BMW has revealed a new version of its i3 electric concept featuring an interior trimmed in eucalyptus wood, prompting criticism that the company could expose customers to ‘unacceptable levels of koala attack’.
‘If they go ahead with a production car using this trim, they are putting the public right in the path of a very slow moving danger,’ said Professor Ken Freeply, Head Of Things at Nigel Havers College, Kettering. ‘It’s too easy to be blasé because few of us have experienced the horror of koala attack. From the moment you spot a koala you have literally just one or two weeks to escape. And even that isn’t easy, unless you walk fairly briskly. Also, their claws are quite sharp and I think they have teeth of some sort. These are the very real dangers that BMW simply hasn’t confronted with their reckless choice of interior trim, and they could happen at any moment. Assuming you’re in Australia. Or a badly maintained zoo.’
This is not the first time Professor Freeply has warned against the use of certain natural materials in car interiors. ‘When Aston Martin gave the DB9 the option of bamboo dashboard trim I was the only person to speak out about the danger of panda frenzy,’ he said. ‘And just look at how many of those occurred. That’s right, I don’t know. Probably none.’
Professor Freeply later denied that his ideas were ‘shit’.
