... or is the Leko flatpack car just an intricate April Fool's joke?
Allen keys at the ready: it seems Ikea is about to launch its very own car called the Leko. Well, that's the first impression you get if you head over to the rather cryptic French website Roulez-Leko.com, which shows a car covered in a white sheet with the words "Leko – la voiture selon Ikea".
The internet is currently abuzz with talk about the Leko website, with most of the chatter focusing on the site's large clock which is currently counting down to 1 April. Surely, this is just a rather lame April Fool's viral?
However, there are some aspects of the site which suggest there could be something of interest here. The site's Flash video carries a message from the car's "designer", Christophe Grozs, who says the car will be environmentally friendly. The site also carries the official panda logo of the conservation charity WWF, which is known to work with IKEA, suggesting it must be either in on the joke, or is genuinely involved in the project. (Fast Company notes that 1-7 April is France's Sustainable Development Week.) Over at Fark.com one commenter called "TheYeti" – who admits they've been watching too much Lost – has been analysing the name "Christophe Grozs":
"Anagrams for Christophe Grozs contain the word scherzo and scherzi. Wiki: Scherzo (plural scherzi) is a piece of music or a movement, in a certain style, that forms part of a larger piece such as a symphony. The word "scherzo" means "joke" in Italian. Sometimes the word scherzando (joking) is used in musical notation to indicate that a passage should be executed in a playful manner."
It has also been noted that there is a rather handy Hungarian chess grandmaster called Peter Leko, although what this alludes to – other than game playing – I'm not too sure. My French and Swedish are both admittedly woeful, but maybe the car's name is internationalised shorthand for "L'Eko" ("Eko" being Swedish for "eco")? Or maybe it refers to Mr Eko, one of the many mysterious characters in Lost? (OK, I have to admit I've also been watching too much Lost.)
Elsewhere, some people have been scrutinising the website's HTML code for clues. At Digg a commenter called "tavallai" has spotted probably the most revealing clue of all:
It's a carshare scheme. Until they changed the HTML code and Flash filename, it referred to the movie as "covoiturage.swf" which is French for carpooling.
Indeed, the Flash filename does now read as "siteEKO.swf". Is IKEA going to launch a carpooling initiative at its French stores on 1 April? Interesting, but not exactly up there with the launch of its very own (flat-packed?) car. There's only one way to nip all this speculation in the bud and that's to put in a call to Ikea. A few hours later I receive an email from Isabelle Crémoux-Mirgalet, Ikea France's PR manager:
What I can confirm is that Ikea France has decided to support a new car system in line with its positioning: cheaper and more responsible than any other; allowing a dramatic reduction in your gas spending; built so it can adapt to the products you want to carry. But, no complementary information is supposed to be released before the launch, on 31 March. Some more days to wait.
Full marks to her skills as a PR manager, as she's ably performed the first part of her brief, namely, create a buzz. I just hope whatever is announced lives up to the hype.