We were wondering why Honda Middle East didn’t do this sooner. Prices of Japanese cars are so high nowadays due to the retarded world of currency fluctuations that the American-built Honda Accord Coupe was priced higher than the Japanese-built Honda Accord sedan in 2011. Of course, now the sedan is also being imported from the United States, although Honda isn’t making a big deal out of it.
We’ve already known for months now that the first shipment of 2012 Honda Civic sedans were on sale in the UAE quietly. According to Honda, the Japanese carmaker “faced immense challenges in its production capabilities due to the earthquake & tsunami disasters in March 2011.” Honda was in short supply of the new models, so they did not actively advertise the fact that limited numbers were already available, which was likely sold out easily enough. But Honda has now released full details about their new model.
Honda has unveiled their latest iteration of the slow-selling Pilot. Changes are limited to a facelift and a new transmission.
The 2012 Honda CR-V is coming by the end of the year, but the Japanee firm is going to preview the new crossover with this near-production “concept” version at a future auto show, as seen in this leaked photo.
If you’d been waiting for the next-generation Toyota Innova with breathless anticipation, your struggle is now over. The 2012 Toyota Innova was just unveiled at the 2011 Bangkok Auto Show, and it is simply a facelift.
Porsche has released early “spy shots” of their next-generation 911 sports car. Dubbed the 991-generation, it looks as you’d expect a 911 to look, which is to say, indistinguishable from older versions, but Porsche is making drastic changes beyond the styling.
The all-new 2012 Ford Explorer, technically a 2011 model, is now on sale in the UAE. The dealers have been quietly taking orders for the new crossover since some time now. And we are probably among the first media people in the UAE to take an unofficial look at it in the showroom.
The Toyota Fortuner, soulmate of the Toyota Hilux pickup on which it is based, has just received a facelift for 2012. It has already been revealed in Thailand, where it is built.
Down here in the Middle East, running a business without a Toyota Hilux means you are a loser. Though only a commercial workhorse, there are not many humans on this planet who has not seen or heard of this thing. And with so many achievements, from aiding the world masses with their routine chores to serving wars to conquering terrains where no Jeeps or Patrols have dared to roam, there is little wonder in this epitome of reliability being so popular everywhere. For 2012, Toyota UK has decided to give the Hilux some facial treatments and energy boost while also subjecting it to an interior-beautification therapy.
It easily goes without saying that Toyota Yaris rules the sub-compact car segment in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC. First introduced in 2006, Yaris became such a hit among the public that it simply wiped off the competition, gaining much more success rate than its predecessors, the Tercel and the Echo. And probably that is why Toyota decided to refresh the ongoing Yaris instead of moping it off the line-up, like they did with its ancestors. Toyota UK has taken covers of their all-new 2012 Yaris – and we are probably looking at the same “global” shape that may enter our region too.