Just when poor old VW thought they held the crown for world’s fastest car after a decade of near-bankruptcy-causing development, a whole host of smaller companies outdid them to the title. Joining the ranks of Saleen, SSC, Koenigsegg and Ultima is an unknown Swiss manufacturer called Weber Sportcars, claiming to have built the world’s fastest street-legal car. It is called the “WEBER SPORTCARS faster one,” if you can believe that.
Auto accessories superstore Yellow Hat is giving away tickets to the finale of the five-round Grand Racing season, which is taking place on April 11 and 12 this month at the Dubai Autodrome. All customers who buy Dhs 100 worth of products from their Times Square Mall store will receive an invite to the Grand Dubai Racing Event.
Volkswagen is recalling some 410,000 Passat sedans sold in the United States due to possible problems with heat shields and fuel line components. That includes every Passat sold in America from 1999 to 2005 model years. That has to be some kind of new recall record for a single model.
German Auto Zeitung magazine snagged some spy photos of the upcoming 2009 BMW 7-Series. The new model seems to be going back to basics in terms of design, and looks production-ready already.
Abu Dhabi Police has obtained a marked-and-outfitted Nissan Xterra for use as a police patrol vehicle. No word on how many will be joining the police fleet, although the current Pathfinder has already been on duty in AD for a while now, alongside other less-reliable brethen such as the Dodge Charger, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the VW GTI.
Organisers CMPi have revealed what is set to be the region’s premier tuning and custom car and bike show, TURBO: For A Custom Nation. Debuting at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre between 10th and 12th of October (update: postponed to November 13-15) the show will be apparently be packed with stunning vehicles from the world’s most famous and fastest tuners and feature some of the best customised cars exclusively brought in for TURBO.
Gulf News reported that UAE residents will soon be able to obtain driving licences from any emirate regardless of their residence visa, although this was supposed to happen on March 1 with the Federal Traffic Law. We hear it will happen in April.
The top breaking news story for tonight is that UK-based parent company Aston Martin, newly independent from Ford, is being sued for US$50 million by its Dubai-based Middle East distributors because of an apparent breach of contract. The lawsuit, filed by Middle East Aston Martin (MEAM), claims one of the new owners of the carmaker, Kuwaiti investment group DAR, is planning to refinance its stake in the company (whatever that means) and has disallowed the distributor to renew its investment, according to Reuters news agency.
Anytime people in the UAE shop for vehicles in places such as Abu Shagara in Sharjah or Aweer in Dubai, there is a chance that the imported used car they are purchasing something stolen in another country. This place itself has become popular around the world as a shipping destination for stolen cars headed for Africa and Russia. It is good to know that Dubai Customs has been cracking down on this shadowy trade for a couple of years now.
UAE-based newspaper Gulf News conducted a survey to determine the types of transportation that people in the UAE use. Among the results, the most revealing is that 85% of the people who answered the survey have been refused a taxi journey based on their choice of destination, although there probably is more to those numbers than the newspaper is ready to admit. 15% are happy with the taxi service?