Autoblog

Maserati and Lamborghini pull out of Iran

Jonathon Ramsey — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 08:02:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Government/Legal, Lamborghini, Maserati, Middle East, Luxury

Daimler is out, Toyota is out, Porsche is out, Hyundai, PSA Peugeot-Citroën are out and when it comes to selling cars in Iran, now Maserati and Lamborghini are out, too. The definitive pullouts of those last two automakers are said to be reactions to a press conference held by a group called United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). The group highlights businesses that sell in both the US market and Iran, and works to get those businesses to choose one market or the other.

UANI said it had sent letters to Maserati and Lamborghini about their dealings in Iran, but that the letters went unanswered. Mark Wallace, head of UANI and a former US ambassador to the United Nations, held a press conference in October of last year that referenced the two companies. Apparently Lamborghini contacted Wallace just after the press conference and told him "they were out, they weren't doing any business in Iran anymore."

Discussions with Maserati then took place, and the Italian automaker said it had been out of Iran ever since Fiat announced it was leaving the country in May 2011. UANI said Maserati had been in talks with an Iranian distributor, however, and that distributor was continuing to use the Maserati name. The carmaker has since cut all ties with Iranian interests and has prevented its name from being used, adding that its new models will not be able to be sold there because they won't pass regulations the country's regulations.

Maserati and Lamborghini pull out of Iran originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 16 Jan 2013 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How much do traffic deaths cost your state? CDC has the answer

Aaron Richardson — Mon, 16 May 2011 07:57:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Safety

Every year, the United States loses in the neighborhood of 30,000 people to traffic accidents. That's like the entire population of a medium-sized town being wiped out annually. The number of deaths not only wreaks havoc with families, but it puts a strain on our economy.

In recognition of the rising costs of traffic fatalities - not just in the U.S., but globally - the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2011-2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The ten-year span will be marked by increased consciousness of driving habits, road conditions and vehicle safety. In honor of the event, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has put together some alarming statistics.

In 2005, traffic deaths wound up costing just over $41 billion in medical bills and work lost. Yes, that's billion with a "B." According to the CDC, 10 states stood head and shoulders above the rest in monetary losses. Those were: California, at $4.16 billion, Texas, at $3.50 billion, Florida, at 3.16 billion, Georgia, at $1.55 billion, Pennsylvania, at $1.52 billion, North Carolina, at $1.50 billion, New York, at $1.33 billion, Illinois, at $1.32 billion, Ohio, at $1.23 billion and Tennessee, at $1.15 billion.

Though these 10 states handily outranked the others, the CDC tallied up the monetary total for all of the 50 states. To see how your home state fared, check out the CDC website. If the U.S. can rack up such an alarming total by itself, we shudder to think what the global costs of car wrecks is.

How much do traffic deaths cost your state? CDC has the answer originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 16 May 2011 07:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Iranians can't buy Toyotas anymore

Steven J. Ewing — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:05:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Government/Legal, Toyota, Middle East

The current situation over in Iran is pretty grim, what with major countries like the United States and Europe imposing new sanctions on the Middle Eastern country. The reason? International concern over the country's nuclear program.

Because of this situation, Toyota has decided to cease exports of its vehicles to Iran. The automaker issued a statement saying that this decision was made after considering "the international environment," and that it would "continue to closely monitor the international situation."

Toyota's sales in Iran have fallen drastically over the past few years - only around 220 vehicles were sold this year, up until the company's decision to remove Iran from its export list. This is indeed quite a change, as Toyota sold nearly 4,000 vehicles in Iran just two years earlier.

Currently, no American automakers have a presence in Iran, and with Toyota moving to stop exports to the country, we'll be interested to see if other manufacturers follow suit. Currently, major European automakers like Mercedes-Benz and BMW continue to export to Iran.

[Source: CNN, BBC News]

Iranians can't buy Toyotas anymore originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Conspiracy theorists mistake Kia storage site for U.N. takeover of Florida

Sam Abuelsamid — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:01:00 EST

Filed under: Kia, Humor

Click above to view in Google maps

There are an endless amount of interesting tidbits to be found when browsing satellite images in Google maps and Google Earth. Unfortunately, we have to keep in mind that the images are not in real-time, or even close too it. Most are 2-3 years old or more. That means whatever you see today is likely long gone by the time you're looking at it.

Such is the case for the imagery of a sad little industrial park in Green Cove Springs, Florida, just south of Jacksonville. The Reynolds Industrial Park was once an airport where the U.S. stored mothballed aircraft. Recently, some people with overactive imaginations when it comes to the topic of the United Nations stumbled across this image and came to the erroneous conclusion that the thousands of white vehicles parked on the airport's abandoned runways were UN trucks, possibly being readied for an invasion of Disney World (our guess, not theirs).

In fact, the truth is nothing quite so insidious. The two airstrips full of cars were a surplus of unsold Kias that had been shipped in from Korea and were being stored. Their white color is simply the shrink-wrap that's applied to almost all new cars during shipping to protect their finish. Prior to becoming a Kia storage lot, the same facility was used by Kelsey-Hayes/TRW Automotive as a test track for anti-lock brake systems for some 20 years (this writer formerly worked as an engineer for TRW and spent time at this facility). The white ceramic tile pad formerly used for simulated ice testing is still visible on the upper part of the runway as are the circle tracks.

The airstrips weren't the only automotive use of Reynolds Industrial Park. One of the buildings to the right of the strip was home to Vector Motors for a time in the mid-1990s before it went belly up. Rusting frames of the M12 supercar could be seen stacked outside for several years after.

[Source: Clay Today, Ubest1]

Conspiracy theorists mistake Kia storage site for U.N. takeover of Florida originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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