A claimed 70 percent of electric car buyers said they would miss the smell of gasoline when switching to a plug-in vehicle. That is according to Ford, which to promote its new Mach-E GT has created a fragrance intended to smell like petroleum.

 

Yes, that statement is correct and no, today is not the first of April. Ford goes on to say the smell of gasoline ranked as a more popular scent than wine and cheese, and was almost identical to the aroma of used books, according to its own research.

Named Mach-Eau, Ford said the fragrance 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 worked with U.K.-based Olfaction to create the fragrance. Olfaction said the starting point for the fragrance was "the chemicals that are emitted from car interiors, engines and petrol." 

The company added: "This included benzaldehyde, which is an almond-like scent given off by car interiors, and para-cresol which is key in creating the rubbery scent of tires. These were blended with ingredients like blue ginger, lavender, geranium and sandalwood that added metallic, smoky and further rubbery accents, as well as an overdose of Timut pepper, utilizing the petrol-like top note."

The point of all this is to promote Ford’s new Mustang Mach-E GT, the high-performance flagship of the company’s EV range.