Ad

A TV ad, for a Smart car, showed a speeded-up sequence of the car driving from London to Edinburgh. The voice-over stated "On one tiny 33 litre tank, a Smart car can do 433 miles".

Issue

Five viewers challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that the stated fuel efficiency was achievable in typical driving conditions.

Response

Mercedes Benz UK Ltd (Mercedes) said the Smart fortwo had a 33-litre tank (7.25 gallons) and the combined cycle fuel consumption on the Smart fortwo coup passion (71 bhp, 52 kw, 999 cc naturally aspirated engine) was 60.1 mpg. Mercedes said they calculated the mileage for the claim on the basis that the distance from London to Edinburgh was 433 miles using the AA route planner or 413 miles using the RAC route planner i.e. London, Fulham - Edinburgh, The Royal Mile; they said they opted to use the longer distance for the claim.

Not upheld

The ASA noted the claim "On one tiny 33 litre tank, a Smart car can do 433 miles" was based on a calculation derived from official VCA testing of the Smart Car's performance. We understood that the VCA's role was to carry out rigorous laboratory testing of new car models to produce accurate fuel consumption figures to facilitate comparisons between different models. We noted, although VCA figures were not always completely representative of fuel consumption under real driving conditions, Mercedes had sent evidence that showed they had driven a Smart car from London to Edinburgh, i.e. 433 miles, on one tank of petrol.

We considered that the VCA figures in conjunction with Mercedes evidence that the journey had been achieved on one tank of petrol was sufficient to support the claim that a Smart car could do 433 miles on one tank of petrol. We concluded that the ad was not misleading.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading Advertising), 5.2.1 (Evidence) and 5.2.2 (Implications) but did not find it in breach.

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