“Mexican Automaker Has Last Laugh After Racial, Cultural Slap - FOX News” plus 1 more |
| Mexican Automaker Has Last Laugh After Racial, Cultural Slap - FOX News Posted: MEXICO CITY – The maxim that every cloud has a silver lining was never truer than for Mexico's Mastretta car company, which gained global attention after being ridiculed on a British television show, AFP reported Friday. Now Mastretta hopes to parlay its new-found fame into greater car sales, even though the popular BBC program "Top Gear" dismissed the cars produced by the Mexican car maker as "lazy," "feckless" and "flatulent" -- qualities it said paralleled the national character. The company's marquis vehicle -- the sleek sports car Mastretta MXT -- was also derided as little more than a giant "tortilla" on wheels. The resulting imbroglio became a full-scale diplomatic incident, with Mexico angrily demanding a retraction from the broadcaster. The show is one of the BBC's most popular, with a global audience of some 350 million viewers -- to the initial chagrin of the company's general manager Carlos Mastretta. But the controversy has had the unexpected upside of bringing the formerly obscure auto maker to international prominence. Suddenly internet traffic on the company's website shot up, and there was even an increase in visits to the factory. Better still, orders for the MXT are beginning to pour in. "I have various agreements with distributors in Europe and we're in initial talks with countries in Latin America like Brazil and Chile," said Mastretta. He added his company also was beginning to receive inquiries from the United States. For more than two decades, Mastretta has been a leading designer of public transportation vehicles and Mexicans are familiar with the firm. "I've known of the Mastretta company for years, but I didn't know about this car," said Jose Melgarejo, 32, a longtime fan of all things automotive. "I first heard about it through the controversy over the 'Top Gear' program, and so I came to have a look at the car," he said. The BBC said hundreds of Mexicans had contacted its Spanish-language website BBC Mundo to complain about the remarks on "Top Gear," which Mexico's ambassador to London decried as "outrageous, vulgar and inexcusable insults." The broadcaster issued an apology, but at the same time defended the jokes about the country as being part of British humor. Mastretta is convinced that once production gets underway, the car will be a hot seller -- including in the country whose mocking remarks caused so much dismay. "In a month-and-a-half it will be in Great Britain," said Mastretta. Fox Car Report is on Twitter. Follow us @foxcarreport This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Cultural affairs director stays out of 'Mural' debate - Quad-Cities Times Posted: The new director of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs said Friday she and her department are not taking a stance on pending legislation to sell the famous Jackson Pollock "Mural," currently on display at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport. Questions about the painting, which is part of the University of Iowa Art Museum collection, took up a majority of the question-and-answer time with Mary Cownie during a visit to the Family Museum in Bettendorf. Cownie, in her fifth week on the job, also toured the Figge and the Putnam Museum in Davenport as part of her first trip out of Des Moines to view the attractions. "It is between the legislature and the University of Iowa," she told a crowd of about two dozen people. An Iowa House panel voted Wednesday to move ahead with the legislation that calls on the university to sell "Mural" in order to fund student scholarships. The painting has been valued at $140 million. Making it clear that she was speaking only as a private citizen, Carmen Darland, Quad-City Arts executive director and interim Figge executive director, said the idea of selling the work of art was "ludicrous." "The larger vision and reason it is critical the entire state should take notice of this destructive concept is that we desperately need to build our economy," she said after the presentation. "The arts, culture and heritage of our state create a quality of life we can proudly represent to potential employers, developers, work force, etc., etc. "A state dismantling its assets will erode confidence in our ability to cultivate prosperity," she said. Talking to reporters after her speech at the Family Museum, Cownie maintained her neutrality. "We're well aware of the issue and have obviously heard many comments about it, and we're speaking to the legislature as well," she said. "We are keeping an eye on the bill, but at this point we are not taking a position on it." Cownie, 30, began her job Jan. 14, after being appointed by Gov. Terry Branstad. Her resumé includes working in the Office of Presidential Advance during George W. Bush's presidency. "There is so much potential for this department and for Iowa and what we can do," she told the audience. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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