Gallery
Battle of the brandsCar firms will put their names to anything - as we reveal! Take a look at the coolest car marque branded goods in the world.By Mel Roberts
| February 2008 |
Here at Auto Express, we are very familiar with car makers’ products… or at least, we thought we were. It turns out that the
manufacturers put their names not only to vehicles, but to a whole host of other items, too.
We aren’t just talking about branded T-shirts or ties, either. Some of the merchandising that firms offer is really quite bizarre. There are fridges, safety-deposit boxes and even multi-gyms – all built to reflect the car company’s brand.
Some firms go a step further, making specific divisions to design products such as kitchens and even private jets. Here, we’ve rounded up their most interesting non-car creations… |
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1. MINI fridge This is the coolest MINI ever. The fridge (below) was built with Smeg to commemorate the launch of the second-generation car. As with the Cooper S, it has bright Laser Blue paint and white ‘bonnet’ stripes. Only 250 were made, but they, along with the Skater, can appear on auction sites such as eBay– expect to pay around £800 for the fridge.
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2. Porsche wine-cooling rack The firm’s separate Porsche Design division creates a wide range of luxury goods that mimic the cool minimalist lines of its cars. And one of the most stylish creations is a wine-cooling rack.
Produced with champagne maker Veuve Clicquot, the six-feet stainless steel cellar tower holds 12 magnums. Each is housed in its own compartment at a constant 12oC. Only 15 were made worldwide, and they each cost around £35,000!
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3. Porsche power drill For DIY-ers, Porsche Design also makes a multi-hammer power drill developed with tool expert Metabo. Its patented hand-grip ensures a good centre of gravity and it drills, chisels and screws. It’s available from Metabo dealers, posting from £339.
Porsche Design is now working on some even more amazing products, such as a grand piano – and it’s also developing a stylish metal piggy bank to help you save up for that 911...
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4. Pininfarina office desk While the Italian styling house is famous for designing beautiful cars, it sometimes works on other projects – and one of the most unusual is the Luna Desk. With a sleek red and black body and shiny metal trim, its link to the brand’s auto designs is clear – and so is the price, at around £6,600. See www.spacify.com for more information.
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5. Ferrari gym If you fancy an exhaustive work-out, this £11,000 compact multi-gym (right) could be the answer. It has 25 separate exercises plus beige leather cushioning and the ubiquitous prancing horse logo. Check out availability at the www.ferraristore.com/e-shop website.
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6. MINI Skateboard As with the car, the MINI Skater is small, agile and fast. It’s more flexible than a folding scooter and wider than a normal ’board. Thanks to soft suspension and a fibreglass-reinforced top, it can carry up to 100kg. The Skater was £80 new and has a chequered non-skid covering, plus a large loop to secure your foot.
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7. Honda jet aeroplane The Japanese giant has reached for the skies with its latest product – a private jet. Boasting a class-topping cruise speed of 420 knots and a range of 1,180 nautical miles, it’s the firm’s most impressive machine yet. Inside, the HondaJet’s cabin offers unprecedented comfort and plenty of legroom, too. Production starts in 2010 and the firm hopes to sell 70 a year at £2million each.
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8. Ford jukebox This retro jukebox costs £4,000 and has been custom designed for Ford with artwork depicting the brand’s classic vehicles. It has a CD player with auto mapping, self-adjusting laser, MP3 and iPod connectivity and can hold 100 CDs, supplied on purchase; the www.fordcollection.com website will tell you more.
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9. Lamborghini laptop computer Complete with a lacquered hood, raging bull logo on the front and a carbon fibre back, this is a very special Asus VX2S laptop. And as you’d expect with any product from the Italian supercar firm it is very fast, thanks to an Intel Centrino Pro Processor Technology and a 2,048MB Turbo Memory.
The computer also has a high-definition LCD screen and a built-in fingerprint scanner to keep it secure. It is available with Windows Vista Ultimate from www.microanvika.com priced from £1,499.
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10. Hummer mobile phone Created by French design house Modelabs, the Hummer HT1 reflects its road-going namesake’s military lineage with a sturdy design and camouflage paint. A brushed-metal look or a bright yellow version are available, too. The phone has a large LCD screen, GPRS capability, two-megapixel camera and 256MB of internal memory. If you need more space there’s a MicroSD card expansion socket as well. You can get the HT1 from selected Hummer dealers for £200.
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11. Bugatti safe Bugatti owners tend to have a lot of money – and the Italian firm has teamed up with safe maker Stockinger to give them somewhere to store their cash. The safe (below) is resistant to attack from drills and explosives, plus has a GPS tracking device and alarm, while its colours are Veyron-inspired. Priced at around £77,000, it costs nearly as much as a supercar, too; www.stockinger.com has all the information.
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12. Bugatti food blender Now you can experience breakneck speeds in your kitchen as well as on the road, with Bugatti’s Vela food blenders. The marque’s engineering know-how has been translated into one of the most effective and stylish kitchen utensils around. It has a unique conical mixing jar to ensure the blending process is constantly working at the optimum level. The blenders cost from £109.99; www.deluxeproduct.com has more details.
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