BAGHDAD — Here's a bailout idea for the American auto industry: Send all those unwanted SUVs to Iraq.Dandy!...but I don't think the US Automaker's biggest contender in that arena will be happy...or undersold. Competition doesn't come from Japan, Korea, or any other organized car manufacturer. It comes from the "mob." It comes from sophisticated criminal enterprises that steal vehicles from Canada near port cities and ship them overseas to West Africa. Eventually, they end up all over the globe, but one of the major destinations of these jacked vehicles is, indeed, the Middle East.
Just as General Motors is halting production of the Hummer, and other sport-utility vehicles fall out of favor with cost-conscious and eco-friendly Americans, the gas-guzzling behemoths are experiencing a rebirth among young and wealthy Iraqis.
If you live in Winnipeg and own a Jeep Grand Cherokee, you have a 1 in 8 chance of having it stolen.
Organized crime groups are believed to be more active in thefts there, thanks in part to readily accessible ports. Recovery rates are consequently lower. "Many of the luxury vehicles stolen each year by organized crime groups are destined for export," CISC said in a report. "The vehicles are largely destined for eastern Europe, Russia, the Middle East, South America, the Caribbean, Africa and Southeast Asia." In other words, pretty much everywhere.I'm guessing that Mohammad's Auto Bazaar has better prices.
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