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ausetkmt · 9 months

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On the morning of June 12, 2022, Ángela Astudillo, then a law student in her mid-20s, grabbed her water bottle and hopped into her red Nissan Juke. The co-founder of Dress Desert, or Desierto Vestido, a textile recycling advocacy nonprofit, and the daughter of tree farmers, Astudillo lives in a gated apartment complex in Alto Hospicio, a dusty city at the edge of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, with her husband, daughter, bunny, and three aquatic turtles.

Exiting the compound, Astudillo pinched the wheel, pulled over next to a car on the side of the road, and greeted Bárbara Pino, a fashion professor, and three of her students, who were waiting inside.

They headed toward a mountain of sand known as El Paso de la Mula. Less than a mile from her home, squinting into the distance, Astudillo saw a thread of smoke rising from its direction. With her in the lead, the two vehicles caravanned toward the dune, the site of the second-largest clothes pile in the world.

As they got closer to El Paso de La Mula, the thin trail of smoke had expanded into a huge black cloud. Astudillo stopped the car and texted the academics behind her.

It looks like it’s on fire. Hopefully, it’s not there. :( :( :(

She then dialed them directly and asked, “Do you still want to go?”

Pino, director of Santiago’s Fashion System Observatory at Universidad Diego Portales, had planned this trip for months. Astudillo had volunteered to be their guide. The mound of discarded fabric in the middle of the Atacama weighed an estimated 11,000 to 59,000 tons, equivalent to one or two times the Brooklyn Bridge.

By the time the team reached the gates of El Paso de la Mula, more than half of the clothes pile was on fire. Smoke obscured everything, hanging like an opaque black curtain. Municipal authorities turned the group away, forbidding them to stay on the premises. But Astudillo knew the landscape, so she directed the team to the dune’s far side, where access was still unimpeded.

There, the students surveyed the inferno. It was “like a war,” Pino said. She felt waves of heat. Black smoke unspooled from the burning clothes. The air was dense and hard to breathe. Smoke coated the back of their throats and clogged their nostrils with the acrid smell of melting plastic. They covered their faces, trying not to breathe it in. Then the group heard a series of loud pops as mini explosions burst from within the vast expanse of burning garments.

Despite the danger, Pino and her students rummaged, pulling out specimens to examine from among unburned portions of the pile. On prior visits to the clothes dump, Astudillo had uncovered clothing produced by the world’s most well-known brands: Nautica, Adidas, Wrangler, Old Navy, H&M, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Forever 21, Zara, Banana Republic. Store tags still dangled from many of her findings. The clothes had come to the Atacama from Europe, the United States, Korea, and Japan. Now, as Astudillo began taking pictures and uploading them to Instagram, Pino wandered the mound, horrified and fascinated by the grotesque volume and variety of apparel: ski jackets, ball gowns, bathing suits. She plucked out a rhinestone-encrusted platform stiletto in perfect condition. She crouched to search for its match, but the wind was getting stronger. If it shifted, the team realized, they’d be trapped in the spreading fire.

For 14 years, no rain has fallen in Alto Hospicio or the surrounding Atacama Desert region. Those dry conditions, coupled with the nonbiodegradable, predominantly synthetic, petroleum-derived fibers that modern clothes are made with, meant that the pile never shrank. Instead, for more than two decades, it grew — metastasized — with every discarded, imported item that was added.

In 2021, six months prior to the fire, a photographer from Agence France Presse, Martín Bernetti, captured a bird’s-eye image of this sprawling mound of apparel, essentially an oil slick, strewn across the edge of the Atacama desert.

The aerial image was picked up by news outlets across the globe, from the front page of the New York Postto the BBC, and continues to circulate today. But the mountain of clothes depicted by that 2021 drone photo is utterly gone. As Astudillo, Pino, and the three students witnessed, and unwittingly tasted: The blaze tore through the pile, throwing black plumes of toxic ash into the air.

The town of Alto Hospicio sits on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean, a bedroom community for the seaside vacation city of Iquique below. Imagine if Atlantic City in New Jersey were simultaneously hemmed in and backed by a high Nevada plateau, and if the two locales were connected by a two-lane switchback highway.

Each day in Iquique’s port, giant cranes pluck containers full of discarded clothing from the decks of ships and deposit them onto flatbed trucks. No one really knows exactly how much clothing passes through the port every year; estimates range from 60,000 to 44 million tons. Next, they head to the nearby Free Trade Zone, known locally as “Zofri,” where trailers back into the warehouses of 52 used-clothes importers and forklift operators transfer sealed bales of clothing, or fardos, inside.

Chile is the biggest importer of secondhand clothing in South America, and between 2020 and 2021 it was the fastest-growing importer of used clothing in the world. The port of Iquique is an established tax-free zone, incentivizing this booming industry of castaway textiles.

From Zofri, bales of clothing are sold, uninspected, to merchants betting that at least some of the items inside are sales-worthy. “When you buy, you are buying with your eyes closed,” one former merchant said. Sometimes 80 percent of the garments in a bale are usable. Sometimes the opposite is true. Because bales are so cheap, however, most merchants need only sell 40 percent to turn a profit.

According to the global environmental advocacy group Ekō (formerly known as SumofUS), an estimated 85 percent of the used clothing imported into Iquique remains unsold. Chilean federal law states it’s illegal to dispose of textiles.

Considered Iquique’s backyard, Alto Hospicio is one of the poorest cities in Chile, widely known as a place to abandon pets and dump trash. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the small desert town is where more than a dozen teenage girls mysteriously vanished, until their apprehended killer led authorities to bodies buried in desert graves.

In 2001, Manuela Medina*, a former gardener, saw an opportunity in Iquique’s growing textile abundance. Relocating to Alto Hospicio, she established an unauthorized compound on government lands at the base of El Paso de la Mula, the huge sand dune at the far side of an unregulated shantytown. Every few days, she hired a fletero — a driver with a jalopy — to travel the switchback roads, out of the brown dunes of Alto Hospicio, to arrive in the colorful oceanside city of Iquique, which sits a thousand miles north of the country’s capital, Santiago.

Near the dock where cranes unload massive container ships, inside Iquique’s free trade zone, Medina ventured into the contiguous warehouses, asking secondhand clothing importers, “Do you have any garbage?”

