The Renault Megane was never a major player in the compact segment. Blame it on lack of awareness, brand preconceptions or just lack of desirability, but it just never caught on in the GCC (except with one of our people, who actually owns one). There’s an all-new model in town now. Will it make waves?
Renault is well-known in the Formula 1 arena. As they’re completing 40 years of involvement with the most elite motor racing championship, Renault has decided to infuse some F1 heritage to one of their hot hatches to make the Clio RS 18.
After the Evora GT430 and the faster Evora GT430 Sport, Lotus revealed another limited edition car from their stable called Lotus Elise Cup 260 recently. The production of this puny little car is limited to just 30 units worldwide. Just like the GT430 Evoras, the Elise Cup 260 banks on aerodynamics and lightness to improve its performance.
Porsche recently opened the Porsche Studio in Beirut, a first for the region. Similar to “Porsche on Sylt” and the “Porsche Studio Guangzhou”, the new site in the Lebanese capital adopts an innovative sales format, which enables the sports car manufacturer to interact with a wide spectrum of target groups. Located in the city centre, the new premises offer visitors a range of the brand’s services.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse has been around since 1990, until a green one with unlimited manual gears was popularised in the first The Fast and the Furious movie in 2001. While that movie franchise is still ongoing, the Eclipse sports coupe took a break in 2012. It’s back now as the 2018 Eclipse Cross, embodying Mitsubishi’s committment to become an SUV-focused carmaker. We took it for a stroll around the Dubai Autodrome at its UAE launch.
When you think of Honda, the Jazz is the furthest thing from your mind nowadays. It was unceremoniously cancelled a few years ago in the GCC due to slow sales stemming from its high price. It’s back now in its latest form, although the price hasn’t changed from before. Does it pack more value now?
In a joint effort to support the UAE Vision 2021’s environmental targets, Al-Futtaim Toyota announced the handover of first 50 Prius Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) to Arabia Taxi, member of Arabia Holdings Group of companies and one of the UAE’s largest taxi operators, marking the latter as the first fleet operator in the UAE to use a Prius in its ranks.
Roads tolls will soon be introduced in Abu Dhabi, according to a law issued by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan this February.
Just a few years ago, hybrids were regarded as boring. Now though, things have changed. Pure petrolheads may still frown at them, but the fact remains that many hybrids of the present are fast cars. So when Mercedes Benz came up with the mild-hybrid CLS model, their in-house nuts, AMG, decided to play with hybrids to add more speed to them. Thereby we witness the inception of the AMG 53 range.
There are certain things that happen only once in a lifetime. One of them is the chance to drive a Bugatti of any sort. When the Veyron was new in 2005, George W. Bush was still the U.S. president and the iPhone was still a passing thought in Steve Jobs’ mind. Of course, now we have the Chiron. Our resident journosaur Gautam Sharma drove one at the global launch event in Portugal last year. And this winter, I was offered an exclusive drive of the exact same car right here on the roads of the UAE, with 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans champion Andy Wallace as co-driver.