New Nepalese Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has spurned the opportunity to travel in a luxurious car and instead chosen an unglamorous vehicle assembled in Nepal. He has chosen a four-wheel-drive Mustang as his official vehicle.
Not to be confused with its namesake in the US, the Mustang is made from parts imported from India and China. Fewer than 1,000 have been sold in Nepal.
His decision to choose a Nepalese-made vehicle has won praise from the media.
Ideally suited to traversing Nepal's mountainous and pot-holed roads, the competitively priced Mustang has none of the luxurious trappings of previous prime ministerial vehicles.
Its unostentatious reputation, however, makes it perhaps the ideal choice for a Maoist prime minister who has said that one of his top priorities is the eradication of poverty.
Even so, the authorities were a little surprised when the newly elected prime minister turned his back on a lavish sports utility vehicle (SUV) and instead asked to be provided with a Mustang.
Equally surprised were the makers of the vehicle - Golchha Motors.
For 14 years they had been quietly assembling cars - including the Mustang and the Sherpa - in Nepal, selling around 1,000 of those vehicles.
Dr Bhattarai's request received saturation coverage in the media - with many praising him for promoting a Nepali product.
It had to rush in a Mustang overnight on Sunday to Kathmandu from the eastern city of Biratnagar - where the cars are assembled - so that Dr Bhattarai could get it in time for his inauguration.
The company claims that their vehicles cost less than a fifth of the price of a foreign SUV. It says that it can provide 200 vehicles a year if demand increases.
Analysts say that billions of rupees spent every year on importing foreign vehicles could be saved - and hundreds of jobs created - if more of the vehicles bought were made in Nepal.
... ... ... nepalawaz
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