Achtung Baby! Bono has admitted he is such a bad driver that his wife Ali Hewson won’t get in a car if he’s behind the wheel.
The Dubliner was speaking at a press conference this week in Italy, hosted by Fiat at its official launch of a new model in co-operation with his RED charity.
The musician, 61, said: “There’s something ironic about me being here because as anybody who knows me, friends, family, no one I know will get into a car with me. My wife will not get into a car with me – if her arms were broken she would not let me drive.
“As rock stars you’re treated like small children and put in the back of limos and vans and buses, in fact even sometimes when I get back home from tour I’ve got into the back of my own car.
“So I have an unusual relationship with cars. I love this company.
“My father [Bob Hewson] drove a Fiat. My first car was a Fiat. I crashed it. I totalled it actually. My next car will be this Fiat. I love the stories, the history of this great company. It’s very romantic for me, this sexy, smart, tangle of ideas and innovation.”
The U2 singer also said getting the Covid-19 vaccine to people in the developing world is not charity but “enlightened self-interest” if the richer countries are going to deal with the pandemic.
He praised Italians for showing “spirit” and “charisma” in their “defiance” of the virus.
Citizens sung from their balconies and rooftops during the early days of the pandemic last year.
Bono added: “It was not corny, it was really cool and moving and the whole world again discovered the spirit of this country.
“As a singer I was very humbled.”
Fiat has launched the all-electric 500 (RED) special edition as part of its celebrations around a new exhibition at the old Lingotto factory in Turin.
The car manufacturer plans to contribute more than €3.4million to RED in the next three years.
Bono founded the charity 15 years ago to bring firms together to fight AIDS.
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