Back at her compound, Medina unloaded her wares in piles on the ground where she had the luxury of storing them indefinitely — the Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on Earth, meaning items don’t undergo normal degradation from elements like rain. Here, Medina sold her piles to merchants and others for $10 each.

As more and more bales of ropa americana, or secondhand clothes, arrived in Iquique, the clothes flooded importers’ warehouses and overflowed vendors’ stalls in open air markets, including La Quebradilla — one of the largest open air markets in South America, located just a few miles from Medina’s unauthorized compound.

Soon,importers and secondhand merchants began to deliver surplus used clothes directly to Medina. Fed by daily truck deliveries, and then by multiple daily tractor trailer load deliveries, Medina’s pile grew.

By 2020, Medina’s gargantuan desert dump had become an open secret in Chile, stretching across dozens of acres. Others followed her model, creating mini-dumps across the desert and along roadsides, but Medina’s pile remained the largest.

On March 29, 2022, Paulin Silva, an environmental lawyer, stood before the Primer Tribunal Ambiental de Antofagasta, a regional tribunal in northern Chile that specializes in resolving environmental issues within its jurisdiction. She was presenting a lawsuit, brought on behalf of herself as a resident of Iquique, against the municipality and the federal Chilean government for their inaction over the sprawling, unregulated clothes dumps. For her submission of evidence, she asked the tribunal to join her in touring the mound of clothing.

For weeks, her informal team of supporters (a geographer, her sister, and her brother-in-law) had been documenting the problem, joking among themselves, “In which dump are we going to party tonight?”

Since obtaining her law degree, Silva has prosecuted a handful of environmental cases, but this one was personal, and she felt empowered to tackle it: “I have the education; I am a lawyer; I can do something,” she said. She’d grown up in northern Chile, a pencil thin country bordered by the Pacific Ocean. Her father is from Alto Hospicio and her mother is from Iquique. At 35, she’s several years older than Astudillo, the co-founder of the nonprofit Dress Desert, whom Silva asked to be a witness for the case. When Silva was a child, she observed people dumping clothes everywhere — the streets, yards, and city squares. Because this was the only place she knew for so much of her life, she thought, “It’s normal for people to live with … garbage accumulated around them.”

This local “clothes-blindness” was documented by Astudillo’s colleague, Bastián Barria, an engineering student and her co-founder of Dress Desert. In November 2020, he and others conducted a survey to ascertain local attitudes regarding the clothing waste. Of the almost 400 people in Alto Hospicio he surveyed, representing less than 1 percent of the town’s population, more than half did not think there was any issue.

When Silva was 18, she moved a thousand miles south, to Valparaiso in central Chile, to study law and that was where she remained until the pandemic, when she returned home. That’s when she realized the dump situation had worsened. Exponentially.

During the decades between Silva’s girlhood and today, clothing production worldwide doubled, while utilization — the number of times an item of clothing is worn before it is thrown away — declined by 36 percent. Countries like Chile, Haiti, and Uganda became depositories for fast fashion discards. In 2021 alone, Chile imported more than 700,000 tons of new and used clothing — the weight equivalent of 70 Eiffel Towers.

“Even if we stopped clothing production throughout the world tonight,” said Francisca Gajardo, an Iquique-born fashion designer, “we still have more garments than we need or that the Earth can safely hold. It won’t go away nicely, and we’re not stopping today.”

Nine days after the giant fires, around 4 p.m., Silva was having a light meal, the Chilean equivalent of afternoon tea known as once (pronounced “on-say”), with her family in northern Chile. A few days prior, the Primer Tribunal Ambiental de Antofagasta had informed her it was ready to view her case evidence by touring the clothes pile in person. Silva took out her phone to share the good news on Instagram with Desierto Vestido, but before she could, she saw the images of the burning clothes Desierto Vestido had just uploaded and shared.

Silva sprang from her chair to process what was happening to the evidence in her case just a few miles away. She suspected why the court had been willing to view the landfill: “Because obviously the matter was burned,” she told Grist.

While no official cause of the fires has ever been reported, local residents claim it began late on Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday. Days later, toxic air still clung to the area. Astudillo, who visited the site regularly, described the pile as “volcanic” — with clothes smoldering under the sand, venting smoke full of textile chemicals from synthetic materials. She warned, “You can’t be outside for long.”

In the days following the fire, on June 22, instead of leading the tour of the prosecutorial evidence, Silva filed a statement to the Primer Tribunal Ambiental de Antofagasta: “With sadness and shame I inform you that 11,000 tons of clothes in the textile dump were burned.”

Although Paulin provided the court with Dress Desert’s smartphone video recordings of the clothes in flames, the defense argued that the Instagram account where they’d posted the videos could not be verified and confirmed. Lacking a certifiable timestamp, the films were inadmissible.

One year later, in August 2023, the Primer Tribunal Ambiental de Antofagasta called a trial hearing so that all parties involved in the case — the Consejo de Defensa del Estado, the body that judicially represents the state in Chile, the municipality of Alto Hospicio, and Silva — could present evidence.

During the hearing, the Mayor at Alto Hospicio, Patricio Ferreira, said that one of his priorities is to “transform this problem into an opportunity to generate employment.” He alluded to discussions he had with European businessmen to explore initiatives related to recycling.

Silva got people to testify in her favor, activists and academics who have given statements to different media outlets about the environmental problem generated by the textile landfill in the Chilean desert. But on the day of the hearing, none of them arrived.

“At the end of the day, in practice, I am alone in this action,” she said.

Chile’s government recently voted to adopt recycling measures that make certain producers accountable for their waste. Known as the extended producer responsibility law, or REP using its Spanish acronym, the legislation passed in 2016 and took effect in January 2023. Currently, Chilean companies that make tires and packaging (such as bags, plastics, paper or cardboard, cans and glass) must comply.

Eventually, according to the Ministry of the Environment, Chile intends to incorporate clothing and textiles as a priority product into the REP law.

However, in the case of clothes, many describe the REP as a “paper solution” that lacks tangible enforcement, said Pino, from the Universidad Diego Portales.

