Halloween has reached automakers. Tesla added spooky sounds and light effects to its cars, while Rivian merged its electric vehicles with the Ghostbusters universe. But even without over-the-air updates, an ordinary passenger car can be turned into a pumpkin, a Batmobile, or a graveyard on wheels. Kursiv Auto explains how cars celebrate the scariest holiday of the year. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
In October, Tesla released a Halloween update for Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Cybertruck. The Toybox menu now features Trick or Treat and Ghost Costume modes. On screen, the car gets a ghost costume, and when a person approaches the parked car, spooky sounds and flickering lights may turn on.
Other effects include a locking sound with a growl, Halloween-themed designs, and a voice message via Boombox that the car repeats in an ominous voice. Even the road scene display changes: pedestrians walk like zombies, and traffic lights resemble pumpkins.
American Rivian teamed up with Sony Pictures and added a special Ghostbusters app to its electric vehicles. It changes the display design, adds themed sounds and light effects, and offers to find hidden characters.
Bill Murray became the star of the advertising campaign. In a short video, the actor returns to his role as a ghostbuster, and the plot revolves around the appearance of Slimer, the green ghost from the franchise.
For the project, the company also prepared the Ecto-R1 based on the Rivian R1S. The electric crossover was styled after the famous Ecto-1: it received white wheels, red graphics, the No-Ghost logo, and roof equipment.
In the US, the trunk-or-treat format of celebrating Halloween is popular. Owners gather in parking lots, decorate their cars, and open trunks filled with sweets and decorations. Children go from car to car collecting candy.
Trunks are decorated in various styles: for example, they set up a graveyard with cardboard tombstones and a plastic skeleton or create a mad scientist's laboratory.
For Halloween, you can use images of famous cars from movies. Thus, a white station wagon with a roof rack will resemble the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters, a turquoise van with orange elements – the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo, and a yellow sedan or hatchback with black stripes – Bumblebee from Transformers.
For decoration, vinyl films, stickers with cobwebs and bats, cardboard parts, and LED garlands are suitable. The main thing is that the decorations can be removed without damaging the car body.
Even the most spectacular decor is best removed before driving if it covers headlights, windows, or the license plate. Fastenings must withstand wind, and decorations must not interfere with visibility, the operation of windshield wipers, and vehicle systems. Do not overload the raised trunk door with heavy decorations: extra kilograms can cause it to close.
Halloween on wheels can be different: from cardboard fangs to a full-fledged software show. And judging by the examples of Tesla and Rivian, sometimes it takes not garage tuning but a software update.
Earlier, Kursiv Auto told where to celebrate Halloween in Kazakhstan.