When you think of Honda, the Jazz is the furthest thing from your mind nowadays. It was unceremoniously cancelled a few years ago in the GCC due to slow sales stemming from its high price. It’s back now in its latest form, although the price hasn’t changed from before. Does it pack more value now?
In a joint effort to support the UAE Vision 2021’s environmental targets, Al-Futtaim Toyota announced the handover of first 50 Prius Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) to Arabia Taxi, member of Arabia Holdings Group of companies and one of the UAE’s largest taxi operators, marking the latter as the first fleet operator in the UAE to use a Prius in its ranks.
A few months ago, our Nissan Patrol LE went in for its mandatory bi-annual service. Yet again, we pointed out that the fuel gauge was showing wrong readings half the time. If you’ve read our past long-term updates, you’ll know this is an ongoing problem since we bought the car (although curiously, no other post-facelift Patrol owner seems to have this issue). This time, the service advisor blamed it on a low battery. Okay, we’ll play along and see what happens.
The Kia stand at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show became a venue for the unveiling of the 2019 Kia Forte, or Cerato as it’s known in the GCC. The 2019 Cerato adopts some styling cues from the Kia Stinger lukewarm sports sedan to make it more appealing.
Quirkiness was the Hyundai Veloster’s signature dish. The first generation of the Korean hatch was acclaimed for the bold 1-door-on-one-side and 2-on-the-other design. Fast forward 7 years, and a second generation has been unveiled at the 2018 Detroit Motor Show which carries over the same level of eccentricity but in an even more impressive package that includes a very hot Veloster N.
Infiniti chose the 2017 Dubai Motor Show to debut its facelifted 2018 QX80 a couple of months ago. It wasn’t just a fluke. The Middle East is apparently the QX80’s second-largest market after the United States. No time was wasted in bringing the new model to the streets either. We took it for a spin around Ras Al Khaimah, after flying there from Dubai by helicopter, courtesy of Infiniti.
As most of the automotive market’s attention shifted in favour of crossovers, the executive sedan market is not as profitable as it once was. So the arrival of the 2019 Toyota Avalon must liven it up to survive.
Here is a list of recalls that were initiated in December 2017.
When the legendary Mitsubishi Evolution was shown the door quite some time ago, out went the WRX vs Evo memes along with it. And now, the time has come to mourn another loss as Subaru has revealed plans to roll the curtain down on the WRX STI in the UK. To give it a fitting farewell, they’ve announced a Subaru WRX STI Final Edition.
In the past decades, Japan’s Kei car trend gave birth to a number of quirky machines that were made to properly utilise the tiny footprint. In September 2017, at the Tokyo Motor Show, Suzuki showed off a variety of concepts for its Xbee Crossover. And now, they have unwrapped the production version of the Xbee as an eccentric AWD Hybrid Crossover which, sadly, will be sold only in Japan.