Irony Supplement, Part 15
Uncle Andrew
Snapped this one at my local Subaru service department while I was waiting for them to finish with my car. The picture’s not fantastic because I took it with my phone, but this particular Legacy is what Subaru is calling a PZEV, or Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle.
Partial what? Zero what?
Okay, so this particular vehicle produces significantly fewer emissions than the average, according to Subaru’s propaganda, and I’m willing to accept that with maybe a grain—or cup—of salt. Good for them. And heck, I love their cars.
But what genius in Marketing came up with the term “Partial Zero Emissions?” What exactly is part of zero? Presumably by Subaru’s reckoning, part of zero is….well, some. I guess.
Not by the reckoning of most folks, but I guess that’s the magic of advertising in action.
3 Responses to “Irony Supplement, Part 15”
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July 27th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Don’t blame Subaru. PZEV is part of the acronym soup invented by the California Air Resources Board. It’s their third-best emissions category, after ZEV and PZEV-AT, and basically means “really low.”
Apparently “Really Low (CARB)” never caught on.
July 27th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
well, after Low Emission Vehicle (LEV), then Ultra Low Emission (ULEV), and finally Super Ultra Low Emission (SULEV) they had to change to Partial Zero Emission cause otherwise it was going to be Mega Super Duper Low We Really Mean It’s Low Emission Vehicle. I’m still waiting to see Nearly Zero, Almost Zero, and Might As Well be Zero emissions vehicles in the near future.
July 27th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Aha, thank for clearing that up….such as it is. 😕
Maybe this nomenclature is similar in structure to the levels of death observed among the pygmy tribes. You know: dead, completely dead and dead forever.
Among those offered here, I think MAWBZEV (“Mobzev”) sounds the best, though “Low Carb(on)” or “C≅0” would be cute too.