Looks like we’re possibly the first people in the UAE to review the updated 2011 Honda Accord V6 Coupe, just in time for the first days of the rainy season. The car isn’t all that different from the one that debuted two years ago, but it is still a satisfying drive and gets some much-needed tech.
The recalls were piling in hard and fast during this year. While we kept up with most of the ones which could’ve potentially affected car owners in the Middle East, we simply stopped keeping track around two months ago, because it became interminably boring writing up repetitive “recall” stories. However, we have a duty to at least highlight the ones which could matter, so here is a rundown of all the recalls in the last 60 days, most issued in the U.S. but which may also affect some GCC-spec cars. Consult your local dealer.
While the 2012 Hyundai Accent sedan debuted at different auto shows around the world, including the 2010 Abu Dhabi Motor Show, China is playing host to the debut of the 2012 Hyundai Verna 5-door, essentially a hatchback version of the new Accent.
The Hyundai Azera, a competent full-size front-wheel-drive sedan that fits in between the Genesis and the Sonata, is going in for a full redesign, and it’s going to be good.
Nissan and Mitsubishi has announced that the two companies agreed to “expand their current scope of co-operation towards new projects that will further strengthen mutual competitiveness.” Apparently this deal will lead to a new Nissan model provided by Mitsubishi.
Toyota has unveiled the latest Vitz hatchback in Japan, better known to us as the Yaris, and the all-new 2012 model at that. The new model is said to be more spacious than the outgoing one.
The facelifted 2011 Honda Accord is now on sale in the UAE. Both Accord sedan and coupe models have received styling updates as well as additional new features for the GCC.
Nissan has unveiled an all-new sedan at the Chinese Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition, and named it the Nissan Sunny. This sub-compact new model will go on sale in China by January 2011 and then across 170 countries eventually under different names.
This may be old news, but it is worth pointing out that the long-running Toyota Land Cruiser Pickup, globally known as the LC75, has been given a new V6 engine for 2010, ditching the old inline-6 that has been a long-standing favourite of ghetto tuners in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Now codenamed the LC79, this is the latest attempt to domesticate the aging original Land Cruiser Pickup, after a frontal facelift in 2008 flattened the original flared-fender design that dated back to the 1960s.
Ford has revealed a new supermini hatchback in the GCC, with the launch of the Ford Figo at the 2010 Riyadh Motor Show in Saudi Arabia.