• Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, visited the headquarters of McLaren Automotive in Woking, UK and was given a tour of the production center by Mike Flewitt, McLaren’s CEO. The duke talked to Alex, one of the company’s young apprentices nominated as apprentice of the year. He then met Amina, a recent production apprentice, along with her mentor Mandy, to understand how the company supports her development to help nurture future talent, essential for a company blending cutting-edge design with hand-built craftsmanship. Design director Rob Melville explained to the duke the philosophy behind McLaren’s latest supercar, the 720S. Launched in March, it is the first model in the second-generation Super Series that has already sold out for this year, and is one of 15 new models and derivatives the company will deliver by 2022. Flewitt said: “It’s a great personal honor to welcome the duke to McLaren Automotive and something that each and every one of our people should feel justifiably proud of as a globally renowned British sports and supercar creator.”
• The Audi Sport GmbH is extending its R8 model series to include a new derivative with rear-wheel drive. The Audi R8 V10 RWS comes in a limited series of 999 units with both Coupe and Spyder variants. It will be rear-driven (Rear Wheel Series) and be built exclusively by hand at the Böllinger Hofe R8 factory. “A limited-edition special model for customers with an appreciation for essential driving enjoyment, the R8 V10 RWS is an absolutely exclusive offer. With its mid-mounted V10 engine and rear-wheel drive, it successfully brings the driving concept of our R8 LMS racing car to the streets.”
• Renault has revealed Symbioz, an integrated house and car that work together in harmony. Symbioz extends the vision of autonomous, electric and connected cars to a time when vehicles fully interact with connected homes, cities, other vehicles and road infrastructure and become even more personal. The revelation of a concept car associated with a connected home is unprecedented at a motor show. Symbioz demonstrates dynamic scenarios where the car is put to use in different places within and around the home and while traveling. “The way we use our cars is changing. Already a car is more than just a way to get from one place to another. Full of technology, it’s becoming an interactive and personalized space that connects passengers to other cars, people and objects around them,” said Thierry Bollore, group Renault executive vice president and chief competitive officer.
• An engineering student from the UAE has been awarded the career opportunity of a lifetime in automotives and Formula 1, as Infiniti announced Yazan Al-Hindawi as the Middle East winner of the Infiniti Engineering Academy 2017. Having been selected from thousands of entries and beating nine other finalists from around the country in an action-packed event at Infiniti Arabian Automobiles Center in Dubai, 24-year-old Yazan Alhindawi from the UAE will move to the UK in October for a career opportunity of a lifetime. He will spend six months working at Renault Formula 1 Team’s technical center in the UK (Enstone), and six months working at the Infiniti European technical center (Cranfield). He will play a key role in the ongoing transfer of technical knowledge and expertise between the Renault Sport Formula 1 team and Infiniti.
Prince William visits McLaren headquarters
Prince William visits McLaren headquarters
Price cuts drive sales of Saudi-owned electric car
- Lucid delivers more vehicles than expected as it prepares to launch luxury new Gravity SUV
RIYADH: The majority Saudi-owned electric car maker Lucid delivered more vehicles than expected in the past three months as price cuts helped boost demand.
The company delivered 2,394 cars from April to June 30, above analysts’ predictions of 1,940.
Lucid produced 3,838 vehicles in the first six months of 2024 and needs to make more than 5,162 cars by end of the year to meet its annual output forecast of 9,000. It made 8,428 cars in 2023.
“I think at this point everything is shaping for them to achieve that,” said Andres Sheppard, senior equity analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald. Lucid will produce and deliver more cars in the second half of the year because of the usual seasonal effects on the industry, he said.
Demand for electric vehicles has grown more slowly than expected pace in the past year, under pressure from high borrowing costs, economic uncertainties and consumer preference for hybrid alternatives.
Lucid and the market leader Tesla have responded by slashing prices and offering incentives such as cheaper financing options. Lucid, which is 60-per-cent owned by the Public Investment Fund, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, cut the price of its flagship Air model by 10 percent in February.
Its new Gravity SUV model, a rival for Tesla's Model X, goes into production this year and will cost about $80,000.
Treat for local fans as Berlin set for Formula E double-header
- Germany leads both Drivers’ and Teams’ championships with Pascal Wehrlein and his TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team topping the tables
- Tempelhof Airport’s notorious concrete slab track set to be a tough test for drivers as the GEN3 race car competes in Europe for the first time
Formula E fans at the historic Tempelhof Airport Circuit in Berlin this weekend will, for the first time in championship history, get to cheer a German team and driver at the top of the standings going into the 2023 SABIC Berlin E-Prix double-header.
The Porsche 99X Electric has proven to be the benchmark car package in Season 9 with Pascal Wehrlein winning twice in the first three races to lead the Drivers’ World Championship and putting his TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team at the top of the Teams’ standings.
Great Britain’s Jake Dennis of Avalanche Andretti Formula E, the Porsche customer team, is 24 points behind Wehrlein in second and under pressure from Nick Cassidy (Envision Racing), just a point back in third after three consecutive appearances on the podium.
Double champion Jean-Éric Vergne (DS PENSKE) is only two points away in fourth having steered to victory in Hyderabad and finished second in Cape Town.
Jaguar’s I-TYPE 6 has emerged as the strongest competitor to the Porsche-powered cars since Round 4 in India. Cassidy has led the charge for Jaguar customer Envision Racing who sit just behind the German manufacturer in the standings.
