Luxury Cars and SUVs selling like hotcakes in Iraq.

[TheMightyFavog]

BAGHDAD — There may be few better places in the world to buy a used luxury car than the rubble-strewn streets of this city.



A 2002 Mercedes-Benz C-class retails for $20,000; a 1995 E320 with all the extras has an asking price of $7,000. And stories abound of late-model Land Rovers selling for similar bargains. Of course, the setting is a far cry from the Cerritos Auto Square.


Down the street from police checkpoints, stores hawk shiny, high-end cars, some scarred with bullet holes. Shoppers are distracted by American helicopters screeching overhead. One huge retailer has hauled in empty, rusting railroad cars to house the dozens of guards who watch over its acres of autos.


That doesn't bother Sabiha Hasan Ibrahim, a 62-year-old nurse who is fed up with transferring seven times a day on Baghdad's buses for her three-hour commute.


"Thanks to God," she said as she cruised the Nahadah car market, grilling dealers to make sure their newly dis- counted cars weren't stolen, "this is the reality now."


As befits the residents of a wide and flat desert country where until recently gasoline was cheaper than water, Iraqis have long been car crazy. Their automotive obsession has reached new heights since the fall of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), who kept a quota on the number of cars permitted in the country.

more:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimes_ts/20040111/ts_latimes/4wheeldriveniraqisrenewloveofluxury&cid=2026&ncid=1480

[La_Serpiente]

1. Oh yes

consumerism will save Iraq :eyes:

[grilled onions]

2. Camel Lots Move Over

The big boys are guzzling their way to town!

[rman]

3. use up all the oil asap.

hasten peakoil, since it will cause global economic catastrophy, from which follow many other catastrophies.

[M155Y_A1CH]

4. Iraq won't be to blame

When the world runs out of oil,
it won't be due to cars in Iraq.