It Smells Like What?

In a move that seems tailor-made for the U.S. market but is strangely far removed from it, Kia is giving electric-vehicle buyers a gasoline-scented car “freshener” with purchase.

The amusing touch by the South Korean automaker – intended to encourage EV adoption – is happening only in Finland, of all places. Unlike other Nordic countries, especially EV adoption leader Norway, Finland’s EV adoption rate is just about 12%, most sales being hybrids, according to Kia, which has nevertheless observed adoption growing there this year.

“Giving up the combustion engine can feel like a huge step, just like giving up anything else that is familiar,” acknowledges Klaus Pohjala, commercial director of Astara Auto Finland, Finland’s importer of Kias. “We wanted to add a touch of nostalgic fun to the transition with a gas-scented car freshener. Of course, this is a bit of a cheeky campaign, but we also want to communicate that we understand the change to be quite a big decision for many.”

Kia’s idea in giving away car fresheners redolent of gas is meant to help former gas-powered vehicle owners transition to electric, similar to some carmakers adding artificial combustion-engine sounds to what would otherwise be whisper-quiet electric motors. The freshener comes with the purchase of an EV4 car.

The automaker currently has no plans to extend the freshener campaign beyond Finland, though, a spokesperson said. 

Kia turned to Finland’s only perfumier, Max Perttula, to design the gasoline-like fragrance. The jasmine flower, inexplicably, is a key note in it, along with sources used in men’s colognes. To a motor oil-scented base, Perttula added fragrance mindful of a car shop – a mix of gas and metallic and mineral smells, Kia said.

“It may sound wild that it’s jasmine, of all things, that contains compounds with a fragrance that creates associations with gasoline,” Perttula said in a press release, “probably not the first thing you’d think of.” 

LEARN MORE: Kia Honored for Auto Body Designs