Feature Stories

Most car enthusiasts know of the Mitsuoka Orochi, an organic “supercar” that started life as a concept car in 2001, and finally reaching production in late 2006. Built by Mitsuoka Motors in Japan, the final version turned out to be popular only for its styling, as it was powered by a basic 230 hp 3.3-litre Toyota V6. However, few know about the custom coach-building activities of the Japanese company. Mitsuoka is active in their home-country, rebuildling current-generation Japanese cars to resemble British vehicles of the 1950s and 1960s. And some of their creations are downright hokey.

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In August 1939 the safety pioneer Béla Barényi started his work in Sindelfingen. He invented for example the principle of the crumple zone, a trailblazing innovation which entered series production at Mercedes-Benz in 1959. With the help of its in-house accident research function, which was founded in 1969, Mercedes-Benz engineers in the following years have developed several innovations in passenger car safety. Mercedes-Benz is using the new S-Class ESF 2009 concept to celebrate this culture of development, with a look towards safety technology to come.

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It is a slow news day today, just like the crime statistics in the safe city of Dubai. The jails are filled with loan dodgers and disgruntled labourers rather than murderers and mafia dons, and we figured we’d highlight the Dubai Police’s latest weapon in their fight against crime – the Dodge Charger.

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The all-new Chevrolet Malibu has been on sale in the U.S. for a while now. The midsize sedan had finally become an equal competitor to its Japanese rivals in the States, but the GCC line-up was making do with a lopsided range consisting of the Korean Epica and the Australian Lumina, neither of which has a 4-cylinder engine that could compare with those in the Camry, the Accord and the Altima. So General Motors decided to bring the Malibu here again, after a gap of nearly a decade.

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One of our readers sent in photos of yet another car that went up in flames in the UAE for no apparent reason. It seems to be becoming a common occurence, and is simply being blamed on heat and bad maintenance. While some cases have been due to age or bad stereo installations, others can simply be attributed to the source of the cars. Take this Jeep, for example. I also drive a Jeep, but mine is a GCC-spec version with full service history. The one in the photo is not.

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Back before World War II, BMW had identified a certain niche of people who had a yearning for a specific kind of car. “These are people who, once they see an aerodynamic car body with a long and sleek engine compartment, as well as a speedometer extending all the way to 150 kph, feel that strong yearning for wide open roads simply perfect for driving fast, for Alpine passes just begging to be conquered, and for competitors so easy to overtake.” Those were words spoken by BMW when they launched their first roadster in 1934.

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It was one of those rare times when I actually looked forward to those long usually-boring press driving events. General Motors Middle East imported ten new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro models to Dubai for the UAE and GCC press launch, and we were among the second bunch of people to drive them, after the “big” magazine people had their fill the day before, but as I saw later, the cars still generated lots of interest on the roads.

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While Ford Middle East still peddles leftover four-banger versions of the 2009 Ford Fusion in the GCC, the redesigned 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid is making waves in the United States. Drivers trained in mileage-maximizing techniques were able to get an extraordinary 2313 km out of a single tank of petrol during a fund-raising road-trip and publicity stunt. They did it by averaging 2.88 litres per 100 km, using a non-modified Fusion Hybrid straight off the showroom floor. The Fusion Hybrid already calls itself the most fuel-efficient midsize sedan in North America.

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For years, sub-compact cars have been shunned by snooty people who chose to drive a big car, citing concerns over safety. While their reasons probably have more to do with image than safety, the Insurance institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an independent American agency that crash-tests hundreds of cars every year, say that the snooty people were actually right. While many sub-compact cars such as the Honda Jazz and the Toyota Yaris scored full marks in standardised crash tests against a stationary barrier, their downfalls became obvious when they were slammed against a midsize Honda Accord or a Toyota Camry.

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