Mercedes-Benz has come with an armoured patrol vehicle concept that seems to be attempting a rejuvenation of its military roots. Dubbed the G-Wagen Light Armoured Patrol Vehicle 6.X Concept, it shows the real possibilities of the G-Wagen platform, other than creating rolling roadblocks on city streets.
Bugatti has launched a new version of their fugly Veyron, dubbed the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, and to celebrate, they went about breaking the official production car speed record. But there is a catch.
Niche American electric carmaker Tesla is on a roll, having made a deal with Mercedes-Benz, taking over a former Toyota factory and launching a successful IPO. They’ve now launched a new version of their only current model, the US$100,000 Roadster, at an event in Britain. The latest version if dubbed the Tesla Roadster 2.5, and comes with trim upgrades to lift it above its status as a rebodied Lotus Elise.
BMW has discovered a lucrative market by exploiting owners of regular BMW models who want their cars to look like an ‘M’ model, but without the expense or the performance. The 2011 5-Series is the latest model to receive an ‘M Sport’ package, namely a body kit with lots of ‘M’ badges on everything except the engine.
There were rumours that Mercedes-Benz will drop the CL-Class in favour of renaming it as the S-Class coupe once the new generation rolls around. However, it looks like the 2011 version is simply a facelift, so the CL-Class badge seems to be sticking around for now. Good luck spotting the exterior changes though, as it seems to be nothing more than a mildly reshaped front end and a couple of add-on LED lamps.
Law enforcers have been busy in the UAE for the past couple of weeks. The hottest news of the week are discounts for traffic fines in Abu Dhabi. Ajman has its own set of problems, with impersonators robbing people. And then there is the annual dilemma of where to leave your car during the holidays.
Since Land Rover trotted out the refreshed 2010 Range Rover at a GCC media event in the UAE itself late last year that we were banned from, we haven’t even laid eyes on the said new model so far, but the Indian-owned company has already announced the release of the 2011 Range Rover, with a whole set of improvements.
In continuing recall woes for Toyota, the Japanese firm has announced that it will recall about 270,000 Toyota Crown and Lexus LS, GS and IS models worldwide, but only those fitted with the 4.6-litre V8 and the 3.5-litre V6 engines. Apparently some of these motors were built using faulty valve springs that may cause the car to stall while driving. Around 180,000 of these cars will be recalled outside Japan.
The rightfully-popular Nissan Tiida, which first debuted here as a Japanese-built 2006 model and facelifted in 2009, is now already available as a 2011 model, with a slightly simpler new look, a standard 1.8-litre engine and a lower price. If you’re suspicious, you have a right to be, because it now looks exactly like the Mexican-built American-spec Nissan Versa. And we seem to recall some Nissan bosses here mentioning last year that they’ll import more cars from the United States to reduce costs.
There seems to be a sudden excess of aftermarket tuning parts for the current BMW M3, some of them from BMW’s own performance division itself. At least three other tuners have also taken it on themselves to make the M3 “better” in one way or the other.