“There are more than 100 different materials inside your average car. And they all smell like something.”

I had no idea. A new car smells, well, like a new car. One composite scent and very particular, unless you opted for the leather option that is.

It’s an odour that, if not exactly Proustian (and I have to say, Morris Minor’s are one of those moments for me), you can normally put your finger on. Or nose to.

Now you can understand the science that goes into one of the less obvious brand attributes – smell – with this great little reveal by Ford, The Fabric of Ford | SNIFF: A Story about Car Smells. Here’s the YouTube.

“Ford engineers subject every material used inside Ford vehicles to a series of meticulous and unrelenting tests where they are stretched, scratched, snagged, sniffed and even splashed with the likes of grease, dirt and hot coffee, to see how they will stand up against the test of time.”

They employ “six people to rate the smells individually, and completely subjectively, flagging anything that smells bad.” 

Now, what’s that burning smell? Don’t think it’s money…