Auto Shows

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.

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Volvo has released the first photos of the all-new 2011 S60 sedan, further defining the corporate styling that first started with the XC60 crossover last year. It is interesting, but not really a breakthrough with that droopy nose.

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The all-new Renault Fluence, a sedan designed especially for developing countries, will make its world premiere at the upcoming 2009 Dubai Motor Show which takes place from December 16 to 20, 2009.

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Celebrating its 50th year in America, Honda kicked off its week at the 2009 SEMA tuner show in Las Vegas with a variety of accessorised Honda models, including an official reveal of a 2010 Accord Sedan fitted with Mugen extras.

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Weighing in at 1278 kg, the new 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder will be the lightest Porsche available. This new mid-engined roadster attempts to be a true purist form of the quintessential open-top sports car. This third Boxster model will join the Boxster and Boxster S and will make its world debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show on December 2, 2009.

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The Specialty Equipment Market Association show, better known as SEMA, is on again in Las Vegas. The 2009 edition of this aftermarket show, one of the largest of its kind in the world, is more of a showcase for American tuner companies than any other, with this year being dominated by excessive Ford Mustang and Chevy Camaro variants. Among the crowd of muscle cars are manufacturers such as Toyota, Hyundai, Suzuki and Subaru, who chose to participate whereas many others have dropped out due to the recession.

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You can always trust the Tokyo Auto Show to have the most intriguing and the most wacky concepts. The 2009 edition of the show is no different. This is one event where the concepts outnumber the production car launches. However, this year’s show is a bit muted due to various automakers pulling out, blaming the recession rather than poor management. Many of the concepts are hybrids or zero-emission vehicles, affirming the green slant of the show.

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Rolls-Royce has launched its new Ghost model in the GCC. It was unveiled in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as part of a Middle East tour.

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The iconic Toyota Sprinter Trueno, also known as the Corolla GT-S in some markets, was a 2-door hatchback that was first introduced in 1983. It had a 1.6-litre 4-cylinder engine with maybe 130 hp and, more importantly, a balanced rear-wheel-drive chassis. It became more commonly known as the AE86, nicknamed after its chassis designation, and is popular on the Japanese drift scene till today, even though production ended in 1986. It achieved worldwide popularity only during this past decade, as the hero car in the Japanese animated series Initial D. And now, Toyota is readying a successor in the form of the FT-86 concept at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show.

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The Aston Martin Rapide, the self-proclaimed “world’s most elegant four-door sports car,” has officially debuted at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. After months of leaks and speculation, the Rapide does not hold any surprises, except maybe in the way the doors open.

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