Monday, January 01, 2007
FRANCE EXPORTS FLAMES
You can take the cars out of France, but can’t take France out of the cars:
Hundreds of Iranian-made cars have suddenly caught fire on Iran’s roads over the past months, with police pointing to the Peugeot 405 as the main culprit.
Since the beginning of the Iranian year in March, there have been 125 incidents of cars catching fire without warning and then killing or injuring the occupants, traffic police chief Mohammad Rooyanian said Monday.
"Around 300 people have been killed or wounded and 40 percent of the fatalities were attributed to the Peugeot 405,” he told the hardline Kayhan newspaper …
The Peugeot 405 and other well-known models from the French carmaker have been manufactured under licence since 1990 by Iran Khodro, Iran’s largest car manufacturer.
The 405 and other French vehicles at least require some kind of encouragement before achieving flamehood in their native land; Iranian-built examples are self-igniters. And these guys want a nuclear plant?