In parallel, the Ministry of the Environment is developing a circular economy strategy for textile waste. Unlike the REP, the agency crafts public policy for the public and private sectors to prevent overproduction.

The ministry has been holding workshops and conversations to collect input from stakeholders, including academics, business executives, retailers and nonprofit leaders. It is also tabulating the results of a preliminary survey on consumer clothes-buying habits. The details of this circular economy strategy is expected to be published in March this year.

At the minister’s invitation, Pino has shared her fashion expertise — both in the markets and in the desert — with the group. “These two things are wonderful initiatives,” she said about both efforts, but she lamented that they fail to address the issue of used clothes.

A decade ago, when the REP was first being discussed, Denisse Morán, president of the Tarapacá Recyclers and the head of ServiREC, a recycling cooperative that operates within Iquique’s free trade zone, sought out her local representative to request that the law apply to both clothing producers and clothing importers.

“Oh, because you are from Iquique?” she recalled him asking her.

“Not only because I am from Iquique,” she replied, “but because we all wear clothes.”

For years, many residents in Alto Hospicio saw the piles of textiles as more of an opportunity than an eyesore or environmental threat, something that supported the local economy.

When Jazmín Yañez arrived in town from southern Chile in 2018 almost penniless and on the brink of homelessness, for example, someone gave her a few cast-off garments and household garbage — from towels, kitchen implements to furniture — to sell. Ever since, Yañez, now 28, has waged a zealous campaign to salvage, fix, and reutilize all “waste” materials. She operates an informal store from the kitchen of her house called Stop Recicla: “Your trash is my treasure,” where she sells, exchanges, and gifts items such as rugs, used clothing, school supplies, costumes, and electronics to impoverished mothers, like she once was.

It’s this trash/treasure duality that kept Astudillo and other locals from viewing the region’s booming used clothing trade as a problem. But six months before the fires, in January 2022, Nathalia Tavolieri, a Brazilian journalist, invited Astudillo to El Paso de La Mula, where she encountered Manuela Medina’s mountain for the first time.

Astudillo had seen numerous clothing dumps strewn and mounded throughout the desert, but nothing as big as this immense tangle of blouses and pants. “It was terrible,” she said, weeping as she recalled her first visit. “Maybe if I had been older, maybe I could have done more things [to stop this from happening].”

The experience galvanized her. She had already co-founded her nonprofit Dress Desert, or Desierto Vestido, two years before, to raise awareness and creatively respond to the country’s burgeoning waste clothing issue. As part of the project’s efforts, she and 20 other members host workshops and conversations. They upcycle castaway materials into new garments and craft household items. Seeing the vastness of Medina’s clothing pile, Astudillo stepped up her resolve, because “many people don’t see — or don’t want to see.”

“It was very, very hard,” she said, “to know that we live in a place that is so polluted and damaged by everyone’s waste.” Several months later, Astudillo brought Gajardo, the clothes designer and a fellow Iquiquean, to the dump, and gained an ally in her efforts. Despite growing up and shopping at the region’s numerous outdoor secondhand clothes markets, Gajardo was appalled by the scope of the waste. She developed rashes from rummaging among the fabrics.

“The fact that we have a desert, the fact that there’s a place to receive this, doesn’t mean that the place has to become the dump of the world,” she said. Since then, Gajardo’s conviction to never design clothes from virgin materials has deepened. Additionally, through her brand You Are the New Generation, she offers workshops in reusing garments, and visited Kansas City, Missouri, last year through the U.S. State Department’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative to teach people to make new clothes by harvesting old ones.

Other entrepreneurs have attempted to turn the clothes problem into revenue, but have faced a series of setbacks.

Franklin Zepeda is a celebrated Chilean entrepreneur who toured Europe’s textile recycling plants before returning to the region in 2013 to establish Ecofibre, now known as Procitex. (Its name is an acronym meaning Proceso Circular en Textil in Spanish).

With seed funding from CORFO, the Chilean economic development agency, and later from private capital, Zepeda was able to route textiles imported into Iquique to his plant, where they were disassembled, shredded, doused with flame retardant, and transformed into insulation panels. Zepeda got praise for this work in several major international news outlets, but he shuttered his plant in Alto Hospicio in 2021 because of unfavorable economics, including the taxes on shipping the insulation panels to other regions of the country.

Dario Blanco, manager of the ZOFRI User Association AG (AUZ), a trade association that brings together businessmen from the Iquique free zone, believes that the solution to the region’s problem of discarded clothing is out there — it will just take the right company and policies. And there are plenty of entrepreneurs, fashion designers, and environmentalists working on the issue of textile waste, both in Chile and internationally.

As Bloomberg reported in May,New York, California, Sweden, and the Netherlands are developing legislation similar to Chile’s extended producer responsibility law that went into effect this year, mandating that the fashion industry fund recycling programs via tariffs calibrated to the quantity of garments produced.

In order to help New York City uphold its existing law limiting or forbidding textiles in the waste stream, FabScrap, a nonprofit founded in 2016 by a former New York Department of Sanitation worker, receives 7,000 pounds of pre-consumer textile waste each week. Sorted by volunteers, the nonsynthetic scrap items are sent to a New Jersey facility that shreds the material, producing “shoddy,” a stuffing used to fill punching bags, sofas, and soft toys.

A Czech company called RETEX has been attempting to bring its fabric-macerating technology to Alto Hospicio. Blanco says that in exchange for securing a contract with Chile, the company promised to hire local workers. But, Blanco admitted, negotiations like these have fallen through in the past. For example, he said, a Spain-based company, Egreen, planned to open a fabric-waste processing plant, but the deal was scrapped late last year.

Read Next: How clothing forms the fabric of society, both past and future

The governor’s sustainability adviser at the Regional Government of Tarapaca, Pablo Zambra, recently formed a 25-member committee that includes stakeholders such as Astudillo and Barria from Dress Desert and Morán, the president of the Tarapacá Recyclers, to publicize economic incentives for circular economy initiatives. Collectively, they hope RETEX will succeed in doing what Zepeda’s company failed to do: turn a profit. As of this writing, no importers are involved.

Meanwhile, every day, container ships continue to offload more cargo.

