TWO major car firms have received a slap on the wrist for adverts which could “mislead” prospective buyers for their new EVs.
The Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints made and banned the companies from pulling similar stunts in the future.
Kia and Mercedes both landed themselves in a spot of bother after they advertised their new vehicles using “official” maximum range figures rather than the range drivers might expect to achieve.
They each quoted the WLTP maximum ‘combined’ range figure in adverts for the Kia Niro EV and Mercedes EQC with an asterisk pointing to text providing limited information about the WLTP test.
WLTP stands for Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure, and refers to tests recognised by the UK government for generating legally-required passenger car economy and emissions data.
For the Niro EV, the ASA ruling stated that consumers would interpret Kia’s claim of “up to 285-mile range” to mean the Niro EV was able to cover that distance on a full battery most of the time.
And that the advertised range could be achieved on an amount of charge which was good for the car.
However, it was generally not advisable to charge the car beyond 80 percent, and therefore any claim based on a 100 percent charge was not representative.
In the case of the Mercedes EQC, the ASA said consumers were likely to understand from the information provided that it could drive 254 miles with a 100 percent charge.
And, without further information, that charging to 100 per cent and achieving a 254-mile WLTP range was typical and representative of the car.
But drivers were not advised to charge the car to 100 per cent, since that was said to be damaging to the battery.
The two rulings by the UK’s advertising watchdog prevent Kia and Mercedes from advertising similar claims in future, unless they add clarity around real world vehicle range.
Speaking to Auto Express to explain the background behind the decisions, ASA spokesman, Toby King, explained.
“We’re not saying an asterisk is necessarily a hundred percent wrong for explaining these things, but rather is the text that explains it clear enough?”
He added: “We know there’s consumer confusion here, and that’s especially true when it comes to electric vehicle mileage.
“So now, communicating that in an asterisk bullet point is going to be quite difficult on the sort of ads you might see on a bus stop.”
It comes as Lamborghini were slammed for using young teen girls posing in front of a supercar in provocative ad campaign.
The luxury car brand enlisted one of the country’s most famous female photographers to take the provocative pictures, one of which features a young girl seated in front of a £270,000 supercar in shorts and a crop top.
