Asian Car News

At a recent press conference, Nissan and Al Dahana have announced the establishment of a joint venture company called Nissan Gulf FZCO (NGF), to “enhance Nissan’s marketing and sales strategy in key GCC markets and introduce a fully fledged financial services platform through all Middle East and North African countries.” Nissan Gulf plans to sell 160,000 vehicles a year by 2012, in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Bahrain. These four markets will represent more than 40 percent of Nissan sales in the region by 2012.

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Just when you thought that nothing can defeat Godzilla, problems start to arise from within itself. The insanely-capable Nissan GT-R, already on sale in the United States officially, is being undone by transmission failures, according to the American Nissan GT-R Owners Club. A member of the club says his GT-R suffered from odd noises, and took it in for servicing. Nissan USA told him it needs a new automanual gearbox for US$ 20,000, and it won’t be covered under warranty.

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The 2010 Mazda 3 is due to be unveiled on November 19 at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show. However, the internet beats all else again, and first images of the new car are out in the open.

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The Mitsubishi Colt disappeared from GCC markets almost a decade ago due to poor sales. But it continued with new iterations in other markets, including Europe. The latest 2009 version is out, but it isn’t exactly the prettiest.

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It’s been in the works for years, but Toyota has finally got off their lazy asses and built it. The Lexus IS convertible just debuted at the 2008 Paris Auto Show. Called the IS 250 C, it features a folding metal top and revised overall dimensions.

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To be shown at the upcoming CEATAC show in Japan, Nissan has developed a system designed for cars that could automatically avoid collisions, using ideas garnered from the natural abilities of bees.

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Toyota’s Dubai-based dealers have already started slapping on photos of the 2009 Toyota Fortuner in vague magazine ads. Toyota doesn’t advertise with us, but they didn’t send us any details about the new model either, so I had to figure out what’s new with this cheap truck.

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Mitsubishi showed off the Sportback variant of their Lancer as a concept a few months ago. The production version of the Lancer Sportback will officially debut at the 2008 Paris Auto Show.

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The 2009 Nissan Murano isn’t even close to an official launch in the GCC, but it is already on the roads in Europe, and German tuners Cobra Technology & Lifestyle have went ahead and developed accessories for the softroader.

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The weirdly-named Cee’d is probably Kia’s best car right now. Even weirder is that Kia’s GCC dealers, in all their wisdom, chose to launch the Mohave as quickly as possibly here instead of the Cee’d. The hatchback has been selling elsewhere for a while now, and Kia has now developed a hybrid version, as is all the rage right now. It will be displayed at the 2008 Paris Auto Show.

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