In the fall of 2022, Alto Hospicio’s mayor, Ferreira, acknowledged the unsolved problem but blamed clothing manufacturers, citing a “lack of global awareness of ethical responsibility.”

“Our land has been sacrificed,” he said.

Pino agrees that the fashion industry and its consumers are culpable. “We have to worry about the complete cycle: before, during, and after our clothes,” she wrote in an editorial published in 2021.

She believes a more comprehensive solution is necessary, including regulating the entry of textile materials to Chile, educating consumers about prolonging garments’ lives, promoting Chile’s homegrown fashion industry, and supporting research to design new uses for fabric waste.

Ecocitex, founded in 2020 by engineer Rosario Hevia in Santiago, has sprung up as another Chilean company addressing a surfeit of garments.

Ecocitex operates in a manner contrary to the country’s organized and informal secondhand clothes markets. It invites people to recyclehigh-quality clothing or pay$1.50 per kilogram to leave poor quality clothing and walk away empty-handed.

During the pandemic, Andrea Espinoza Pérez, a civil industrial engineer at the University of Santiago, initiated a study on the ecological impacts of projects like Ecocitex. She wanted to know: Did factory-processed, used clothing produce fewer emissions than the original clothing manufacturing process? With data provided by Ecocitex’s founder Hevia, scientists determined that the clothes deconstruction processis effective because it keeps waste clothes out of landfills, and it replaces the demand for virgin materials. However, the study found that Ecocitex’s procedure is highly energy-intensive — using about 73 percent of the energy required to produce the same product from raw materials.

Meanwhile, neither Zepeda’s Procitex nor Hevia’s Ecocitex in Chile, nor Fabscrap’s efforts in New York and Philadelphia, have matched the direct profitability of Medina’s now-defunct business. (Medina has started a new business storing tires.) In fact, all have relied heavily on a variety of underwriting measures, including subsidies, nonprofit funding, subscriptions, or volunteer labor to generate their products.

In recent years, Zepeda has earned his living as an employee of Chile’s largest retailer, CENCOSUD. He collects surplus clothes donated by customers, and produces insulation panels for buildings that are sold by the same retailer.

As for Ecocitex, in June, the business caught fire and the building was destroyed. The cause is still under investigation. Undeterred, Hevia has launched a campaign to rebuild. Meanwhile, she is raising funds by selling blankets made from recycled fibers to a mining company.

By last January, the height of the Chilean summer, the gigantic, unsightly clothes dump at El Paso de la Mula, the one Agence France Presse had shown the world, was nowhere to be found.

All that remained was a smattering of ashes and the tread marks of bulldozers. Here and there, across Medina’s unofficial backyard, small piles of garments peeked out of the sand dunes. But according to municipal officials, dumping and burning continues. Rey, an indigent man who lives by the side of a desert road in a blue and yellow tent emblazoned with “National Geographic,” attests that he and others accept money from nonprofit refuse-disposal contractors or freelance truckers in exchange for setting fires to whatever waste is discharged from a truck. This way, the trucker can keep more of his hauling profits, which would otherwise be whittled down by the official dump fees.

Astudillo says that beyond the limits of Manuela’s dune, there are as many as 200 micro-garbage dumps, and consequently, miles and miles of ashes in the desert — not just scattered over the ground, but also in the air. She told Grist in late December that this is an everyday thing. “You go out to buy bread and you smell the burning smell. You smell the materials that make up the clothes: oil and plastic. After 5 in the afternoon, I no longer let my 7-year-old daughter leave the apartment, and I close the windows to prevent smoke from coming in.” She also confirmed the abandoning of clothes continues: “They throw it away, they burn it immediately.”

On December 12, the Primer Tribunal Ambiental de Antofagasta issued its final ruling in the case with Silva, commissioning a unit of experts to carry out an on-site report on the accumulation of textile waste in different areas of Alto Hospicio, and to propose a solution to the accumulation of waste.

The municipality of Alto Hospicio, which claims it does not have the workforce to adequately address the problem, has also installed nearly 100 cameras along the main roads as a means of tracking polluters, and has begun doling out fines as high as $350 for illegal dumping. So far, trucks have been apprehended transporting domestic and industrial garbage, as well as bulky items such as mattresses, washing machines, and furniture.

Drone footage recorded by Cheng Hwa, one of Pino’s students, the day of the June 2022 fires captures the municipality fighting what was in essence an oil fire. Hwa, who grew up in Iquique and now works in tech for the hospitality industry, had long been aware of the desert dumps but didn’t comprehend the magnitude until he witnessed them at close range.

He’s haunted by what his drone footage made visible. “How the desert of sand starts to turn into a desert of clothes,” he said. “It has no limit; there is no closure … Clothes begin to appear on the ground until the horizon is completely covered.”

In Iquique, he often glances up toward the high plateau of Alto Hospicio. “You can’t see the dump, but [you can see] the column of smoke on days that [clothes] burn. That cloud of smoke lets you know … It makes [the issue] visible on a day-to-day basis.”

Thirty miles south of Iquique, toward the city’s main airport, on her family’s farm, Astudillo and her parents drop pieces of used clothing on the ground, but in a purposeful way. Over the past 20 years, Astudillo’s father has experimented with growing trees in the infertile, saline soils. Many of his efforts failed until he began using certain fabrics to mulch his trees. This improves the quality of the soil, enabling it to retain moisture. For the past year, Astudillo has been working with one of the Zofri importers, who asked to remain anonymous. She consults with his staff about the clothing bales and recommends ways of sorting the material into specific categories based on fiber content, some of which she collects personally. Those items — a pair of cotton shorts, a T-shirt, a blouse — become mulch for a pine and eucalyptus forest rising in the desert.

Recently, as Astudillo was leaving the farm, she stashed a few perennials in her truck and drove them to Manuela’s compound in Paso de La Mula. Just beyond Medina’s courtyard, where sky- blackening fires had once burned, Astudillo troweled a small hole for the plants. As she dug, she dislodged several odd socks and a faded blue sweatshirt — discarded clothes that had survived the fires, but were buried by bulldozers.

Astudillo filled the hole, amending the desert sand with compost and garden soil. “For me it’s like a Band-Aid for a wound that is so big in that place,” she said. Then she tucked in cardinal flowers — a native plant whose petals resemble shooting flames.

