February 17, 2008
Freewheeling Across The Desert
-- By CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh in Cairo
In Egypt, apparently membership has its privileges... and owning a Jeep vehicle is entrée into the "Jeep Club". The group is run by carmaker DaimlerChysler (owner of the Jeep brand) and holds monthly four-wheeling, off-road treks across the country. The idea is that if you are going to be a desert cowboy safari driver, you might as well have a team of Jeep professionals accompany you to bail you out of the sand if the vehicle gets wheels-deep stuck in the sand. It so happens my good friend Mohammed has a Cherokee. So on a recent stop in Cairo, I joined him for a Jeep Club outing, criss-crossing the desert near the pyramids of Saqqara. Quite a family affair: tents, music and food on offer. Kiddies running around. Young drivers snapping pictures. Plenty of alpha males bragging about their 4x4 driving exploits. Now the folks at DaimlerChrysler, well, they aren’t fools: they don’t tow bar their clients out of trouble without seeing a marketing/sales opportunity. But the drivers – families in tow – seemed happy enough to listen to a Jeep sales pitch before taking DaimlerChysler’s latest 4X4 model for a spin across the dunes. 0 Comments
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