It took long enough, but the 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, quiet possibly the most aggressive offroad truck ever, is on display at the 2009 Dubai Motor Show, and it will be offered in GCC countries sometime next year.
General Motors had an overbearing number of brands up until earlier this year, after spending the last few decades picking up random brands for no apparent reason. One of those brands was the Sweden-based Saab, maker of quirky unwanted cars that no one outside Sweden seems to want. GM itself underwent bankruptcy this year, got bought out by Obama’s government, and has been cutting down its portfolio. GM tried to sell Saab to Koenigsegg, then to the Chinese, and then to Spyker. After those talks failed, GM has announced that they are killing Saab.
General Motors has unveiled the 2011 GMC Acadia Denali in the United States, in time for the Detroit Auto Show. It is a natural extension of the Denali line, and finally offers up the Chevy Traverse’s upgraded engine in the Acadia.
Kepler Motors, founded by American racer Russ Wicks, unveiled its Motion concept supercar at the 2009 Dubai International Motor Show.
The Los Angeles Auto Show is one of the smaller international motor shows, with numerous no-shows at the 2009 edition due to the recession. There are only two concept cars and maybe ten all-new models displayed. All-new cars to look out for include the 2011 Hyundai Sonata, the 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe, the 2011 Infiniti M and the 2011 Ford Mustang EcoBoost V6. The fad-of-the-day in America is fuel economy, so manufacturers are happy to oblige with the Chevy Cruze, the Ford Fiesta and the Mazda 2. Rather than new-born models, there seems to be a high concentration of limited-edition models,
The European-designed Ford Fiesta, available in the UAE for the past year, is the first Euro model to make it to U.S. shores in a long time, and was unveiled at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show. Interestingly, the Americans will get a hatchback as well as a sedan version, both of which share only 60% of parts with the European version.
The base Ford Mustang V6 has been the laughing stock of the sports car world since forever. It is so embarrassing that Ford doesn’t even bother offering it in the GCC. And yet, it is responsible for most Mustang sales in the United States, picked up by secretaries and hairdressers in droves. However, as long rumoured, Ford has finally injected the base car with respectable power, fitting it with a new 3.7-litre V6 engine that puts it in the thick of the competition.
The 2010 Chevrolet Cruze has been unveiled in the UAE, during some launch event at a Sharjah showroom. Incidentally, the Cruze has also been unveiled in the United States as a 2011 model in time for the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show, and it looks like the U.S. version gets better features.
The U.S National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating hundreds of reports that the 2004-2005 Ford Freestar and rebadged Mercury Monterey minivans have defective automatic transmissions that could fail without warning. The uproar is over the fact that many of the transmissions reportedly failed at highway speeds.
Shanghai GM has unveiled the new 2010 Cadillac SLS for the Chinese market at the 2009 Guangzhou Auto Show. More importantly, the Chinese-built SLS is a part of Cadillac’s GCC line-up.