Cars of the Rich and Famous
Posted on: May 15, 2012
What If you were one of the world’s richest human beings, what kind of car would you own? The richest man in the world, Carlos Slim Helu (worth about $69 billion), drives himself to work in a Bentley Continental Flying Spur. MSRP: $300K.
On the other hand, if you were Ingvar Kamprad, founder of Ikea, you’d drive something more humble like a 1993 Volvo 240. We wonder if he had to put it together himself.
Then there’s Bill Gates. Another of the world’s wealthiest people, Mr. Gates showed a video at the 2008 CES keynote of him driving away from his last day at work at Microsoft in a Ford Focus. While that may or may not be his daily driver, one of his cars has been well documented.
In 1999, President Clinton signed into law the “Show and Display” rule that exempted certain collectible cars from government emission and crash worthiness rules. Bill Gates and several other very rich motor nuts were instrumental in getting the law passed. The exemption allowed Gates to break his Porsche 959 free from the customs impound lot after more than a decade.
With spots on Forbes’ richest people list, these billionaires are going places. But it turns out their favorite modes of transportation are as varied as the ways they got all that money in the bank to begin with. One housewares entrepreneur drives a car that would sell for only about $1,500, while a certain software mogul could sell his car for $4.4 million. That’s enough for four dream houses. Some of these vehicles are stars on their own, while others are only notable because of the billionaire behind the wheel.
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Carlos Slim Helu is the world’s richest man, according to Forbes. The Mexican telecom giant drives himself to work in his Bentley Continental Flying Spur. But don’t let his modest driving habit fool you: the price tag on the car is more than most houses at about $300,000.
Bill Gates’ Porsche 959 Coupe is one of only 230 in the world. It took a federal law signed by then-president Bill Clinton to allow the billionaire to drive the car because there was no crash-test rating. The price for such a car? $225,000 when new, they now go for well over $400,000.
Alice Walton, heiress of the Wal-Mart fortune, is the second-richest woman in the world. But her car of choice is a simple 2006 Ford F-150 King Ranch. The trucks retail at around $40,000. With her DUI arrest last year, it might be better that she stick to inexpensive cars.
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, member of the Saudi royal family, drives a Rolls-Royce Phantom. The entry level version of the prince’s car costs $246,000, while an upscale version a royal would surely need is a cool $447,000.
Ingvard Kamprad is the founder of Ikea and is worth an estimated $28 billion. But his ride of choice is as humble as the furniture he sells: a 1993 Volvo 240. If the car sold today, it would only be worth about $1500.
New York’s mayor and financial data mogul Michael Bloomberg drives an Audi R8. The swanky car retails at $120,000 and goes from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.2 seconds.
Billionaire Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, is famous for his many cars. Among his most prestigious is this McLaren F1. In 1998, the car was declared the fastest ever to hit the road and its invention is seen as revolutionary. Production of the cars stopped that year and now they can fetch up to $4.1 million each.
Warren Buffett is one of the world’s richest men, but his frugality is as well-known as his bank account. The investor drives a Cadillac DTS, which he purchased to support then-flailing American company General Motors. The car retails for around $45,000.
Mark Zuckerberg is often seen in a black Acura TSX. The young billionaire has among the cheapest of the rides: the car is valued at about $30,000.
Laptop mogul Michael Dell drives an edgy, 2004 Porsche Boxter. Although a new model could cost you well above $80,000, you could buy this model used for under $20,000.
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer is one of the world’s richest men but went for a fairly modest car. He’s seen here with the CEO of Ford, taking possession of the Hybrid Fusion. The car retails for about $19,000–well within the budget for a new family car.
Nike founder Phil Knight has a $120,000 Audi R8. Knight, however, went for a bolder approach and got a black model with a contrasting silver sideblade. A Nike employee snapped his car, seen here, at the company’s headquarters in Oregon.
Super-rich clothier heir Francois-Henri Pinault shares this Lexus SUV with his gorgeous wife, Salma Hayek. New models run at about $40,000 without customizations.
Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of the legendary Apple founder Steve, drives a silver Audi A5 that’s often seen parked outside the family’s home in Palo Alto. As a billionaire, she can easily afford the $37,000 starting price. 
Google tycoon Eric Schmidt has the most modest car of all: a Toyota Prius. The environmentally-friendly cars start at just $11,000. But don’t expect it to last–Schmidt has often spoken about the automated cars of the future.
