2012 Nissan Titan S on 2040-cars

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2016 April Fools' Day: Morgan digs at Tesla, Mini's scissor doors, more

Every year automakers go out of their way to come up with gags for April Fools' Day. Sometimes the jokes fall flat, but occasionally a company really nails it with an idea that we'd actually love to see. Rather than scouring the Web for all of these stunts, you can find some of our favorites right here. Morgan MOGrod The Morgan Motor Company's MOGrod is one of our favorite April Fools' jokes so far this year because it's a car we wish could be real. The company says on Twitter that the retro hot rod uses a 3.7-liter Ford V6, and there are already 250,000 preorders, which is a play on the huge number of reservations for the Tesla Model 3. Morgan took the joke even further by sketching a landspeed record version for the Bonneville Salt Flats. Mini Scissor Doors The people at Mini apparently have a lot of free time because the company has two gags this year. The first is the scissor door option. The idea cleverly plays on the myriad ways customers can customize their Mini, but this solution doesn't look like anyone could easily enter the car due to the way these doors open. Mini Hipster Hatch There's also the Hipster Mini, which is a much funnier idea. This fictional hatchback would be perfect for fashionable Millennials thanks to features like Instagram-filter windows and a fixed-gear drivetrain, which limits the top speed to 25 miles per hour. The interior uses stonewash denim upholstery and packs a twin-deck cassette player. Skoda Dog Umbrella People love dogs, and owners know that a wet canine can be a mess. Skoda is ready to tackle this problem with an umbrella for your mutt. Made from unobtainium, the gadget hides in the door when not in use, but when raindrops start falling, people can keep their pup dry. Skoda Snowman Skoda's Facebook page also teases us with a very cool vehicle. The Snowman is a 396-horsepower plug-in hybrid snow machine. With its tracks, the company's newest model would never have to worry about getting stuck in the winter. Opel Adam C Sure, electricity and hydrogen are cleaner forms of fuel than gasoline or diesel, but Opel has a way to make your car even more environmentally friendly – muscle power. Wind up the crank at the rear for 15 minutes, and the Opel Adam C is good for 125 miles. GM's European division also claims that owners get a great workout because a full winding session burns 400 calories. You wouldn't feel guilty about picking up that pizza after cranking up this hatchback.

2014 Nissan Juke Nismo RS priced from $26,120*

We'll admit, we're quite excited about the Nissan Juke Nismo RS, especially now that its price has been revealed. For $26,120, you can get the sharpest, sportiest Juke outside of the over-caffeinated, 545-horsepower Juke R.
That base price reflects the cost of the Juke Nismo RS you really want - the front-drive model, complete with six-speed manual. Snagging an all-wheel-drive, CVT-equipped version will cost an extra $2,000. Those prices don't include an *$810 destination charge.
The Juke Nismo RS boasts an extra 18 hp and 26 pound-feet of torque over the 197-hp Juke Nismo, thanks to things like a new exhaust. The big, must-have feature, though, are the Recaro thrones fitted in the front of the RS. As we said when the hot Juke debuted in LA last year, the seats alone may be worth upgrading to the RS model.

World's cheapest Nissan Leaf costs just $9,460

If you thought electric vehicles were expensive, head on over to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. There, you can buy a Nissan Leaf for the amazingly low price of just 7,450 euros ($9,460 US). Or, if a practical delivery van is more your style, check out the Nissan e-NV200 Visia Flex, which is absurdly priced at 4,950 euros ($6,400). Now, you might be thinking, those prices don't seem right, and this isn't a case of Nissan slashing the price like someone in I Know What You Did Last Summer. Instead, these deals are already and unsurprisingly being called the "world's best EV incentives." The great deals - available to businesses only – are due to generous national and local government incentives that are designed to take dirty vehicles off the road. Things like scrappage incentives (worth 2,500 euros, or $3,240) and free parking for EVs as well as home charger incentives stack up until they bring the price of a new EV down to the levels listed above. Jordi Vila, the managing director for Nissan Netherlands, told Automotive World that, "By scrapping older vehicles and incentivising buyers to replace them with zero-emission electric vehicles, Rotterdam is taking a huge step in improving air quality." As great as these deals are, it turns out that most car buyers are unaware of EV incentives. This is too bad, since there is a short but interesting history of tremendous deals on plug-in vehicles, like the $10,000 discount on the Mitsubishi i-MiEV (or the $69/month lease on that thing). For pure "dollars off" value, though, nothing beats the $30,000 in total incentives that maybe be available in some Japanese prefectures for hydrogen vehicles, which might expand all the way to free H2 cars.