The 2009 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport was launched in Dubai at a quick media event where its off-road abilities were showcased. First shown at Moscow Auto Show last year, this new midsize model is really the replacement for the aging Nativa, and is based on the L200 pickup.
The third-generation Renault Clio was launched in Europe ages ago, while the GCC still soldiers on with the old second-generation model which are built in Turkey. The real French-built Clio is now the recipient of a major facelift, and it will be launched at the 2009 Geneva Auto Show.
Created solely for the United States market back when big SUVs were popular there, the American-built Toyota Sequoia received a redesign in 2008. Based on the American Toyota Tundra pickup truck, the brutishly big Sequoia makes the Land Cruiser look like a RAV-4, and intended to compete with the Chevy Suburban and the Nissan Armada. And then the U.S. economy went to hell, so Toyota decided to send those hard-to-sell trucks in the GCC instead, where things are a bit better. And therefore the 2009 Toyota Sequoia was launched yesterday in Dubai.
The Mazda 3 has been updated for the 2010 model year with a smiley new look and a new set of engines. Now Japanese and American markets will get a hotter variant of the new hatchback, with the re-introduction of the Mazdaspeed 3. Of course, as before, the GCC probably will not be getting any Mazdaspeed models.