California was the place Chrysler chose to launch the Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline. It was at the Spring Festival, the haven for U.S. owners of Chrysler’s LX platform cars like the Challenger, Charger, Magnum and 300 congregate where the covers came off the special-edition Challenger.
It’s rather ironic that anyone who’s been to the Sub-continent, or even maybe Europe, has some sort of experience with Compressed-Natural-Gas cars. And yet, we being the largest automotive guide in the GCC, had never driven a CNG-powered car before. The fact that we are in the GCC might be the reason. But there is a real push by certain entities to bring in vehicles with cleaner emissions here, and Volkswagen threw their hat in the ring with the VW Passat Ecofuel, a car that is already offered in Europe, which can run on both natural gas and petrol.
The Mitsubishi Mirage is a replacement for the Colt and will be sold in numerous markets around the world. Indeed, the Colt had left the UAE market a decade ago, but continued elsewhere around the world.
So far, all sorts of magical performance figures were being thrown around for the upcoming Toyota 86 and its clone, the Subaru BRZ. Most other publications had only driven the car briefly. Now a U.S. automotive website has put the Subaru BRZ to the test, properly.
Nissan is pushing for bigger sales numbers for their electric car, the Leaf, by introducing a few changes to the car itself and increased distribution.
Mercedes-Benz has released full-fledged details and snaps of their baby SUV, the 2013 GLK-Class. It will be seen in the flesh at the 2012 New York Motor Show in less than two weeks.
The Gelaendewagen, the legendary Mercedes-Benz that has lived on for over three decades in its same attire, appears to have been given some touch-ups for 2013, as seen in this early photo.
The fourth annual all-day off-road event, Nissan Xplore UAE, organised by Arabian Automobiles in association with ENOC Lubricants, was held on 9th March 2012. Participants of all sorts, including expert off-road enthusiasts, amateur learners, families, and some even with children queued up for the rough-ride adventure.
Kia, besides its sister-concern Hyundai, has been in a phase of rapid evolution over the past few years, rolling out several new models which are far superior than their predecessors and strong contenders to the current competition. One such new vehicle from the stables of Kia, is the all-new 2012 Kia Optima. First introduced in the UAE through an official media drive-event during late 2010, the new Optima has managed to gain respectable popularity in the mid-size segment solely due to factors such as affordability, build quality, value for money and visually-appealing designs. Nevertheless, it is still underrated when it comes to comparisons against its overpriced Japanese competitors.
The 2012 edition of the Middle East Motor Tuning Show ran from the 15th to the 17th of March at the Expo Centre in Sharjah. Easily the UAE’s largest show of its kind, it seems to be gaining in popularity, with various firms showing up to display their wares, but this time around, an entire hall is dedicated to personal cars. A drifting arena outside and a simulator inside round out the on-site activities, alongside live demonstrations of truck modifications and airbrushing. With input from Salma Sultana.