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Japanese Automaker May Add Vitamin C to the Air Conditioning in Some Models

Nissan Motor Co.'s announcement of a new feature that will diffuse Vitamin C while you drive has inspired the headline "A car that moisturizes your skin!" in newspapers and blogs around the world.

The Japanese automaker is introducing improvements to future models designed to create a more comfortable in-car environment that reduces stress and fatigue.

The most intriguing improvement in Nissan's new "health and well-being" concept is an air filter infused with vitamin C that moisturizes passengers' skin. The idea is that the car's air conditioning system, instead of drying out passengers' skin, would dispense vitamin C into the car's interior, stimulating peoples' bodies to supply more moisture to the skin, making it appear younger and healthier.

Asked to elaborate on exactly how Nissan could become the Neutrogena of the car world, the company appeared to be stumped. Nissan responded by sending a journalist several slides of drawings, graphs and diagrams of the Vitamin C filter, labeled "conceptual image of inferred mechanism of moisturization" and surrounded by cute purple, blue, yellow and green bubbles with names like "rehydrated zeolites."

It's unclear when or in which countries or car models the Vitamin C feature will be available, or how much the vitamin-enhanced air filter will cost, but there does appear to be consumer interest in the idea of driving and moisturizing. Car blogs and newspaper websites from the Times of India to the U.K.'s Daily Mail played up the story.

Nissan has already found ways to pamper passengers, like a "forest AC" air conditioning system available now in the Nissan Fuga, a luxury sedan sold in Japan, that is designed to recreate the breezes, temperature, humidity and aroma of natural forests.

Source: http://adage.com/globalnews/article?article_id=145251