Dubai

We spotted the only Dodge Challenger SRT Limousine in the UAE lurking around the upscale Karama area of Dubai last week. Apparently it is only 1 out of 5 in the whole world, and the only one in the Middle East.

Read More …

We usually don’t care when a car dealer holds an event to open a new service centre. In fact, we’ve never bothered attending any before. So when Al Futtaim Motors invited us to a Toyota service-centre inauguration, in the evening no less, we had half a mind not to go. But we did go. And damn can they throw a party.

Read More …

Fisker as a carmaker has a bit of a checkered past. The American company was co-founded by a former Danish car designer who penned certain BMW and Aston Martin sports cars a decade ago, and then started peddling rebodied BMW coupes under the Fisker banner back in 2005. In 2008, they came up with a concept electric car so ridiculous that no one thought it’d get any further than the auto-show floor. After missing various deadlines, taking government loans and beating a Tesla lawsuit, the Fisker Karma beat all odds by finally hitting production in the summer of 2011.

Read More …

The 2013 Kia Quoris made its UAE debut this week, becoming the flagship of the Kia range, with a huge leap from the Optima and Cadenza in terms of pricing.

Read More …

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the popular Ruler of Dubai who is also the Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, has apparently become the first customer of the 2013 Range Rover in the world, after local dealer Al Tayer Motors delivered a white one and a black one to him recently.

Read More …

Volkswagen recently held a mega event for media, dealer staff and fleet customers last week at the Yas Marina circuit to celebrate their best ever sales period in the Middle East, witnessing 22% growth for 2012 over last year. The event consisted of an overnight stay at the Yas Viceroy hotel with various activities the next morning, such as track time with the VW Scirocco, drag time with the VW Passat CC, and skid-pad time with the VW Golf GTI. Now, the problem with attending a mega event means that there is a lot of standing around doing nothing,

Read More …

As I’m flying over Dubai and Sharjah towards Ras Al Khaimah in a Bell 412 crammed in with 13 other people, I am thinking that helicopter travel isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. The flight is noisy, tight and industrial, completely at odds with the “luxury” experience we were supposed to be having. But damn is it quick. We reached our destination in only 20 minutes, landing at the Banyan Tree resort at the northern tip of the Emirates, having enjoyed a great view and not feeling fatigued at all for the 2013 Lexus LS launch event.

Read More …

When the Toyota 86 was launch earlier this year, Al Futtaim Motors had also announced their sponsorship of the Emirates Drifting Team, a UAE-based outfit that takes part in regional drifting events. While their main driver, Ahmed Al Amri, was using a Toyota Soarer earlier, he is now switching to this Toyota 86 now, although there isn’t much left of the original car any more.

Read More …

The 2012 Infiniti FX50 Sebastian Vettel Edition was launched in the GCC this week, at an event in Dubai, coinciding with the Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix. Additionally, there was an event held for potential customers to take a ride with Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel around the Al Forsan karting track in Abu Dhabi.

Read More …

Toyota’s UAE dealer says that a government-owned Toyota Land Cruiser Pick-up has clocked nearly 1 million kilometres.

Read More …