Honda is working on plans to showcase the new Civic hatchback at 2016 Geneva Motor Show after putting out the sedan and coupe body styles last year. The Japanese brand has given us a peak into the 2017 Civic in the pipeline for Europe.
Maxus, the commercial-vehicles brand from China’s SAIC MOTOR, revealed a number of models at the Dubai International Motor Show and the recent Qatar Motor Show. The Flagship G10 model made its GCC market debut in the UAE, alongside the all-electric wide-body light bus EV80 and the V80 minibus.
Kia credits themselves with being the inventor of the crossover SUV, a title that is usually usurped by Toyota. The truth is Kia’s Sportage came out a full year before the first-gen RAV4. However, it was conceived back before Kia merged with Hyundai, and therefore the Sportage was better-known for 1-star crash test ratings and recalls for wheels falling off while driving. Somehow, it still managed to have a fan following over its decade of existence. Fast-forward a couple of decades, and the recent Sportage does 5-star crash ratings and among the top sellers in its segment. Now that’s an impressive transformation.
Tata Motors has decided to change the name of their brand new sub-compact, the Zica, after the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency following the current Zika virus outbreak.
The Hyundai Elantra is a subcompact that has been around since a long time. Although not much of an attention grabber, it is apparently a sales success in the Middle East, owing to the great exterior design and price tag. However, the Koreans’ penchant to continually evolve meant that Hyundai finally went all-in to make the car a more complete package rather than just a looker. And how the all-new 2016 Hyundai Elantra has grown from its past is what we were to witness when the local dealer invited us for a day-long media event that included an extensive test-drive.
The North American International Auto Show in Detroit played host to a number of important launches this past week, and we were personally there to witness them. Oddly enough, we were expecting it to be the biggest auto show in the world, but instead found a show half as big as the one we have in Dubai. However, the stands were built up to a much grander scale and the launches were indeed world debuts, hosted by the CEOs of the carmaker themselves. Most of the major brands were there, and important launches included the Audi A4 Allroad,
Lexus revealed the new 2017 LC 500 at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show.
Infiniti revealed the all new Q60 Coupe at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show this week. The car remains almost untouched from its concept version which made waves at Geneva last year.
Suzuki launched the all-new Vitara in the UAE and few other GCC countries recently. The “Grand” has been dropped from the name, and is a completely different vehicle from the previous model. It is based on the iV-4 concept, which was first exhibited at the Frankfurt Motor Show back in 2013.
With a governmental push for “green” initiatives, the ubiquity of hybrid cars is inevitable in the UAE, even if the current lukewarm sentiments are due to lack of actual subsidies to reduce the higher prices of hybrid cars, as in Western countries. However, a few local car dealers have taken it upon themselves to offer hybrid models that make sense to cost-conscious consumers. One such model is the Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid, which costs almost the same as a regular Pathfinder at Nissan’s dealership in Dubai.