We’re on Social Media!
Posted on: March 28, 2012
Rather than hanging up balloons or inflatable gorillas outside. Many car dealerships are active in social media hoping to attract shoppers.
“We are not all experts in this area and we can’t really point to car sales from our social media efforts. Instead, our goal is to reach out to as many people as possible hoping it will help us build relationships. We know that our customers are on Facebook, and that’s where our customers expect us to be. Social media is emerging as a vital marketing tool that for some of us it is replacing the weekend newspaper ad.”
“People don’t just drop in like they used to. Before they visit, they’ve already done their homework, narrowed their choice down to 2 or 3 vehicles, talked to us online about pricing. People don’t have time to spend all day at the dealership anymore so we try to answer all their questions online before they come in, and get them right out.”
Are you on Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare? Do you like our pages or follow us? What can we do to make our social media efforts more enjoyable for you?
Visit our Social Media pages for the Maita Automotive Group:
Maita Automotive Group:
Facebook: facebook.com/maitacars
Twitter: twitter.com/maitaautomotive
WordPress Blog: maitacars.wordpress.com
YouTube: MaitaAutomotive
Foursquare Check-In: Maita Automotive Group (be sure to check-in)
Maita Chevy:
Facebook: facebook.com/maita.chevrolet
Twitter: twitter.com/maitachevy
WordPress Blog: maitachevy.wordpress.com
YouTube: MaitaChevy
Foursquare Check-In: Maita Chevrolet (be sure to check-in)
Maita Mazda:
Facebook: facebook.com/MaitaMazdaofsac
Twitter: twitter.com/maitamazda
WordPress Blog: maitamazda.wordpress.com
YouTube: MaitaMazda
Foursquare Check-In: Maita Mazda (be sure to check-in)
Maita Nissan:
Facebook:facebook.com/maitanissanofsacramento
Twitter: twitter.com/maitanissan
WordPress Blog: maitanissan.wordpress.com
YouTube: MaitaNissanofSac
Foursquare Check-In: Maita Nissan (be sure to check-in)
Maita Toyota:
Facebook:facebook.com/facebook.com/yourmaitatoyota
Twitter: twitter.com/maita_toyota
WordPress Blog: maitatoyota.wordpress.com
YouTube: MaitaToyota
Foursquare Check-In: Maita Toyota (be sure to check-in)
Remember that perfectly good Maybach 57 that was ripped apart and modified into something that would look right at home on the set of Mad Max?
Well, it’s now up for auction, with all proceeds going to help the Save the Children charity organization.
The luxury sedan, which had an original value of close to $350,000, was destroyed for the sake of art in a music video clip performed by Jay-Z and Kanye West for the remake of the classic song Otis.
Auction firm Phillips de Pury & Company is handling the sale and predicts the car, even in its degraded state, will fetch more than $100k. The funds raised will help communities in parts of East Africa that have been devastated by recent droughts.
The auction will take place at a special event in New York City on March 8th.
Despite the Maybach’s demise, and the fact that the brand–in its modern iteration at least–has very few fans, seeing a perfectly good car destroyed for a music video is somewhat sad though we’re sure the move would have paid off in terms of the attention it’s likely to have garnered for the two rap stars. Let’s hope it doesn’t become a new trend among artists.
Kia’s upcoming Super Bowl ad is called “Drive the Dream,” and it’s based on the idea that our true desires are revealed in our dreams. In a rather cliche teaser video (not that we mind), supermodel Adriana Lima eyes us like a hungry lion eying a wounded gazelle, while waving a checkered flag.
No matter how many times we watched the video, it (sadly) never ran longer than 16 seconds. Under normal circumstances we’d have to wait until the Super Bowl to see the rest, but Kia’s going for maximum bang for it’s advertising buck.
Starting this weekend, Kia will launch its “Drive the Dream” ad in pre-feature advertising on some 18,000 movie screens nationwide. The full, minute-long ad still features Ms. Lima, but also includes Mötley Crüe, MMA fighter Chuck Liddell, and bull rider Judd Lefew atop a bucking rhinoceros.
We’re not sure what any of that has to do with buying or driving a Kia, but the ad concept sounds bizarre enough to stick with consumers long after the Super Bowl ends. Launching the ad the week before the Super Bowl helps create additional buzz, and gets it in front of even more eyes.
