By Warren Brown The engineers won. That much is certain. Mazda Motor Corp embarked on a noble mission — to rethink the entire automobile and to treat form and function as one in the process. The aesthetic goal was to elevate engineering to art. But Mazda partly missed that mark in its 2014 redevelopment of the Mazda 6 Grand Touring sedan, the subject of this week’s revi

By Mark Clothier Chrysler is bringing back the Cherokee, the model that helped usher in the age of the sport utility vehicle, with a design that’s testing the devotion of the Jeep faithful. The Cherokee is a break from the boxy Jeep Liberty it replaces. Where Jeep touted Liberty’s “rugged off-road capability,” it boasts Cherokee’s 41 percent mileage improv

By Alister Doyle and Nerijus Adomaitis Norway’s buzzing little market for pure electric cars has in its very success shown the severe drawbacks to a model that relies on public subsidies worth as much as $8,200 per car, every year. Car makers like Nissan, Mitsubishi, Peugeot Citroen and Tesla Motors see Norway and its 10,000 battery-powered vehicles as a reason for optimism i

Italy’s red racing giant Ferrari wants to go green, cutting emissions without sacrificing horsepower and working on a new hybrid model set to thrill pro-environment speed junkies. “We’re working on reducing energy consumption without forgetting that the symbol of Ferrari is performance,” Matteo Lanzavecchia, head of development, said at the luxury car-maker&rsqu

Jaidah and Budget Rent a Car officials at the signing ceremony. Jaidah Automotive, a subsidiary of Jaidah Group, has announced the sale of 60 cars to the Qatari franchise of the global car rental firm Budget Rent a Car. Budget Rent a Car has purchased 60 Chevrolet Malibu vehicles, the brand new MY 2013 model year, from Jaidah Automotive. Jaidah was represented in this deal by Waleed

by Mathieu Rosemain Renault, which is losing sales faster than any other European carmaker, is pinning a turnaround in part on the revival of a sports-car brand that’s been dormant for almost two decades. The plan relies on a partnership with Caterham Group, a British manufacturer of offbeat track cars that typically have exposed front wheels and roll bars rather than

By Warren Brown When duped, you erroneously assess things, especially those, such as cars, requiring some kind of intelligent commitment. I was duped. I made a dumb mistake back in June 2011 when I opined in this space that the 2012 Honda Civic HF sedan was symptomatic of Honda’s slip from grace in the small-car market. Here’s my recant, as upfront and as clear as I

Exclusive and unique Bespoke Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé arrives at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha showroom in  The Pearl-Qatar. The special edition vehicle with a unique Twilight Purple exterior has already prompted strong interest amongst Rolls-Royce enthusiasts in the country, where the demand for individualised vehicles is high, The vehicle is the first Phantom Series II family

Lagoona Mall is hosting one of the world’s top sports cars, the McLaren MP4-12C Coupe, until the end of November 2012. The 12C Coupeis built in the McLaren Production Centre (MPC), next door to the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) where the race cars of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are prepared by the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team in Woking, UK. The display has been org

Toyota Racing’s TS030 Hybrid driven by Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre, led from start to finish for the team’s first victory in just its third race with a dominant performance in the Six Hours of Sao Paulo at Interlagos, the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship which took place in Brazil. Alex and Nicolas started from pole position as the #7 Toyota car maintained

The New Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is coming to the Middle East market. The new ZL1 continues the momentum of Camaro, propelling it into an entirely new realm of leading-edge performance technology. With a supercharged V-8 engine producing a 580 horsepower, the Camaro ZL1 is the fastest Camaro ever offered by Chevrolet.  ZL1 features technologically advanced and highly developed cha

From left: Dr Matthew J Bennett, Regional Director for Asia Pacific, Aston Martin, Salman Abdullah Abdul Ghani, Chairman, Horizon Motors, Neil Slade, General Manager, Aston Martin, Middle East and North Africa, and Alaa Abbas, CEO, Horizon Motors, with the new Vanquish in Doha.Salim Matramkot Aston Martin, the British luxury sports car maker unveiled a stunning new luxury sports

The all-new Cadillac ATS is the 2012 Esquire Car of the Year, editors of the men’s fashion and culture magazine announced. The award is featured at Esquire.com and in the October print and digital editions.  “The new ATS is Cadillac’s spirited challenger, built to take on the world,” says Don Butler, vice president of Cadillac Marketing. “Having its design and

  Porsche Centre Doha has unleashed its sportiest SUV ever – the Cayenne GTS. After the global reveal wowed the audience at the 2012 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, Porsche is introducing this most sporting SUV in a market already in love with the Porsche Cayenne. The Cayenne – which saw record sales and a 35 per cent increase across the region in 2011 – now comes in an ath

  Three Ford Motor Company vehicles – the 2013 Ford Taurus, Ford Explorer and Lincoln MKS – earned top safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). These vehicles earned a five-star Overall Vehicle Score in NHTSA New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) testing, which combines vehicle performance in frontal and side-impact crash tests and resistance to rollover.

  Toyota Motor Corporation’s Middle East and North Africa Representative Office has launched the all-new 2013 Lexus ES lineup including the ES 350 and ES 250. Featuring a progressive new design and enhanced handling, the 2013 ES sedan range is set to continue as a favourite of luxury car buyers in the region. The ES 350 is powered by a 2GR-FE V6 DOHC VVT-i engine, featuring advanced technol

  The new Porsche 911 Carrera 4 unites the excellent performance and efficiency of the new generation of the 911 Carrera with the dynamic benefits of the latest version of the active all-wheel drive system PTM (Porsche Traction Management). The typical Porsche all-wheel drive with rear-focused layout in this latest 911 version guarantees maximum vehicle dynamics on a wide variety of road surfa

  Jaguar Land Rover MENA recently announced the launch of regional mobile apps to further enhance its personalised customer experience. The Jaguar Land Rover mobile apps will be available as a free download from iTunes for iPhone/iPad users, and through BlackBerry App World for BlackBerry users, and is aimed at both existing and potential customers. The fully integrated mobile apps are avail

By Alan Ohnsman Honda’s 2013 Accord, the revamped version of the longest-selling US midsize car, debuts this month as the company seeks to speed its sales recovery and recapture a reputation for benchmark vehicles. “We think we’ve hit this one out of the park,” said John Mendel, executive vice president of US sales, in an interview last month in Santa Barbara, California. “This is the

  The BMW X6 Sports Activity Coupé created a new market segment when it was launched in 2008, more than 150,000 X6 vehicles have been sold worldwide in just three years – proving the popularity of this unique vehicle which has set a trend in the automotive industry, and has now been upgraded with the new model arriving in the showrooms of Alfardan Automobiles. The new BMW X6 includes a num