News

Down here in the Middle East, running a business without a Toyota Hilux means you are a loser. Though only a commercial workhorse, there are not many humans on this planet who has not seen or heard of this thing. And with so many achievements, from aiding the world masses with their routine chores to serving wars to conquering terrains where no Jeeps or Patrols have dared to roam, there is little wonder in this epitome of reliability being so popular everywhere. For 2012, Toyota UK has decided to give the Hilux some facial treatments and energy boost while also subjecting it to an interior-beautification therapy.

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It easily goes without saying that Toyota Yaris rules the sub-compact car segment in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC. First introduced in 2006, Yaris became such a hit among the public that it simply wiped off the competition, gaining much more success rate than its predecessors, the Tercel and the Echo. And probably that is why Toyota decided to refresh the ongoing Yaris instead of moping it off the line-up, like they did with its ancestors. Toyota UK has taken covers of their all-new 2012 Yaris – and we are probably looking at the same “global” shape that may enter our region too.

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Abarth, Fiat-owned tuners and racing-car makers, has introduced an upgrade kit dubbed as Esseesse, for their existing Punto Evo, an already-souped up version of the original Punto hatchback.

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Continuing DriveArabia’s season of giveaways, we are giving away this goody bag made out of stuff I’ve received from carmakers as well as bought myself. This Mini bag contains a goofy hat, a 1:43-scale first-generation Mini Cooper toy model, and a dealer-branded 2GB USB keychain.
Update: The winner is Jaikesh Sudheer.

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We’re not on good terms with Mercedes-Benz any more for personal reasons (theirs, not ours), so we were sitting on these photos for a while, pondering whether they’ll try to get back at us using archaic local laws for taking photos of their prototype cars. After consulting our lawyers, we’re told these cars were in public view and reveal nothing, so we’re going ahead and showing you our own spy shots of what is now comfirmed to be the 2012 Mercedes-Benz B-Class.

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In what will become a blessing for consumers, a new rule is going to come into effect in October that all cars in the UAE will have a mandatory 5-year warranty.

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FastFit, the name of Al Futtaim Motors’ new Express Tyre & Battery fitting centre, is apparently the UAE’s first company to install the fastest wheel aligner in the world, the 4D Master Aligner.

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Hyundai is the talk of the town these days. Having rolled out several new models in a seemingly short span of time, all so well engineered, well designed and well priced, Hyundai has already caused quite a stir in the market dominated by the Japanese giants. And the increasing damage they are continuing to cause the Japanese monopoly is evident from the shaken chiefs of some major Japanese automakers stepping into the limelight themselves for praising their own upcoming models, in a sad bid to counter competition. As part of Hyundai’s scheme of kicking the Japanese and everyone else out of the game,

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We never even touched the 350Z. We didn’t drive the 370Z Coupe either. And we never asked for the 370Z Roadster. However, we never say no when we get offered a car, so we took this Nissan drop-top you see here for a spin. Trouble is, with 16,000 km on the clock, everybody and their mother has already test-abused this car, so we’re guessing it wasn’t the most ideal representation of what a “Z” car is supposed to be.

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We’d heard rumblings that Honda had a batch of 2012 Honda Civic sedans shipped to the UAE, but backed off from properly launching the new model due to the supply shortage after the Japanese earthquake. These cars apparently went on sale quietly, and one of our readers snagged these photos of the Civic at one of Honda’s dealerships in Dubai.

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