Hang on, wasn’t April Fools’ Day almost two months ago? We think someone at Nissan might be pulling our leg, because it has just announced a new and exclusive ‘fragrance’ to celebrate this weekend’s inaugural Formula E race in Shanghai.
Said fragrance—which Nissan is calling ‘Smell My Dust’—will apparently smell like a heady combination of cherry blossom and tire smoke. We promise we’re not making this up.
“Nissan Formula E Team’s new scent combines tones of Sakura, the flower displayed on the cars, with the smell of tire remnants from the team’s Nissan e-4ORCE 04 race cars to combine a surprising concoction,” says erm… Nissan.
“A top note of cherry blossom branches and rosemary were combined with burnt sugar and woody tones. The result is a fragrance that embodies the beauty of cherry blossom with the thrill and grit of a racing team.” What on earth is going on?
Apparently a Shanghai perfumer created the fragrance using real remnants of Formula E-spec tires, and Nissan tells us the Chinese perfume market is currently booming thanks to “Gen Z’s obsession with niche fragrances”. There’s niche, and then there’s wanting-to-smell-like-a-floral-burnout niche.
Anyway, Nissan hopes this stench will connect its Formula E team with a new generation of potential fans, but it also says that “wearing fragrances has been scientifically proven to boost emotions like confidence and self-esteem” so perhaps it’ll get drivers Oliver Rowland and Sacha Fenestraz to splash a bit on before the race this weekend.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
