As far as we know, we are the first people to review the 2010 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado in the desert. Everyone else drove it “off-road” at the launch event, to which we were not invited, but that was a carefully-planned event with easy gravel jaunts anyway. We took our Prado VX-L tester on the same dunes used by desert safari outfits in Dubai.
In what looks to be a marketing collaboration between Nissan Middle East, Abu Dhabi Police and Yas Marina F1, a Nissan GT-R was displayed at the recently-concluded Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, in full Abu Dhabi police livery.
German firm 9ff, a Porsche tuner that claims to be a full manufacturer, will be presenting the 9ff Speed9 at the 2009 Essen Motor Show next week. Based on the latest 911 Turbo, the 9ff Speed9 is apparently a vague tribute to the 1955 Porsche 356 1500S Speedster.
The recently-updated 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera can be made be faster by slapping on a kit by TechArt of Germany. The components include a “Racing” exhaust valve and new engine electronics for an increase of “up to” 35 hp.
The 2010 Toyota “Land Cruiser” Prado is currently the most researched vehicle in the region. We got one for two days, and being the only one we’ve seen on the road so far, we would’ve thought that we’d be swarmed by middle-aged family men on the streets of Dubai, inquiring about this dream car. But we weren’t. We got a few people standing around staring at it here and there, but they were probably the intelligent ones. Because if you don’t concentrate hard enough, it is easy to dismiss it as the old model.
Here’s a tip. If you have an exotic car and don’t have much experience in driving at the limit, do not choose a public location to try out your supposed “drifting” skills. You might kill someone, but more importantly, embarrass yourself.
The facelifted 2010 Toyota Camry has quietly reached the UAE, most obvious on the streets of Dubai in RTA taxi colours. Sharp-eyed people may have already spotted the new models, with the new grille, pointier headlights, new wheels and the LED-style tail lamps.
Arabian Automobiles, the exclusive dealer for Nissan, Infiniti and Renault in Dubai and the Northern Emirates has once again been recognized as a ‘Nissan Champion Distributor’ by Nissan Motor Company, Japan. The award signed by Colin Dodge, Executive Vice President of Nissan Motor Company was awarded to Arabian Automobiles for achieving “excellent performance and demonstrating outstanding operational improvements” for 2009.
The 1st DriveArabia Meet was held last weekend, on Friday the 13th no less. Two of us organised it, and ironically enough, 13 people showed up for an event that was conceived just a couple of days prior this November. The turn-out was relatively great, considering it was competing for time with the Diabetes Walk, the Motorsports Festival and some Pakistan cricket match, all on the same day in Dubai. Also, we kept the meet intentionally low-key, so a smaller number of people could interact without getting lost in the crowd. These peeps are now in our inner circle.
The 2009 Mitsubishi Motors GCC Press Conference has outlined plans for environment-friendly cars in the future as the top management of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC), Japan recently addressed the press and dealers, and presented the company’s performance and financial results for the year 2009, at the Habtoor Grand Resort & Spa, Dubai on 9th November 2009.