Editor’s note: During visits to her compound in Alto Hospicio, Manuela, the owner of the secondhand clothing dump, told Grist reporters her name was Manuela Medina. However, other outlets have used the surname Olivos. Her legal name is Manuela de Los Angeles Medina Olivos.

#A Mountain of Used Clothes Appeared in Chile’s Desert Then It Went Up in Flames #fabric #eco waste #El Paso de La Mula #clothing dump #recycled clothing #recycling #Chile

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techno2025 · 3 days

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Toyota Hiace Commuter Decontent killer

Nissan Urvan NV350 Commuter Van

#mine #my masterpiece #template #nissan #nissan caravan #nissan urvan #nissan urvan nv350 #made in japan #vehicles #van #van life

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diliwriter · 9 months

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Top Van Models Available in Sri Lanka

If you're considering purchasing a van for sale in Sri Lanka, you'll be pleased to know that there are several excellent van models available to meet a variety of needs. Vans are versatile vehicles that are ideal for both personal and commercial use. In this guide, we'll explore some of the top van models you can find for sale in Sri Lanka.

1. Toyota Hiace: The Toyota Hiace is a popular choice in Sri Lanka, known for its durability and spacious interior. It's a versatile van suitable for various applications, including transporting passengers or goods.

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6. Suzuki Every: The Suzuki Every is a compact van that's both practical and efficient. It's a preferred choice for urban commuting and light cargo transport.

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For a wide selection of van models in Sri Lanka, consider Indra Traders, a reputable name in the automotive industry. They offer various van options to suit your specific needs, whether you require a van for personal use or for your business.

The availability of top van models in Sri Lanka ensures that you can find the perfect van to meet your requirements. Vans are versatile vehicles that cater to a variety of purposes, and with the right model, you can navigate the beautiful island of Sri Lanka with ease. So, use this guide to explore the top van models and embark on your journey to find the ideal van for sale in Sri Lanka.

Indra Traders

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max--phillips · 2 years

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Y’all wanna know something that is sort of baffling to me about cars? How few manufacturers there actually are.

Take a moment to think about all the dealerships in your town, and how many brands there are. Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac, Jeep, Dodge, BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Fiat, Audi, Mazda, Kia, Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Lexus, Chrysler, Mini, maybe if you’re feeling fancy Porsche, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, Land Rover, Maserati. The list does indeed go on.

What if I told you that in that list, there are only 12 parent companies?

Reasonably speaking there are about 47 brands (or makes) of car currently being sold new in the US, with a handful of other brands that are discontinued and no longer being manufactured, and a few small electric vehicle brands that are standalone. For all of those, there are 17 parent companies.

Those parent companies are:

Hyundai Motor Company

Nissan (technically the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance)

Jaguar Land Rover

Honda Motor Company

Stellantis

Volkswagen Group

General Motors

BMW AG

Toyota Group

Ford Motor Company

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group

Mercedes-Benz AG

Karma Automotive

Tesla, Inc.

Aston Martin

McLaren Group

Ferrari

With one special shout-out to Amazon getting a stake in Rivian alongside Ford.

Ready to know just how interconnected this shit is? I’m going to put this breakdown under the cut because it’s going to get long and annoying. But interesting in my humble opinion. I’m going to put each make of vehicle listed with their parent company, and list the current models as well. Plus some commentary because I can’t help myself. Here we go

Hyundai Motor Company

Hyundai

Current models are the Venue, Kona, Tucson, Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, Palisade, Ioniq 5, Nexo, Accent, Elantra, Sonata, Ioniq 6, and Veloster.

Kia

Current models are the Soul, Seltos, Sportage, Sorento, Carnival MPV, Telluride, Niro, EV6, Rio, Forte, K5, and Stinger

Genesis

This entire make actually started as the Hyundai Genesis, a single model of vehicle, but is now its own thing. Because it’s a luxury brand, the names are kind of annoying, as you’ll see further down the list. Those current models are the G80, G70, G90, GV60, GV70, and GV80.

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Nissan

Current models are the Kicks (formerly Juke), Rogue, Rogue Sport, Murano, Pathfinder, Armada, ARIYA, Versa, Sentra, Altima, LEAF, Maxima, Nissan Z, GT-R, Frontier, and Titan.

Mitsubishi

Current models are the Outlander, Eclipse, and Mirage.

Infiniti

Current models (and this is a luxury brand, so lots of numbers and leters) are the Q50, Q60, QX50, QX55, QX60, and QX80.

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Jaguar Land Rover

Honestly you’re never gonna guess this one

Jaguar

One of the luxury brands with fewer annoying names in my opinion. Current models are the F-Pace, E-Pace, I-Pace, F-Type, and XF.

Land Rover

Another luxury brand with slightly less annoying names. Current models are the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Velar, Range Rover Evoque, Discovery, Discovery Sport, and Defender.

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Honda Motor Company

Honda

Current models are the HR-V, CR-V, Pilot, Passport, Civic, Accord, Odyssey, Ridgeline, with the Prologue coming sometime in 2024.

Acura

Current models are the Integra, TLX, NSX Type S, RDX, MDX, NSX GT3 Evo22 which is a racing car, and the ZDX coming sometime in 2024.

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Stellantis

Alfa Romeo

Total of three whole models currently in production (kinda.) Currently available are the Stelvio and Giulia, both with Quadrifoglio packages, with the Tonale coming in the spring. Shoutout to the 4C and 4C spider because those are coupes and they’re nice although no longer actively being made

Chrysler

Current models are the Chrysler 300, Pacifica, with the 300C coming sometime next year. Shoutout to the Town & Country though.

Dodge

Current models are the Charger, Challenger, and Durango, but another special shoutout to the Grand Caravan.

Fiat

Don’t buy these. They, much like Jeeps, break all the time to the point there’s a joke that “Fiat” stands for “Fix it again, Tony.” Anyway, the only current model is the Fiat 500x, but you can still find the 124 Spider, 500, 500 Abarth, 500c, 500c Abarth, 500e, and 500L around.

Jeep

Also don’t buy these. They spend more time in the shop than on the road. Current models are the (Grand) Wagoneer (which is ugly as hell imo), Grand Cherokee, Wrangler, Compass, Gladiator, and Renegade.

