Continental has become the first tyre manufacturer to develop a full range of tyres specifically promoted as being for the Middle East market. Officially launched in the GCC last week at a media event in the Dubai Autodrome, Continental’s new Generation 6 range of tyres are said to be designed “to cope with the unique road conditions found across the region.”
Since our Chrysler 300 SRT needed window tint, we hit up ACDelco to supply us with the “40%” version of their new ACDelco Shield film a couple of months ago. It comes with a 5-year warranty and installed at Liberty service centres. We also figured this would be a good chance to test how well tint actually does in keeping a car interior cool. So we grabbed an infra-red thermometer and sweated it out in the summer sun.
Century-old American tyre-maker Cooper Tire is currently keen to take a bigger share of the Middle East pie when it comes to tyres, especially in the last two years. With rivals such as Continental Tires setting up a regional office in Dubai a couple of years ago, following both Michelin and Bridgestone, it seems our region is finally being taken seriously. We recently had a chat with Luis Ceneviz, who is the Cooper Tire managing director for EMEA and Latin American markets, alongside regional sales director Christophe Huss, regional marketing director Michiel Kramer and the European Technical Center’s general manager Gavin Richards.
It’s hard to believe we’ve had the Honda S2000 for five years now. It’s harder to believe how little we’ve driven it due to lack of time. However, despite what some people believe, a sitting car also requires maintenance. And the tyres on the S2000 have expired by now, as per the RTA.
Starting March 2018, the “eCall” automatic emergency call system will be mandatory in Europe. This means that every new car will be a “connected car” by default. By 2020, it is expected that there will be 250 million connected cars on the world’s roads. And apparently they will soon offer features that will monitor your car’s condition or warn you of wrong-way drivers.
Two new rental car services have been launched in the UAE that offer a by-the-minute payment option if you don’t need a rental car for the whole day.
Project Titan was an ambitious car project that was proposed by the American tech-giant firm Apple a few years ago. The Titan was rumoured to debut by 2020 as the “ultimate mobile device”. And now, it’s back in the news to quash all the hype. Apple is now slowly backing away from the project, as signalled by a massive lay-off involving hundreds of employees.
The UAE’s most popular classifieds website recently announced a partnership with a service called CarReport which will apparently tell users whether any car in the UAE has had an accident or not, using just the VIN number. We were ecstatic, thinking we finally got our own version of America’s amazing CarFax service. Update: We have added statements from Dubizzle and CarReport at the end of the article.
Dunlop hosted a set of events in Dubai to launch its brand new tyre; the SP SPORT MAXX 050+. Held at the Dubai Autodrome, the event allowed attendees to discover the features of the tyre through a series of test drives involving dry handling, wet braking and more.
Let’s be honest, tyres aren’t sexy. They might be arguably the most vital component in your vehicle -– seeing as they provide the sole contact point between it and terra firma -– yet they’re probably not something you devote a whole lot of thought to.