The sweet smell of success

Is there no limit to the cunning of these people, no stratagem too low?

The Korean Kia corporation - which has factories across half the territories of the former Warsaw Pact - is now artificially concocting the smells inside its latest cars (such as the Golf-rivalling Cee'd) to make sure that they are agreeable to European noses.

"The European nose is quite different to the Korean nose," said a spokesman from the product planning department at Kia's European Research and Development centre in Germany. "We like different smells so we had to develop odours for the interior of the car that were pleasing to Europeans."

Apparently, their approach is to take samples of the various materials inside a car, seal them in a glass jar, open the container after a few days and invite a group of panelists to take a sniff.

"If they don't like the smell we try and find the cause of the problem by breaking the materials down and cooking them to find out where the wrong odour is coming from," said the spokesman.

They have even developed an artificial scent to spray on leather upholstery to restore the smell of leather after it has been treated for stain-resistance.

So there goes the last line of defence for the European car industry. The Koreans have already proved equal to the West in engineering and build quality while trouncing their European opponents on price, reliability and warranty. They have retained top European stylists to design their cars. They have even tuned the exhaust notes of their engines to satisfy European tastes. The only superiority the Old World retained was the satisfaction of knowing that the interior of all Korean cars whiffed like the inside of a scuzz-bucket.

If that snootiness becomes indefensible, the game will be well and truly up. ·