Perhaps this will be all the rage in the US car market soon? I rather love the smell of new leather, don't you? According to an article by Peter Vinthagen Simpson I found at thelocal.se:

"Many car drivers in Sweden want the scent of a new car without actually paying for one. Sales of air-fresheners with scents of leather or vinyl are booming, while car sales continue to fall.

Wunder-baum, a popular brand of car air-fresheners, reports that its classic pine-scented top seller has been overtaken by a tree-shaped freshener impregnated with the scent of new cars.

"It is basically the market leader in Scandinavia. This 'tree' has a bright future," said Daniel Niklasson from Yngve Niklasson AB, a distributor of Wunderbaum products in Sweden to Sveriges Radio.

At the same time as sales of the scent of new cars is booming, the sales of vehicles continued their decline in December and demand is forecast to weaken further in 2009.

According to preliminary figures from trade group Bil Sweden, the number of newly registered cars in Sweden declined by 17.3 percent in comparison with 2007 to 253,759 vehicles. The group forecast sales of 185,000 cars in 2009."

Here in the United States, reports from December 2008 indicate car sales are down by double digits across the board. We're talking from 30 to 50 percent in the most extreme cases! I guess if people aren't buying new cars, they must be getting by with cars that just SMELL new!

Jody DeVere
President and CEO
http://www.askpatty.com
http://www.carblabber.com