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The government of this poor country bought 40 Maseratis and three Bentleys for a one-time bite |  Leader

The government of this poor country bought 40 Maseratis and three Bentleys for a one-time bite | Leader

A fleet of Maseratis vehicles, which the Papua New Guinea government bought for a one-time summit in 2018, are now on sale at a massive discount.




Papua New Guinea is one of the poorest countries in the world and is struggling with an outbreak of polio, but it found millions of dollars several years ago to buy 40 Maserati cars to take world leaders to a global summit. The cars were purchased in Sri Lanka and flown by giant plane, according to the auto site CD player.

Mike Pence, Vice President under Donald Trump, attended the 2018 APEC Summit.

Mike Pence, Vice President under Donald Trump, attended the 2018 APEC Summit. © AFP

These types of cars are usually loaned or leased by car manufacturers, but the Papua New Guinea government thought it was easier to just buy cars for a total amount of about $5.7 million (€4.9 million). That wasn’t very helpful, also because there isn’t a single Maserati dealer in the country.

sweet bread

The cars were bought to drive around world leaders at the APEC Summit, an organization of nations in Asia Pacific, but due to the controversy over the cars, some leaders refused to enter. To quell public outcry, then Papua New Guinea minister Justin Tkachenko promised Maseratis cars that would “sell like hot cakes.”

Three years later, only two were sold, although almost new cars are offered at low prices.