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Saudis may be known for a lot of things, but let's face it – comedy is not one of them. Israelis on the other hand... have you seen The Zohan? In any event, it's not surprising that people in Saudi Arabia are outraged at something from Israel, but this time it has nothing to do with military actions or residential construction, and to be fair, while talk of boycotts is filling the air once again, they're not actually blaming Israel itself for anything. Instead, Nissan is the boycott target.

The spate was started by a commercial Israeli TV that depicts Arabian oil sheikhs getting medieval on a Nissan Tiida. The implication is that the car's fuel efficiency is harming the sheikhs' business interests. The Saudi regime, along with other oil-producing Gulf states, is threatening to boycott Nissan – which itself is collaborating on the development of the Project Better Place electric car system in Israel – if the automaker doesn't apologize.

Follow the jump to watch the commercial – which, strangely, we could only find in Arabic with Russian subtitles – and leave your thoughts in the comments section below (just please keep it tasteful).

[Source: Haaretz]

Renault-Nissan president Carlos Ghosn is arguably one of the most effective automotive industry executives, and having just embarked upon a tour of the Middle East, may prove to be more effective than the endless stream of government and military envoys parading in and out of sand-swept capitals.

Ghosn flew to Israel, where he met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres and announced a project to launch an electric vehicle network in the country's burgeoning and overcrowded Mediterranean metropolis of Tel Aviv. The project, called "Better Place", is being led by former SAP executive Shai Agassi (seen shaking hands with Ghosn above), and is financially supported by Israel Corp, the holding company that controls shipping giant Zim and recently embarked upon an automotive joint venture in China. (The Knesset, Israel's parliament that usually has to support any such ventures itself financially, has paved the way by preparing supportive legislation.) Renault will develop the vehicles, which are projected to have a 160-km range on the highway, or 100 in the city, hit 100km/h (62mph) in 13 seconds and top out at 110 km/h. The cars are expected to hit the shuk (that's "market" in Hebrew and Arabic) in 2011.

While he was at it, Ghosn hopped over to Morocco to announce the construction of a new plant for Renault and Nissan. (Yes, we know Morocco is not technically part of the Middle East, but Northern Africa is often grouped together with it. So please don't shoot us.) The new factory in Tangiers will have a capacity of 400,000 vehicles per year and will employ 6,000 directly and 30,000 indirectly. Renault will use the facility to build cars on the cost-effective Dacia Logan platform, while Nissan will manufacture light commercial vehicles there, as well.

[Source: Reuters, Photo by DAVID FURST/AFP/Getty]

Israel develops and produces a lot of things, from microchips to cosmetics. But, discounting the odd dune-buggy or army jeep, cars aren't one of them. So it came as a bi t of a surprise when Quantum, an American subsidiary of (the imaginatively named) holding company Israel Corp., announced it was embarking on a joint venture with an unnamed Asian automaker back in the spring.

Israel Corp. has now won approval from China's still heavily centralized government to set up shop in partnership with Chery Automobile. The Israeli partner will take a 45% stake in the venture, worth about $225 million, with Chery presumably taking the other 55%. The news of the deal hit the wire shortly after the now-refuted

reports of an ambitious plan to put 10,000 electric cars on Israeli roads by 2010.

Chery was the first of a plethora of Chinese automakers that now manufactures outside of China, operating its own plants in Iran, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Argentina. While it's still not known where the new Sino-Israeli cars will be built, they could very well find their way to our shores as Chery gears up for its assault on the American market.

[Source: Detroit News]