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.
Roads tolls will soon be introduced in Abu Dhabi, according to a law issued by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan this February.
Just a few years ago, hybrids were regarded as boring. Now though, things have changed. Pure petrolheads may still frown at them, but the fact remains that many hybrids of the present are fast cars. So when Mercedes Benz came up with the mild-hybrid CLS model, their in-house nuts, AMG, decided to play with hybrids to add more speed to them. Thereby we witness the inception of the AMG 53 range.
There are certain things that happen only once in a lifetime. One of them is the chance to drive a Bugatti of any sort. When the Veyron was new in 2005, George W. Bush was still the U.S. president and the iPhone was still a passing thought in Steve Jobs’ mind. Of course, now we have the Chiron. Our resident journosaur Gautam Sharma drove one at the global launch event in Portugal last year. And this winter, I was offered an exclusive drive of the exact same car right here on the roads of the UAE, with 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans champion Andy Wallace as co-driver.
In the past, there had been several automotive legends that were too good to just vanish into the history books. One such vehicle is the Mercedes-Benz G-Class. Released in 1979, the Mercedes BenzG-Class, or G-Wagen, as it’s better known, had survived four decades since its inception. And now at the 2018 Detroit Motor Show, Mercedes revealed an all-new generation of the 2019 G-Class which is just as rugged as the old one.
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.
When Bentley’s first SUV, the Bentayga, was introduced more than two years ago, it came only with a W12 engine. A V8 diesel was added later to the lineup which opened the floodgates to many controversial debates. Now Bentley has chosen another V8 to power the Bentayga, this time it’s a petrol.
At the ongoing 2018 Detroit Motor Show, Chevrolet removed the covers off the 2019 Silverado, debuting an entirely new generation. The new version of the full-size truck comes with a bunch of new engines and an aluminium-steel mixed construction that slashes 204 kg from its weight.
After creating quite the hype with the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, we weren’t exactly sure what to expect from the Stelvio Quadrifoglio – the performance version of their first SUV – since we haven’t driven the Giulia QV. The Italians also called it the fastest SUV ever, having recorded a blistering 7-minute 51.7-second lap time at the Nurburgring. The global debut was actually held right here in Ras Al Khaimah, so we got a chance to take the Stelvio QV on one of the best roads in the UAE, up and down the Jebel Jais in Ras Al Khaimah, which is also the highest point in the Emirates.