential of electric vehicles.”

'Animal' element?  Considering their electric Mustang, perhaps they incorporated some horse sweat - or worse?  In trace amounts, of course.

They don't say exactly how the scent will be used to remind potential buyers of the smell of premium gas.  When you consider some luxury cars have scent diffusers in them, could they be using a diffuser to subliminally remind buyers that it's still a car? 

Brings a whole new meaning to the term, "essential oil."