The Nissan Juke is the answer to a question nobody asked. Part-hatchback, part-crossover and all-controversial, Nissan has gone ahead and asked itself another question: “What do you get when you cross a Nissan Juke with a Nissan GT-R?”
So after 8 months and over 20,000 km, the Mondeo has departed. In an unanticipated move, I spontaneously decided to sell the Mondeo as the idea of owning a four-wheel drive, which sprouted up from nowhere in a corner of my brain, and had incurably spread all over my mind like cancer in short notice.
It was a busy week in the UAE automotive sector, with the launch of a new Peugeot showroom in Abu Dhabi, a Juke Missions campaign by Nissan, the announcement of fake parts raid by Toyota, the start of a new Maserati one-make race season, and a booster-seat giveaway by BMW.
Volkswagen has always been known to make some of the best campervans, none of which are offered here in the Middle East, thanks partly to the vast desert terrains and climate, and partly towards the tendency of the customers to opt for SUVs when it comes to choosing a large family hauler. Towards the West, however, there is a good demand for such mini mobile-homes purpose-built for campers; and the Volkswagen California Multivan is one of them.
While most other manufacturers participating in the 2011 Frankfurt International Motor Show, were busy trying to steal the show with their new models sporting glitzy designs and displaying promising concepts, Japanese auto giant Honda seemed to focus on the greener side of things by exhibiting various plug-in hybrid and electric-vehicle concepts, including the yet-to-be-named Jazz-based Honda EV concept.
Honda chose to debut the near-production 2012 Honda CR-V concept at the 2011 Orange County International Auto Show in the United States.
You might be wondering why there have been no updates on our 2000 BMW M Roadster, the ultra-rare sports car of which only a handful exist in the UAE. The truth is we haven’t been driving it much, because it is a race-car for the streets. Race-cars aren’t particularly good on crowded streets.
There was a recent announcement from the UAE Ministry of Interior regarding installing children’s car seats, which supposedly makes it mandatory that children should use baby-seats in a car. While the details of that are still a bit vague, it will likely become an offence to carry kids on your lap for use as human airbags. Babies “R” Us, a division of, Toys “R” Us, sent us some guidelines for parents to help them find the right car seat for their child.
The Middle East Motor Tuning Show (MEMTS) representing the Middle East automotive aftermarket sector, is set to be showcased in an impressive way at one of the world’s leading events, the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show (SEMA Show) at the Las Vegas Convention Centre. SEMA show is a premier automotive specialty products event that brings together the industry’s brightest minds and hottest products under one roof, while MEMTS, who recently became a SEMA member, is the region’s premier auto-aftermarket specialty products event held annually at the Expo Centre, Sharjah.
Not so long ago, we reported about BMW about to offer their xDrive all-wheel-drive system in the 6-series range. The manufacturer has now updated their U.S. website to include the specification of the new variant as a 2012 model.