Screaming Amarok
Volkswagen is introducing a variant of its logo that can keep kangaroos at bay. Where else but in the country where those marsupials roam around in abundance: Australia.
Meet the RooBadge: a Volkswagen logo that kangaroos like to keep a great distance from. However, this has nothing to do with the design of the now perforated logo. In Australia, tens of thousands of kangaroos are hit every year and, according to Volkswagen, that is tens of thousands too many. That is why the manufacturer introduces the so-called RooBadge to keep jumping mammals away. A loudspeaker behind the logo should emit sounds that the kangaroos receive little audio-technical pleasure from and therefore remain at a distance.
According to Volkswagen, it has been working on the RooBadge for three years. The accessory introduced for the Amarok is linked to an application in the car’s infotainment system and therefore knows exactly where in Australia you are driving. The software links the member of the kangaroo family that is most common there and then adjusts the sound accordingly. According to Volkswagen, the RooBadge is able to imitate sounds of predators, cries of birds and the stamping of a pack of kangaroos.
Don’t have a Volkswagen? No problem. Volkswagen Australia says it will also come up with a variant of the RooBadge that you can screw onto the location of your license plate. Likewise, with cars from other brands you should be able to keep the jumpers at a distance with their sturdy support tail.
Despite the large time difference with Australia, it is not yet April 1 there either. Yet we cannot escape the impression that there was quite a bit of sniggering behind the marketing table in Sydney.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl