Is this bold marketing or sheer stupidity?

I’ve seen some pretty ugly race cars in the past.  But the 2007 Honda F1 Race car takes the checkered flag as the most unappealing livery ever produced.  The team recently revealed a green and blue “map of the world” to underline Honda’s desire to be viewed as an environmentally friendly car company.

“We hope that in raising awareness and highlighting the issues we will encourage members of the public to come together and help take on the challenge of climate change,” said the team’s chief executive Nick Fry.

From Cancer Stick Promoter…

…to Saviour of the World!

This marketing ploy is equivalent to a Tobacco Company building a Cancer research facility.  What I really find funny is this very same team was sponsored by a tobacco company from 1999 to 2006.  Pretty ironic isn’t it?

Automobile manufacturers and their financial stakeholders are not guys, whose morality lies with environmental concerns.  By boxing up the word “Environment”, this sleazy marketing campaign is simply about dollars and making money.  

It seems that every car manufacturer wants to jump on the environmental bandwagon these days.  From Hybrid cars to Penis Envy gas guzzlers, the automobile is still nowhere close to maximizing the energy they are producing.  Did you know that only 13% of the energy produced by an internal combustion engine is used for propulsion?  Even though fuel efficiency for passenger cars has improved 39% in the past ten years, fuel consumption increased by 19% and rising.

Vehicles contribute to an estimated 60-70 percent of urban air pollution.  And yes, the Honda motor company still produces cars that burn gasoline and pollute the air (hybrid or not).  Carbon dioxide produced by these (Honda) cars are still the leading cause of the greenhouse effect and global warming.

I look forward to the next propaganda campaign set forth by these car companies.  Will they help save the whales from extinction? 

Perhaps one day they will actually build a REAL electric car?  Oh I forgot!  They’ve already pulled that scam.