Last year’s Kia Super Bowl ad featured the 2011 Kia Optima, a phony motorcycle cop, a James-Bondian villain, Poseidon, joyriding aliens and a horde of Kia-worshipping Mayans (or Aztecs, perhaps). We didn’t think Kia could top that on the weird-o-meter, but it looks like its new ad may prove us wrong.
Playboy has been around since 1953 for a reason: It’s an arbiter of good taste in the arena of male interests. Sure, that includes naked ladies, but it also encompasses fashion, movies, music and any other consumable that tugs at the heart strings of a man’s billfold. The fashionable male of the modern era also consumes cars, and so Playboy has an opinion about which ones are worthy of their hard-earned dollars. Each year the magazine’s resident four-wheel expert, Ken Gross, and its editors pick their cars of the year, and this year’s list is out in the January/February issue hitting newsstands now.
We’ll spoil the surprise between the pages and tell you that the magazine’s overall 2012 Car of the Year is the Jaguar XKR-S. A solid pick to be sure, and an impressive win for Jag considering its company on Playboy’s short list.
The Lamborghini Aventador and Bentley Continental GTC occupy the six-figure side of the list’s price spectrum, while solid luxury sedans choices like the Audi A7 and Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG offer room for some family and friends. If a sports car is what you’re after, Playboy recommends the BMW 1 Series M and Ford Mustang Boss 302, while the budget-conscious among its readership should look at the Fiat 500 and Hyundai Veloster. While the list contains no serious off-roader, one could venture off your tree-lined driveway with the magazine’s choice of the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, and last but not least is the Lexus CT 200h for those looking for luxury, performance, practicality and fuel efficiency in one gloriously compromised package.
You can check out the full list for yourself over at Playboy.com (yes, the page – but not the whole site – is Safe For Work), as well as vote for which vehicle you think should be Heff’s Car of the Year.
What car made you love cars?
Posted on: November 4, 2011
The path into the world of automotive obsession is usually a long and strange one. Often it is an infatuation with one particular car that pushes us towards a lifelong love of most things automotive. It could be a car you spent time around growing up, the first or fourth car of your own or perhaps even a car you saw only in magazines or on TV. Whatever it might be, chances are you remember it. What car made you love cars?
The car that made me love cars is my father’s 1971 Corvette Stingrays (yes, there were 2). I remember the curvy roads on the way to the ice cream stores on the weekend, or the cool wind blowing thru my hair.
The memories alone, made me love cars so much. What made you love cars?
How much time and money does your city’s traffic cost you?
It may feel like you spend half your life in traffic jams, but that’s just a delusion. According to this very spiffy – and highly depressing – infographic from Carbuzz, even Chicagoans are spending less than two percent of their waking existence staring at someone’s muffler.
There. Don’t you feel better now?
Even though it’s only two percent of their time, these delays cost drivers over $1,700 a year, so it’s easy to see why Chicago and D.C. have already invested in public transportation, and it certainly looks as if it would be easy to justify more of everything that isn’t a car.
The end of summer doesn’t mean you need to head indoors to cook your meals. The ease of operating gas grills ensures that grilling is a great way to prepare a meal any time of year, and seasonal food can inspire grillers to try new recipes.
“Each grilling season offers new ingredients to incorporate in dishes.” Outdoor meal preparation is one way to keep busy families connected even as school and activities fill the family calendar.
Get the whole family involved
“Memories are made in the kitchen, whether it’s indoors or outdoors. Mealtime is family time. It’s something we do together year-round.”
Involving younger family members in menu planning and grocery shopping gives parents the opportunity to spend time with their children, while teaching them proper food preparation. Kids who usually avoid domestic chores may even find that chopping vegetables, mixing marinades and assembling toppings is more fun when the “kitchen” is outdoors.
Put safety first
Parents who involve children in outdoor meal preparation can become role models themselves by brushing up on the steps to safe grilling. Tips from the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) on using gas grills include the following:
* Read all the grill manufacturer’s instructions before turning on and lighting the grill. * Keep the top of the grill open until you are sure the grill is lit, even if you have an electronic ignition. * Make sure the area around the grill is free of leaves or anything else that could ignite and keep the grill at least 10 feet away from your house or any structure.
Experiment with seasonal ingredients
My favorite way to entertain family and friends is preparing homemade pizzas on the grill. “It’s a delicious way to experiment with seasonal ingredients, and grilling allows even novice cooks to achieve the crisp crust and smoky flavor of gourmet pizza at home”.To celebrate the fall harvest, I offer my signature grilled pizza recipe: acorn squash, pear and bacon with fontina cheese. Home cooks can start with ready-made pizza dough. I also invite parents to substitute the family’s favorite ingredients or local in-season varieties.
