(Tue 30 Mar 10)

The frankly rather alarming device pictured here (more on which later) has been devised to promote the extension of Nissan's post-scrappage scheme for trading in new cars.

Nissan has for some time been offering £2000 off the cost of any of its British-built cars - namely the Micra, Note or Qashqai - to customers who have a vehicle aged between eight and ten years to trade in. The last part of that arrangement is what has been changed: Nissan will now accept cars of any age over seven years. The deal starts on April 1 and will continue until June 30.

Now, about that strange-looking vehicle. It was designed by sculptor Graham Wardale, of props and sets company Andy Knight Ltd, and it took four people 500 hours to build. There are more than 2000 components, including a pair of furry dice, but no engine, and it was built in eight parts which were joined together on-site in London. As Nissan soberly comments, this meant that it escaped the London congestion charge, though if it had been transported into the city in one piece we imagine that the congestion charge would have been the least of the problems.

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