Car USB sticks | Car manufacturer memory sticks

The humble press kit is dead, long live the memory stick! Even five years ago, PRs in the car industry sent us journos press blurb in printed format but these have been almost entirely superseded by digital media. The CAR office creaks under the weight of USB memory sticks in every which size and shape. We thought we’d share some of the flashier media kits with you – and there’s a chance to win them if you read to the end.

• Audi

Surprise, surprise. The Audi memory stick appears hewn from solid aluminium – just like the new A8. In line with Audi’s classy branding, the 962MB memory stick has discreet silver branding on the front and an easy grip lid.

• BMW

Not to be confused with your actual BMW keys, the propeller’s press kit is a neat bit of design with no flame surfacing in sight. Click the boot release and a spring-loaded USB connector releases. Very neat. This is a big memory stick, however, which might interfere with mouse attachments etc. Has a whopping 8GB of memory though.

• Citroen

No mistaking what this press kit is about: it’s the blurb on the Citroen C3 Picasso – it’s big, colourful and by far the funkiest-looking memory stick here. Like the Picasso, it’s big at 1.9GB, but if you’re not careful the wheels fall off.

• Ferrari

What merchandise from Maranello doesn’t come without a hulking great prancing horse logo slapped on it? Yep, there’s no doubting this is a Ferrari memory stick, although its slimline design packs a rather feeble 963MB. Perhaps this is the Mille Chili of the memory stick world.

• Porsche

Small surprise that the Porsche USB stick is especially extravagant – it sits in a leather wallet and, appropriately enough, the memory stick itself resembles a credit card. Handling is the least wieldy of the bunch if you already have something plugged into your USB port (is it rear engined?). And its 955MB offers only lukewarm performance in this group test.

• Skoda

The foot-shaped memory stick from the Skoda Yeti launch continues the comedic marketing apeing the monster badge. The Yeti USB takes on the same rubbery feel as the Picasso C3 stick, but our example sadly has broken. Something is stuck in there, so we can’t plug it in. Nul point, I’m afraid.

• Subaru

Much like the brand itself, Subaru’s memory stick prefers no-nonsense chunky style – its old-school lanyard makes it perfect for farmers with mucky hands to keep clean. A 2GB capacity is slightly at odds with its Sonic Blue homage to the McRae/Burns rally spec Imprezas though.

• Toyota iQ

Surprise, surprise: the iQ memory stick is the smallest of our pack. There’s good interior space with 2GB of room, and yet the design has been downsized neatly – it’s the teeniest of the bunch and fits nicely on your keyring.

• Toyota FT-CH

A wooden memory stick? A new meaning to microchip(board). That’ll be eco cuddlies at Toyota, presenting hybrid press material at the recent 2010 Detroit auto show. The 249MB stick is made from European Maple wood and sports a magnetic lid. Interestingly, this stick does offer something unique that none of the others do: it accelerates you automatically onto their http://www.sustainablemobility.com/
website.

• Volvo

Volvo’s is one of my favourite memory sticks – it’s the second smallest design, fits on a keyring and unlike the iQ’s covers the innards of the memory stick. A bit fiddly to open, though. Typically Swedish in style, it provides a serious amount of memory at 4GB.
 

Check out some of these  weird and wondeful memory sticks from around the globe

>> Tell us in 25 words or fewer why we should send you some of these press memory sticks and we’ll dish them out as spot prizes. This informal competition closes at 12.00pm GMT this Friday 12 February 2010