Luxgen, Taiwan’s own automotive brand, has finally arrived in the UAE. Better known for building Toyota Corollas in Taiwan on a contract basis, we last encountered Luxgen here in 2010 when we had a chat with the CEO about their Middle East plans. The brand already set up dealerships in Oman and Saudi Arabia in the past few years.
Al Futtaim Motors, the UAE dealer for Toyota, has created their own special-edition model at the lower end of the Toyota Camry range, dubbed the S Plus edition.
The results of the 2013 Middle East Motor Awards were announced last evening at a ceremony on the Al Majaz Waterfront in Sharjah, hosted by Muhammed Ali Sajjad of the Expo Centre Sharjah. I was one of the 18 judges, although the cars were score and the points were tallied long ago, so were there just to hear who were the winners in each category, as well as Car Of The Year.
Sharjah recently lifted a ban, which was implemented five years ago, that did not allow certain low-paid professions to apply for a driving licence.
A 2013 Nissan Patrol was used to pull a “RUS Aviation” Ilyushin IL-76 cargo plane to set a new Guinness world record right here in the UAE.
Sharjah Police is apparently getting serious on certain types of violations in an attempt to improve the driving and safety standards there. In one initiative, they plan to “steal” cars left with the ignition on as their owners disappear into shops and such, to highlight that their cars could be easily stolen by real criminals. Another initiative is their plan to air videos of motorists who jump red signals on a local television channel to increase awareness of the action’s severity.
American University of Sharjah unveiled the Eco-Stallion, an environmentally-friendly vehicle manufactured by a group of students from the engineering department. It will be the university’s maiden entry at this year’s Shell Eco-marathon Asia, an annual event where student teams from around the world compete to show off their ultra-energy efficient vehicles.
Opel has officially announced their return to the UAE this week via dealer Liberty Automobiles in Dubai, after quietly displaying their cars at the 2012 Sharjah Auto Show late last year and being on sale for several months already. In an interesting move, almost their entire range is available here, with a couple of notable exceptions.
Ford Middle East, in partnership with the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Road & Transport Authority, is conducting the Ford Driving Skills for Life programme in the UAE. It is the first time that it is being held in the GCC.
We’ve just received word that the 2013 Mazda CX-5 compact crossover is now on sale in the UAE. Replacing the slow-selling CX-7, the CX-5 has been receiving rave reviews in the foreign press for being more of a driver’s car than most crossovers.