Maserati might have given away its Grecale SUV at the Milan event at the start of this week, if all had gone according to plan. But they didn’t go to plan. Maserati instead decided to can the reveal in October, pushing the global unveiling back to early 2022 due to chip shortages, though the famous Italian brand’s name was very definitely in the news.
A armed protester showed up at Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial to expose the fact that he had shot and killed three people in unrest in Kenosha (Wisconsin) in August.
Given his name to media as “Maserati Mike”, and equipped with an AR-15-style rifle and a megaphone, the bearded weirdo really did have a Maserati, but it’s probably not one the Italian brand wants to give airtime to. When the protester started the Quattroporte 2000s sedan, it sounded like an old bag of spanners. NearlyI smoked the rear tires. Stay classy, Kenosha.
Related: Embarrassed Papua New Guinea Sells $6 Million Maserati Vehicle
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Maserati Mike is only the latest example of unintended brand exposure.
OJ Simpson’s Ford Bronco
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Until the launch of the latest retro Bronco, the only thing most people could tell you about Ford’s SUV is that it was the vehicle O.J. Simpson used in a police chase so slow we’re surprised the TV helicopter pilot didn’t fall asleep at the stick trying to keep pace.
President Kennedy’s Lincoln Continental
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Having your car chosen as the official wheels for the President of the United States makes for great PR, but Lincoln could never have imagined how the image of its Continental would become seared into the public’s consciousness as a result of the tragic events of November 22, 1963. Let’s face it, can anyone remember what a ’63 Imperial or Caddy looks like without a cheeky Google search?
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Five years later Oldsmobile had its own Kennedy-related PR disaster when photos of young Ted’s Delmont 88 being hauled out of the water at Chappaquiddick were splashed around the world following the drowning of aide Mary Jo Kopechne.
Paul Walker and The Porsche Carrera GT
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Related: Police Report Says Porsche That Killed Walker Was Going Over 100MPH
As if having to deal with the coverage of actor Paul Walker’s fiery death in a Carrera GT 58 years after James Dan met his end in a 550 Spyder wasn’t awkward enough, Porsche was then hit by a lawsuit from both Walker’s daughter and the widow of the car’s driver, Roger Rodas. Meadow Walker’s legal team claimed the V10 supercar was unsafe, but Porsche, risking looking uncaring to defend its reputation, disagreed. A judge dismissed Rodas’s claims, but Porsche was forced to settle out of court with Walker and Walker’s father.
The Oklahoma Bomber’s Ryder Rental Truck
It’s said the there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but it’s hard to put a positive spin on a domestic terrorist using one of your rental trucks to blow up a government building killing 168 people, including 19 children. Timothy McVeigh packed a Ryder rental vehicle with explosives and left it in Oklahoma’s Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. In 1995, he lit the fuse and fled the scene. We’re guessing he took out the full insurance on that one.
The Big Three Bosses’ Private Jets
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When bosses of the Big Three auto firms appeared in front of congress asking for a bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, the public wasn’t entirely unsympathetic. But when it transpired that they’d all arrived in Washington on private jets, and that GM CEO Rick Wagoner’s roundtrip cost $20,000 versus $288 for a Northwest Airlines ticket taking the same route, the resulting exposure was less than favourable.
Volvo’s Crash Sensor Meltdown
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Volvo says EVs will produce 70 per cent more emission than their ICE counterparts
In this instance Volvo really was expecting some big coverage for its S60, and that’s what it got, but for all the wrong reasons. During a demonstration of the sedan’s emergency auto braking system in front of a crowd of journalists, the S60 was driven towards the back of a truck, but failed to stop and ploughed straight into the back of it. Tesla endured a similarly squirmy PR disaster nine years later when Tesla designer Franz von Holzhausen threw steel balls at the Cybrtruck’s windows, proving that that they weren’t quite as unbreakable as Tesla thought.
Ted Bundy’s Beetle
If handsome, educated and charming Ted Bundy didn’t fit with most people’s idea of a serial killer, then his choice of car was equally unlikely. Instead of a seedy Ford Econoline van, Bundy used two VW Beetles: a tan ’68 Bug he’d bought in Tacoma, Washington, and later, after his escape from custody, a ’72 Super Beetle stolen in Florida. Now it wasn’t just the terrifying wet weather handling that had Bug passengers wondering if they were going to make it home alive. VW had escaped to the Golf before Bundy was arrested. This was the saving grace.
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