Amy’s Grilled Fall Harvest Pizza Serves four to six
Ingredients:
12 ounces pizza dough
1/2 acorn squash, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1/4 pound grated fontina cheese
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 sprig rosemary, chopped
1 ripe pear, cored and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/4 pound sliced bacon, cooked until crisp
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
While waiting for the pizza dough to rise, rub the acorn squash slices with 1 tablespoon olive oil and grill over medium heat for five minutes on each side or until the squash has softened. Season with salt and pepper and let cool. Spread dough over oiled sheet tray or pizza pan. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle with rosemary and crushed red pepper flakes. Crumble bacon over dough, then add grilled squash, fontina cheese and sliced pears. Place onto grill rack, close lid and cook for a few minutes, then reduce heat to low flame and cook for another three to five minutes until cheese has melted and crust is crisp and golden.
Improve your MPG
Posted on: June 21, 2010
- In: Tips
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According to government statistics by the EIA (US Energy Information Administration), the average price of gasoline in California is $3.02 per gallon. To put this in comparison, the average price for a gallon of gasoline in Texas in $2.61. While all of the Maita stores pride themselves on cars and trucks with great MPG, we wanted to offer some idea’s that can help to improve on the car you already have. We all want to do our part to be green, the air pollution caused by cars is a real problem both to the environment and our bodies. That being said, there is something to be said for the price of gas. It is a reality that we take into consideration when we make plans that involve driving.
Most of this is going to be a repeat of what your parents told you when you first started driving and is just good common sense. As is the case with many common sense ideas, it is worth repeating.
- Keep your car in good running order. A tune up is a little bit of money out of pocket now but will help to increase your gas millage as well as avoid costly repairs in the future. This inst just for the older cars, if it’s supposed to be serviced than get it done.
- Map it out. We all like to take a drive every once in awhile to enjoy the beautiful Sacramento sunset’s. Let’s tell the truth though, how much extra driving did you do to find your friends wedding. How many different stores did you go to looking for just the right pair of heels. With so many online map programs and GPS in most of today’s new cars it just doesn’t make sense to be lost. And guy’s, stop and ask for directions if you don’t know where something is.
- Don’t drive across town to save .03 cents on a gallon of gas. You just spent a gallon of gas (See above at $3.02 per gallon) to save .51 cents.
- Use your cruise control. It does make a difference, even the slightest increase and decrease (caused by a shifting foot) will put more stress on the engine which in turn will use more gas.
- While we are on the subject of cruise control, let’s talk about the speed racer mentality some people seem to have on hwy 50. Life is busy, we have lots to do in a day that simply doesn’t seem to have enough time in it. It is a simple fact that lower speeds consume less gas. We are not saying that you need to poke along like your “Driving Ms Daisy” but the extra minute and a half you saved to get to the party is not only waisted gasoline but is lost by the time you checked yourself in your rear view mirror.
In the end it comes down to just driving smart. It’s not a test to see who has the greatest driving skills or that you shouldn’t use your car at all. You paid for the car and the gas, were just saying it helps to drive smarter. Car guy’s pay the same amount at the pump as everyone else. We just wanted to throw out some ideas that might help all of us.
About Maita Automotive Group
Posted on: June 16, 2010
Welcome to the Maita Cars website, and thank you for considering us for your automotive needs.
We are proud to provide new and pre-owned vehicles of the following makes to the citizens of Sacramento and the surrounding area: Chevy, Scion, Subaru, Nissan and Toyota. Please also consider us for your service needs.
We make sure that all of our dealerships are staffed with trained professionals and experts to guarantee that you will only receive the highest quality of service from us. We at Maita understand how important your time is, and so we maintain high standards for each of our dealerships to make sure that your experience with us is convenient, hassle-free and always comfortable.
Feel free to browse around the websites of any of our dealerships, and check out the vast inventory of new and used cars at each location; when you’re ready, make an appointment to come in and meet one of our friendly and knowledgeable customer service representatives.
In Sacramento and its surrounding cities, you can count on Maita dealerships for all of your Chevy, Scion, Subaru, Nissan and Toyota needs; your happiness is Maita’s business.
Maita Automotive Group 