Maserati

Common knowledge is these are also garbage cars, and you’re paying for the name. Current models are the Grecale, Levante, Ghibli, Quattroporte, and MC20.

Ram

Current models are the 1500, 2500, 3500, Chassis Cab, and ProMaster. These are all trucks, and while they used to be part of the Dodge lineup (which is why you’ll still see Dodge Rams around or hear people refer to them as such), they have become their own brand aimed mostly at professionals in construction and transportation.

Defunct: Plymouth, although it was only owned by Chrysler at the time it suspended operations. The history of who owns what in this particular line up of brands is really complicated.

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Volkswagen Group

Audi

One of the more annoying naming conventions, in line with other luxury brands of the same price range. Current models are the e-tron, e-tron Sportback, e-tron S, e-tron S Sportback, e-tron GT, RS e-tron GT, Q3, Q4 e-tron, Q4 Sportback e-tron, Q5, Q5 Sportback, SQ5, SQ5 Sportback, Q7, SQ7, Q8, SQ8, RS Q8, A3, S3, RS 3, A4, A4 allroad quattro, S4, A5 coupe, S5 coupe, RS 5 coupe, A5 Sportback, S5 Sportback, RS 5 Sportback, A5 Cabriolet, S5 Cabriolet, A6, S6, A6 allroad quattro, RS 6 Avant, A7, S7, RS 7, A8, S8, TT coupe, TTS coupe, TT Roadster, R8 coupe, and R8 Spyder.

Bentley

As with higher luxury brands, there aren’t a ton of models. Currently in production are the Bentayga, the Continental GT, and the Flying Spur.

Lamborghini

In line with the above, we only have three models. The Aventador, Huracan, and Urus. (Hot tip: the Urus, their only SUV, is on the same exact platform as the Audi Q7, Audi Q8, Bentley Bentayga, Porsche Cayenne, and Volkswagen Touareg. So, rather than spend $225,500 on a Urus, go and get yourself a Cayenne or Panamera witht he same engine in it for half the price, or if you’re after the interior and space, a Q7 or Q8 $60k, or a Touareg for something like $20k.)

Porsche

Porsche my beloved. I will never say a single bad thing about this brand. Other than the fact that sometimes their naming conventions, particularly for their coupes, cane get a little confusing. Nonetheless, current models include the 718, 911, Taycan (which is all electric, which surprised me, tbh), Panamara, Macan, and Cayenne. However, you start seeing the confusing naming conventions once you get into all the options. See, my mom drives a Boxter. But, do I have any idea if it’s a 718 or a 911? No. So, a further breakdown of the models:

718 models: Cayman, Boxter, Cayman Style Edition, Boxter Style Edition, Cayman T, Boxter T, Cayman S, Boxter S, Cayman GTS 4.0, Boxter GTS 4.0, Cayman GT4, Spyder, Cayman GT4 RS.

911 models: Carrera, Carrera T, Carrera Cabriolet, Carrera 4, Carrera 4 Cabriolet, Carrera S, Carrera S Cabriolet, Carrera 4S, Carrera 4S Cabriolet, Targa 4, Targa 4S, Carrera GTS, Carrera GTS Cabriolet, Carrera 4 GTS, Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet, Targe 4 GTS, 911 Edition 50 Years Porsche Design, Turbo, Turbo Cabriolet, Turbo S, Turbo S Cabriolet, GT3, GT3 with Touring Package, GT3 RS, Sport Classic

Taycan models: Taycan, 4 Cross Turismo, 4S, 4S Cross Turismo, GTS, GTS Sport Turismo, Turbo, Turbo Cross, Turbo S, Turbo S Cross

Panamera models: Panamera, Platinum Edition, 4, 4 Edition, 4 Executive, 4 Sport Turismo, 4S, 4S Executive, 4S Sport Turismo, 4 E-Hybrid, 4 E-Hybrid Platinum Edition, 4 E-Hybrid Executive, 4 E-Hybrid Sport Turismo, 4S E-Hybrid, 4S E-Hybrid Executive, 4S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo, GTS, GTS Sport Turismo, Turbo S, Turbo S Executive, Turbo S Sport Turismo, Turbo S E-Hybrid, Turbo S E-Hybrid Executive, Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo

Macan models: Macan, T, S, GTS

Cayenne models: Cayenne, Platinum Edition, Coupe, Coupe Platinum Edition, E-Hybrid, E-Hybrid Platinum Edition, E-Hybrid Coupe, E-Hybrid Coupe Platinum Edition, S, S Platinum Edition, S Coupe, S Coupe Platinum Edition, GTS, GTS Coupe, Turbo, Turbo Coupe, Turbo S E-Hybrid, Turbo S E-Hybrid Coupe, Turbo GT

Could these be condensed to trim packages? Probably. But they are all listed as individual models.

Volkswagen

Current models are the ID.4, Atlas, Tiguan, Taos, Jetta, Arteon, and Golf, with the ID. Buzz coming 2024 (return of the VW bus!). Special shoutout to the Beetle of course.

Bugatti

Ugh. So, this is stupid and complicated, but ultimately they only have two models, the Chiron and the W16 Mistral. The Veyron doesn’t count if memory serves. At the end of the day these are cars that cost between $2 and $20 MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS so don’t even worry about it.

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General Motors

Buick

Current models are the Encore, Envision, and Enclave.

Cadillac

Current models are the XT4, XT5, XT6, Escalade, CT4, and CT5.

Chevrolet

Current models are the Trax, Trailblazer, Equinox, Blazer, Traverse, Tahoe, Suburban, Colorado, Silverado, Bolt, Spark, Malibu, Camaro, Corvette Stingray, and Corvette Z06. Shoutout to the Cruze, tho, I drive one of those

GMC

Current models are the Canyon, Sierra, Terrain, Acadia, Yukon, and the Hummer EV.

Defunct: Hummer (brought back as a model under GMC), Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn

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BMW AG

BMW

Also some annoying names. X1, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7, iX, 2 Series, 3 Series, 4 Series, 5 Series, 7 Series, 8 Series, M3, M5, M8, i4, i7, M4, and Z4. Shoutout to the i3 though you stupid piece of shit golf cart

Mini

Current models are the Electic Hardtop, Hardtop 2 Door, Hardtop 4 Door, Countryman, Clubman, and Convertible.

