Alfardan Automobiles, the exclusive importer for MINI in Qatar, has announced a 200% increase in sales of MINI cars during the first half of 2010 compared to the same period last year. Recording the second highest growth ratio across the region; this exceptional achievement places the Qatari importer among the top best-performing markets for MINI in the Middle East.
وسّعت أودي وفولكس واجن الشرق الأوسط من شبكة وكلائها في المنطقة لتصل إلى العراق وذلك عندما أعلنت العلامتان الألمانيتان شراكتهما الرسمية مع الوطنية لتجارة السيارات، إحدى شركات مجموعة معين بهبهاني، كوكيل رسمي لـ أودي وفولكس واجن في العراق.
هذا وتجري حالياً عمليات تشييد صالتي عرض أودي وفولكس واجن بالإضافة إلى مركز الخدمة في اربيل/كردستان على قدم وساق، وسيتم الافتتاح في شهر سبتمبر من العام الجاري. كما تشتمل الخطط التوسعية لكل من أودي وفولكس واجن في الأسواق العراقية على تشييد مراكز متكاملة في اربيل وبغداد. تجدر الإشارة إلى أن جميع المراكز وصالات العرض ستشيّد اعتماداً على التصميم العصري المشترك لجميع مراكز أودي وفولكس واجن في المنطقة وفقاً لمعايير التصميم المتبعة لدى العلامتين موفرةً جميع أنواع الخدمة التي تضمن رضا العملاء.
Audi Volkswagen Middle East has expanded its dealer network in the region by announcing National Automotive Trading Co, a Moin Behbahani Group company, as the official dealer for the Audi and Volkswagen brands in Iraq.
Since my last report, much has happened with the “Z.” Besides getting a job in Abu Dhabi which called for multiple trips in the week to Abu Dhabi and back to Dubai, I had taken the car twice to Fujairah, became airborne with the car (almost becoming airborne myself!), and eventually selling it where it was shipped to Iran in June 2010. As a petrolhead, it was a fun experience to keep it always waxed up, hearing the deep exhaust and induction noise and most of all, driving with the roof down. An added minor benefit of having blue xenon lights is that traffic seems to get out of one’s way much faster.
Rental firm Europcar in Oman recently took delivery of a fleet of the all-new 2011 Suzuki Kizashi “Deluxe” model from Moosa Abdul Rahman Hassan, the Omani Suzuki dealer. Unless other dealers around the GCC are keeping quiet about it, we’d say Oman is the first country in the Middle East to receive the Kizashi.
Moosa Abdul Rahman Hassan & Co, the exclusive distributor of GMC vehicles across the Sultanate of Oman, has announced a promotion on the GMC Terrain compact SUV during the Holy month of Ramadan.
It looks like reports of the demise of the Nissan Armada were premature. Nissan has just released details of the 2011 Armada in the United States. It remains unchanged, and still powered by a 317 hp 5.6-litre V8.
Ford says that in 1968, their management approved a special Mustang, a car that sacrificed nothing in its quest to be the best all-around road-going performance machine ever created by Ford Motor Company. That car became the sought-after 1969 Mustang Boss 302. Forty-two years later, the badge has been resurrected. With the millions of “special edition” Mustangs floating around, it is amazing that this badge didn’t pop up sooner.
Infiniti is bringing a new model to its American line-up. The 2011 G25 sedan will offer a smaller 2.5-litre V6 engine that is more fuel-efficient than the 3.7-litre V6 now fitted in the G37 sedan. It also seems to look exactly like the G37 sedan, which itself was facelifted for 2010 and quietly launched in the UAE without anybody telling us.
A “foreign” Swedish driver who was caught speeding at 290 kph in the nearby country of Switzerland could be given a world-record speeding fine of SFr 1,080 million, equivalent to US$ 1 million.