Goddesses, Cars and Geography

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Goddesses, Cars and Geography



July 8, 2016

This is the Aphrodite Leader, a cargo ship, docked at the Port of Baltimore, in Maryland.

Aphrodite, if you remember your mythology, is the Greek goddess of love. The Aphrodite Leader is flagged in Panama. Those cars are the new Fiat 124 Spider. The Aphrodite Leader carried 725 of the cars. Fiat, which was founded in Italy in 1899, is, of course, part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., which has its corporate offices in London. The 124 Spider was designed in Italy. The 124 Spider was built in Japan, in Hiroshima, by Mazda. Mazda, incidentally, is also the name of a goddess of ancient Iran.

Let’s see: Maryland, Greece, Panama, England, Italy, Japan, Iran.

Just imagine how complex the supply chain must be!

Incidentally, the August issue of Automotive Design & Production will carry a cover story on the design and development of the Fiat 124. And while there is no geography involved in the story, know that Leia Horton, program manager for the Fiat 124 Spider, who is based at FCA US in Auburn Hills, Michigan, said that for suspension tuning they literally went around the world, finding various surfaces and conditions to dial in what they were looking for.

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