Rolls-Royce

Because fancy, not a ton of models. Current models are the Spectre, Phantom, Phantom Extended, Cullinan, Ghost, Ghost Extended, and Black Badge.

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Toyota Group

Lexus

Current models are the UX Hybrid, NX, RX, GX, LX, IS, ES, LS, RC, LC, with the RZ 450e coming sometime in the future.

Subaru

I’m like, triple into this brand despite not owning one. I’m a lesbian, I grew up in Lafayette where their factory is one of the biggest employers, and my grandpa actually retired from that factory. Anyway, current models are the Crosstrek, Forester, Outback, Ascent, Solterra, Impreza, Legacy, BRZ, and WRX. Shoutout to the short-lived Baja which they should bring back.

Toyota

Current models are the Crown, Prius, Corolla, Camry, Mirai, GR86, GR Supra, Sienna, Tacoma, Tundra, Sequoia, Highlander, Venza, C-HR, RAV4, Corolla Cross, 4Runner, and bZ4X.

Mazda

Current models are the MX-5 Miata, CX-30, CX-5, CX-50, CX-9, Mazda3, and if you’re in California, the MX-30 EV. Shoutout to the Mazda6, specifically model years 2009-2012, for the gas line spider problem.

Defunct: Scion, Suzuki

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Ford Motor Company

Lincoln

Current models are the Navigator, Aviator, Nautilus, and Corsair, though they have the Star and L100 concept cars listed as well.

Ford

Current models are the Ecosport, Escape, Bronco, Explorer, Edge, Mustang Mach-E, Expedition, Maverick, Ranger, F-150, Mustang, and a handful of commercial vehicles. Shoutout to the Ford Focus and Fiesta.

Rivian*

This is a brand spanking new brand that only technically is owned by Ford. They’re all-electric trucks. The R1T is a standard pickup, and the R1S is totally enclosed; think more like a Chevy Suburban.

Defunct: Mercury

*Shared ownership with Amazon

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Zhejiang Geely Holding Group

Lotus

This is a luxury/performance brand. The only models are the Eletre, Emira, and Evija.

Volvo

Current models are the C40 Recharge, XC40, XC60, XC90, S60, S90, V60, and V90.

Polestar

I did not know this brand existed until like, June of this year. They’re an electric lineup, and their models are the Polestar 1, Polestar 2, and Polestar 3. They only made 1500 Polestar 1s.

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Mercedes-Benz AG

Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG, and Maybach

I don’t see the point in differentiating between these three. Current models are the GLA, GLB, GLC, EQB, GLE, GLS, EQS, G-Class, A-Class, C-Class, E-Class, S-Class, CLA, CLS, Mercedes-AMG GT, SL Roadster, and AMG One.

Defunct: smart

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Notable standalone makes, meaning they are their own company and don’t have a billion subsidiaries (looking at you, Stellantis)

Aston Martin - luxury brand

McLaren - sports car and racing brand

Ferrari (after briefly being part of Fiat/FCA before it was part of Stellantis) - sports car and racing brand

Karma - weird hybrid sports car that’s like, wildly heavy for what it is?? Cars weigh a lot but that’s a LOT for a sports car.

Tesla - you know.

#tori says things #max says things #i have opinions about cars

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dreamqueenkala · 1 year

Text

ACT 1

The Caterpillar

"Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair."

SALEM’S GROVE

Previous Chapter

Episode 1: Welcome to Salem

Salem, Massachusetts

Saturday, June 4, 2022

5:27 PM

The mid-day sun cast a warm glow over the browning leaves of the forest surrounding Salem. Birds flew freely over the hills and valleys, dipping beneath the branches to perch or feed before rising again to follow a different flock. The sweet sound of cicadas chirping filled the air, accentuated by the soft whisper of the early-summer wind. A bronze 1972 Impala drove along the cobbled streets of Salem, closely followed by a faded navy blue Ford F250, a sleek silver Benz and a powder pink Nissan Micra.

The first car carried three occupants, the front passenger of which was ogling his cellphone map and trying to instruct the driver where to turn, whilst the backseat passenger was screaming the lyrics to the radio louder than the other two could talk.

The other three cars carried two occupants each, all relatively calmer than the first vehicle, though idle chatter flitted amongst only two, the silver Benz dead silent except for temporary judgmental glares directed between the two inside.

Inside the impala, the driver's blue eyes flickered between the road and the brunette to his right, his left hand gripping the wheel tightly while his right tapped at his knee anxiously. The brunette tapping away at his phone mumbled incoherently and reached up to tug lightly at his soft hair, which had grown a bit longer in the past year. He gasped as his seat jolted forward, tilting his head to the side as the bulky ravenette behind him leaned forward, his arms draped over the headrests of both seats, his taller frame leaning over the other two brunettes with a jovial grin on his face.

"So, Dyl, where's this farm or whatever you said you're cousin has? It's been, like, two hours longer than it should've been." Jacob Custos, the tall broad shouldered male inquired, his deep brown eyes gazing over the male in the passenger seat.

Dylan Lenivy, the thinner, but equally as tall, brunette cleared his throat, his cheeks a little flushed a pale rose hue as he tapped at his screen again. "Um, well, it's just a couple of blocks down from here. Turn left, Max, should be a straight shot, then."

The driver nodded silently and flicked his blinker, turning down the left street which gradually grew emptier and emptier of buildings and people. Soon they were surrounded by trees again, mother nature dancing on either side of the broken cobble slowly transitioning to dirt and concrete.

"So, why exactly does your cousin live in the ass crack of mother natures beard?" Jacob hummed playfully, eyes flickering over the various types of trees and the distant glimpses of fauna roaming around.

"It's a family owned ranch. She's kinda the only one left to take care of it so, I guess, after her mom died she decided to take care of it all in her name...." Dylan cleared his throat and put his phone away as the road turned to dirt and gravel, the caravan slowing down slightly due to the terrain change. "...or something like that."

"There's a gate up ahead." Max Brinly, the driver, jutted his chin forward, eying the sign over the strong steel and wood posts. McCarthy Grove. "It's got a ring to it."

