In one of the weirdest projects ever undertaken by a car maker, Nissan hired a scientist to create for them what they refer to as the “scent of the future.” It’s the aroma of the future world, where zero-emission cars like the LEAF populate the roads. The fragrance itself is not zero-emission, mind you, it smells like a zero-emission future.

And since no body has yet smelled the zero-emission future, they can come up with pretty much anything they like and say this is it. I mean how do you know if that is what the future smells like? The whole thing sounds kind of idiotic to be honest. Nissan says this aroma is scientifically proven to induce a positive sense of well-being to the sniffer. We already have something that does exactly that. It’s called cocaine.

The man behind who has invented this ‘Scent of Zero-Emission Future’ is Dr. George Dodd, who, apparently, has an expert nose for such things. He is a scientist of smell. You sure don’t want to break wind in presence of this guy. He’ll tell you what you had for lunch.

To make the Nissan scent, Dodd took his inspirations from long walks amongst the Scottish Highlands, essences taken from cut green grass, myrtle oil, natural orange and the ineffable “light as air” molecule. Thanks to Dodd’s magic formula, the scent evokes clean, fresh and organic landscapes. They are going to put this thing in a LEAF shaped car air freshener and give it to select electric car fans and Nissan LEAF customers as a Christmas gift to thank them for playing their part in a zero-emissions future.