Remember the Ssangyong Actyon? Distinguished by a roofline that tapered sharply at the rear, it was arguably the first SUV-coupe in the world. The only problem? It wasn’t particularly good, which meant it never sold in significant numbers, so the Korean carmaker quietly laid it to rest in 2010 after a five-year production run.
This version of the Ford Edge caused quite a ruckus, even if it’s technically been around for a few years already. Previously known as the Ford Edge Sport, the hopped-up version of the popular family hauler was rebadged the Edge ST when the facelift model debuted earlier this year. Critics argued it’s not sporty enough to be given the ST title. We drove one in Dubai for a few days and have already reviewed it. But when we went for a little family vacation to Canada for almost two weeks, Ford provided us with an Edge ST for our entire stay there.
Launched in the UAE, we took the all-new 2020 Toyota Supra for a spin around Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, and found it to be a car in need of a niche.
In all the faff over Tesla this and Tesla that, most people idolising it tend to forget that a fully electric car is absolutely useless for the majority of people who live in apartments, which is why we’ve never shown any enthusiasm for EVs. But what if you could get the benefits of an electric car without the hassle of plugging one up to a faraway public charging station for an hour? That’s where the Nissan Note e-Power comes in, and it has become the top-selling car in apartment-heavy Japan.
Tesla has played a lone hand in the premium performance EV segment for the past several years, but the genre is now starting to gain critical mass, with virtually every mainstream prestige manufacturer pouring massive investments into developing and marketing battery-powered offerings.
The global launch of the 2020 Nissan Patrol was probably the biggest car launch the Middle East has ever seen. While the model is sold in only a handful of countries, it is clearly one of the best-selling premium cars ever in the UAE. The new model is more of an extensive update than a full redesign, but there’s no one better to review the changes, considering we actually own the outgoing model.
We flew from Dubai all the way to South Korea to drive the GCC-spec 2020 Hyundai Palisade midsize SUV and see if it has what it takes to compete in this hotly-contested segment.
We love grand tourers. They have the perfect balance of excitement and practicality. We owned a big brash third-generation Toyota Supra (the one before the Farce & Furious hero car) about a decade ago, and it had immense road presence as well as the ability to carry four people in a pinch. From that we moved on to a Jaguar XK, and even considered an old Bentley Continental GT at some point. But the 2020 Toyota Supra is not a grand tourer. It’s a full-blown sports car.
For most of its 102-year history, Lincoln has churned out solely sedans and coupes, but over the past decade the marque has become a purveyor of predominantly SUVs – a shift that’s in line with changing buyer tastes. Forget the gargantuan Continental land yachts of yesteryear, the lion’s share of Lincoln’s sales volume today comes from high-riding wagons, and these now represent two-thirds of the brand’s model line-up.
Audi was one of the first Euro players to enter the luxury seven-seat SUV space when the first-generation Q7 launched back in 2005, and Ingolstadt’s big all-terrainer has since carved out a solid niche for itself. That said, a decade ago the Q7 didn’t have too many direct competitors, but it now must stave off the likes of BMW’s brand-new X7, reinvigorated Mercedes-Benz GLS, Cadillac Escalade, Lincoln Navigator, Infiniti QX80 and Lexus LX570, all of which are arguably one size bigger.