The factory Jaguar TCS Racing team finally capitalized on its race-winning pace and energy management for a 1-3 result last time out in São Paulo as Mitch Evans and teammate Sam Bird (Jaguar TCS Racing) took to the podium. They find themselves 42 and 46 points from top spot in the Drivers’ table but with plenty of racing still to come.
Reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne (DS PENSKE) sits 11th in the standings, more than 60 points back. Retaining the title now looks like a distant dream, but he has form around Tempelhof with a win and two podiums to his name. Dominating the double-header in Berlin would put the Belgian firmly back in contention.
Berlin is the only city to have hosted a race in every season of Formula E — 16 in total. The 2.4-km Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit on the outskirts of the German capital city is a unique challenge for the teams and drivers, and a favorite of many.
Saudi-backed Lucid EV cars get global launch
- The Lucid Air has already been named the MotorTrend Car of the Year and honored as one of Time Magazine’s 200 Best Innovations of 2022
BEVERLY HILLS: Just a few weeks after Lucid Motors opened their first Middle East studio in Riyadh, and four years after the Saudi government made its initial investment of $1 billion, the vehicle manufacturer held the global launch event for their debut line of electric sedans.
And Saudi support has been influential in bringing the vehicle to fruition, according to Derek Jenkins, senior vice-president of design at Lucid.
“We wouldn't be here today without the support from the Saudi Public Investment Fund,” he said. “It allowed us to really develop our technology, not just at a concept level, but all the way through the production and deliver it to customers worldwide.”
The Lucid Air has already been named the MotorTrend Car of the Year and honored as one of Time Magazine’s 200 Best Innovations of 2022.
With the full line now launched and more planned for 2023, Lucid is working to stand out in the electric car market.
“It's a relentless obsession on efficiency as well as performance and taking the technology of electric cars to an entirely new level,” Jenkins said.
“The Lucid Air is really just the first step at that. Then we go into our SUV and then more mainstream models later on, and we really want to be at the very pinnacle of the technology.”
As they premiere their cars worldwide, Lucid has an eye on the Middle East, hoping to boost the prominence of electric vehicles in the region. They revealed plans in May for the construction of a world-class Lucid production factory in Saudi Arabia with a capacity of 155,000 electric vehicles. The plant will be located in the King Abdullah Economic City.
Jenkins continued: “The car looks amazing on the road over there. And we have a lot of people, not just from Saudi Arabia but all over the Middle East, that are fans of Lucid, and they're following Lucid very closely. So we're super excited about that.”
REVIEW: Pizzazz and power – The Ferrari F8 Spider
- The Italian supercar maker has produced an exhilarating and head-turning open-top icon
DUBAI: I’ve had a thing about Spiders — the car model, rather than the eight-legged variety — ever since Dustin Hoffman drove off into the sunset with Katharine Ross in the movie “The Graduate,” but at last I’ve had the chance to drive the real thing.
The Ferrari F8 Spider is a vastly different car from the one all those years back in the movie, but a few hours behind the wheel shows exactly why Dustin got his girl. The Ferrari F8 is just about the most exciting Italian super-sports car on wheels (although I must admit I have not yet tried the new “Aperta” version of the v-12, which has just been unveiled in Italy.)
Why Spider? The term goes back to horse-and-carriage days — it was a type of carriage with a small body and large spoked wheels that had a distinctly arachnid look. But Ferrari has laid claim to the design by offering virtually all its models in “Spider” version — an open top sports car that allows you to feel the wind and sun on your face as you go through the exhilarating Ferrari driving experience.
The technology has certainly moved on. The Graduate Spider had a quaint hand wind-down canopy. In the F8, the roof slides back silently and electronically in a few seconds, a feat you can accomplish at the touch of a rooftop button and while traveling at speeds up to 45kph. One pedestrian stood jaw-dropped in amazement as I did this on Jumeirah Beach Road in Dubai, probably expecting the roof to fly off in the jet stream.
But everyone stares at a Ferrari. The pizzazz factor is extreme, and the sleek but powerful lines of the F8 certainly draw the stares. If you like to be made a fuss of on five-star hotel forecourts, this is the car for you.
Equally, if you like neck-jerking acceleration and a roaring exhaust, this is your car. The 3.9-liter V8 twin turbo engine does 0-100kph in a scary 2.9 seconds and can reach a top speed of nearly 340kph.
Even at lower speeds, the experience is absolutely exhilarating, especially inside the Ferrari “cockpit” with the sensation of being strapped to a fighter jet. The car responds to each touch of a pedal or flick of a switch with an instant and frightening surge in power.
The acceleration in the F8 Spider is truly awesome, and even a bit frightening, especially with the top down. Flick the drive mode selector into “race” and you could be on the test track at Marinello in Italy.
I got the distinct impression at one stage of my test drive — when I gunned it as fast as I dared — that the car was about to lift off front-first from Sheikh Zayed Road, but of course that is an impossibility. The sleek aerodynamics and incredible road-holding, steering and braking technology leave you in control of the car even at eye-ball popping acceleration. Racing out of a sharp bend with the tires squealing and G-forces mounting is a real thrill.
Ferraris are supposed to be red, of course, but the one I drove was a classy golden brown, which I thought contrasted better with the yellow “prancing horse” badge. Even more potential for head-turning.
And now, the bad news. The Ferrari F8 Spider will cost in the region of 1 million dirhams ($270,000) for starters, and extras and customization will add to that. But if you want an iconic piece of high technology supercar with all the heritage of the prancing horse, you might think of it as a bargain.
REVIEW: Heritage, power and urban sophistication — Aston Martin DBX
- The British car maker has made an SUV that will appeal to Mr. and Mrs. