When we were at the GCC launch of the 2013 Honda Accord in Dubai, the Japanese carmaker used the opportunity to launch two other products at the same event. One was an autonomous robot lawn-mower named Miimo that looked like a sleek vacuum cleaner. The other was the facelifted 2013 Honda Civic.
The 2013 Honda Accord just had its GCC launch at an event in Dubai. The UAE played host to the debut of both the sedan and coupe models, and it was interesting to see that the Middle East version actually got its own unique mechanical specifications, based on consumer sensibilities here.
There’s a lot of talk about a second recession hitting at some point in the near future, on the back of an economic downturn in Europe. But that hasn’t affected car sales in the Middle East, and the GCC in particular, as almost all brands have reported a further increase in sales for 2012. For a look at the cross-section of the market, here’s the results from Ford, BMW, Volvo, Porsche, Hyundai and Toyota.
The Road & Transport Authority in Dubai has announced that CARS garage will now offer annual vehicle testing and registration renewal services.
British sports-car maker Aston Martin started off their centenary celebrations in Dubai itself, with an event at the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai.
Rolls-Royce has just confirmed the launch of its next model, essentially a coupe version of the Ghost, dubbed the Rolls-Royce Wraith.
Toyota is very proud of the fact that the RAV4 started the “crossover” segment back in 1994, before these jacked-up cars were even known as “crossovers”. It took us the better part of a decade to accept these as legitimate options for consumers, considering their too-tall-to-handle and too-low-to-offroad market positioning, but several of these crossovers have actually moved on to become quite competent in their on-road dynamics, with useful all-weather capability to boot. The RAV4 has always been one of the better options in the market, but the older model had a few shortcomings which the new 2013 model addresses rather well.
The redesigned 2013 Toyota RAV4 has been launched in the UAE, at an event in Dubai. The fully-redone compact crossover is still based on the old platform, but everything from the exterior styling to the drivetrain is completely new.
The 2013 Detroit Auto Show, the largest in North America, is once again the scene for several new launches, although the total number is distinctly lower than several years ago. Among the new launches are the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the 2013 Porsche Cayman, the 2014 Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the 2014 Lexus IS F-Sport, the 2014 Infiniti Q50 and the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette. Notable concepts include the Hyundai Genesis HCD-14, the BMW 4-Series Coupe, the Volkswagen CrossBlue, the Lincoln MKC, the Ford Atlas, the Nissan Resonance and the Toyota Corolla Furia, all foreshadowing future models that will debut in a year or two.
The all-new 2014 Toyota Corolla is still several months away, but the Japanese carmaker is keen to show off the future styling direction for their bread-and-butter compact sedan, with the unveiling of the Furia concept at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show.