Toyota RND Concept is an elaborate joke promotion for Red Nose Day

The mysterious teaser image issued by Toyota (below) was accompanied with words that generated a lot of the excitement and chatter amongst car-loving parts of the internet – including our own comments thread.

The UK arm of Toyota promised that the RND Concept, said to be revealed next week, would be a "radical shift in direction for Toyota, taking the ‘fun-to-drive’ qualities of its cars to a higher level".

Indeed, the RND was practically production ready and that "manufacturing and product supply have been secured and on-the-road pricing has been fixed at a level that will make the RND Concept accessible to the widest possible market".

More than that, Toyota UK claimed that it would change "the face of motoring within weeks" and "transform the look of every vehicle on the road".

The Autovisie section of the Netherlands' De Telegraaf newspaper dug a little bit deeper under the skin. Curious about such a seemingly momentous concept car, the newspaper began pressing Toyota Europe for more answers.

In an official statement to Autovisie, Toyota Europe said, "Please forgive us the unique sense of humour of our British colleagues. RND concept is a bogus concept model meant to raise awareness of the British charity initiative Red Nose Day [run by Comic Reflief]".

Toyota Europe continued, "The Red Nose Day car is nothing more than a Toyota Auris with a red nose. The red nose [will be] sold in February and March by British Toyota dealerships."

According to Autovisie, the car-sized red nose is currently available via Toyota UK's eBay store for five pounds ($9.30), with proceeds going to the organising charity, Comic Relief.

In the UK, Red Nose Day is a biennial charity event that raises money "to help people living unimaginably tough lives across the UK and Africa". This year Red Nose Day is on Friday, March 13 and, as in previous years, culminates in a TV special on the BBC.

In Australia, Red Nose Day is on Friday, June 26 and is organised by SIDS and Kids to help save "lives of babies and children during pregnancy, birth, infancy and childhood". Let's hope we see more red faces than just our own...