As the caravan rode forward, a fence line appeared on either side of the dirt trail. The left contained row upon row of various fruit trees, ranging from apples and oranges to plums and apricots. The right contained an open pasture with green fields, a small pond and various livestock including cattle, pigs, sheep, turkeys and llamas. Up ahead the pasture on the right split the fence line, another boxed area forming with a small array of horses in a corral, and one in the open paddock. A woman rested atop the saddle on its back, her boots strapped into the cuffs and her thin fingers gripping the lead as she guided it in circles around the paddock casually, gradually picking up speed.

"Damn, she's hot on that horse." Jacob grinned, a soft yelp following after as Dylan yanked on his cap and covered his face.

"That's my cousin, shithead."

Max moved his eyes away from the woman, blue gaze falling on the large house up ahead. Two girls and a guy stood out front, the two girls having a calm but somewhat dramatic discussion on the porch steps whilst the male sat on a hay bale in the shade near a small tool shed. As the cars pulled up, the girls fell silent, the short brunette smiling as she waved at them. Max rolled his window down the moment he'd noticed her lips moving.

"Hey! Hey guys! Just drive your cars around the side there to that little shaded area. We'll help you unpack!" Max nodded and extended his left arm, waving the truck behind him forward as he came to a halt. The silver Benz followed after it, shortly accompanied by the pink Micra, then Max drove forward to park behind it. The engine cut and the boys scrambled out of their seats, stretching after the long sixteen hour drive.

The short brunette made her way up to the impala alone, the other two having already split off to help the girls in their group, smiling at the trio. "Hey! I'm Bianca!" She extended her hand to the group, and Dylan was quick to notice the way her freckles were sprinkled across her hands and shoulders in the off-shoulder grey top she wore. She shook Dylan's hand first, and they both shared a shy smile as he stuttered his name. She shook Jacob's as he introduced himself with a big grin and loud voice that had her giggling quickly. As Max shook her hand, she couldn't help but notice the way his friendly grin did not meet his eyes, wrinkled almost with worry.

"I'm Max. It's nice to meet you, Bianca. You're...?" She clicked her tongue as she helped carry one of the larger bags in the trunk, the group quickly emptying the car in one go.

"I'm Dani's friend. I live here on the ranch with her. So do Wren and Eli, t-the two over there helping the girls." She gestured in their direction, earning a wave from both strangers as everyone made their way to the house.

"Dani's still riding, then? I mean, she's in the paddock, right?" Dylan quipped, his doe eyes locked on the brunette prancing just a couple steps ahead of him.

"Yeah, she's got five horses now. Harley's always been her favorite, just as wild as she is." Bianca smiled as she spoke highly of her friend, eyes on the paddock as they dropped their luggage on the porch by the door. Moving closer to the bales of hay by the paddock, the group tangled into one.

"Hey! What's up? I'm Elijah." The male that'd helped Kaitlyn(the very short Asian) and Laura(an athletic but stone cold blonde) stepped up, hand outstretched to greet the three boys, his long dark hair drawn back in a low ponytail, his free hand tucked in his muddy jeans. They introduced themselves and jumped into some idle chatter.

"Dani!" Dylan finally called, drawing the group into an almost silent moment. The woman on the horse waved her hand in their direction, turning the speckled steed on its hind legs and abruptly dashing like a bullet down the length of the fence. Jacob and Nick(the Aussie from the truck) whistled with delight, cheering with Bianca and Wren(the other stranger with lilac colored hair) as the girl known as Dani raced around the fence line. She pulled the horse to a stop and tossed her head back with a joy-soaked laugh, the horse raising onto its hind legs with a whinny. It clopped back down, kicking up the dirt as the ginger led the horse towards the corral, slipping off its back and unhooking the saddle. The gate slammed shut behind her as she trotted up to the huge group, a sparkling smile spread across her fair freckled face.

"Dylan! Heyyy!" She took three long strides forward and crushed the awkward brunette in a tight hug, the two grinning wide as they clung to each other. She stepped back after a moment and cupped his face, inspecting his eyes and his smile before reaching up to ruffle his hair. "I missed you. It's been, like, 4 years."

He scratched the back of his neck with a sheepish grin and chuckled nervously, glancing to the side. "Y-Yeah, well, school was an ass back then. A-And I'd already had plans this past summer so..." Dylan tried to hide the fear in his voice and the trauma-ridden anxiety in his eyes with a cough, but he knew it was in vain. Her green eyes flickered over his face and her grin faltered, her fingers twitching on his jawline as she stepped away.

"Right, well." A small silence ensued before she picked up her smile and fixed the country hat draped over her ginger pigtails. "Let's all head inside, yeah? It's hotter than the devils ass crack right now and I need some damn tea." A brief chain of laughter flit through the group and the tension dissipated. "Oh! And, as a local to this lovely town, I'd like to say—Welcome to Salem."

"Oh! Dani, this is my best friend Kaitlyn!" Dylan dragged the ginger away, guiding her towards the very short Asian woman, who smiled with her hands in her rear pockets.

"Hey. Dylan hasn't shut up about you for weeks." Dani flushed slightly and shook her head with a hum.

"Yeah, he's always been a bit of a talker. Never got that 'smooth' in there though." She teased. The two girls were delighted as Dylan took their teasing banter in stride, slinging his arms over their shoulders.

"Oh haha so funny. I don't need to be smooth, okay? I-I've got charm." The two girls shared a look before Kaitlyn slipped away with a snicker. "Wha—Kaitlyn come on! Hey!"

Dani stepped back as her cousin dashed after the smaller woman, turning on her heel. Things were different now. She could feel it. The hairs on the back of her neck tingled and she tilted her head to the left. Green clashed with blue, and even though the owner of those blue eyes was having a conversation with the the tall jock-type guy named Jacob, his gaze never lost any of the intensity it'd held gazing at her. She hummed and pursed her lips, her heart skipping a beat and a low hiss leaving her teeth. His body jolted abruptly and his fingers clenched around his luggage. Dani narrowed her eyes in reply, fixed her hat and traipsed the rickety wooden steps.

Max's eyes hadn't left her once.

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