Saudi government bans "lewd" personalized license plates including: "SEX," "ASS," and... "USA"?! originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Click above to watch the video

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]

Continue reading Saudi Arabia threatens Nissan boycott over Israeli ad

Saudi Arabia threatens Nissan boycott over Israeli ad originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Click above to view more of the Burberry Quattroporte

Think "Maserati" and "Burberry" and there are so many ways this could have gone classy. But this isn't one of them. Seems some fool with too much oil money and not enough taste has plastered his Quattroporte in what appears to be perforated Burberry-plaid gift-wrap paper. If this were some sort of new camouflage on a test mule for the newly revised Quattroporte, we'd say it was effective (who could focus on the details in between the bouts of vomiting?), but somehow we don't picture the Italians doing anything this horrendously tasteless. In fact, we'd encourage Maserati to track down the owner and repossess the vehicle immediately. Click on the thumbnails below to see more of the Burberry-spangled Maser... if you must.

Gallery: Maserati Quattroporte Burberry edition

Objection! Burberry edition Maserati Quattroporte spotted in Saudi Arabia originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you're of the opinion that the religious right has too much influence on American politics, you should check out Saudi Arabia. The royal family has relied for decades on the support of fundamentalist Wahabi clerics who, in return for their support to the ibn Saud regime, have insisted on ever more stringent laws. Among those measures has been a strict ban prohibiting women from driving that has been in effect for 75 years since the founding of Saudi Arabia in 1932, but the Saudi government is finally preparing to lift the ban.

The government decision reportedly stems from an effort to placate a mounting women's lib movement, whose activists have been mounting rolling demonstrations by leading convoys of women driving around in the kingdom despite the law prohibiting them from obtaining driver's licenses or automobile insurance. According to the Saudi government, the ban will be lifted by the end of the year. Critics point out, however, that previous government commitments towards reform have not been met.

[Source: The Daily Telegraph via Instapundit, Photo by HASSAN AMMAR/AFP/Getty]

Saudi Arabia prepares to lift ban on female drivers originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Strange Bedfellows: Lotus helps develop Saudi Arabian green car industry originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.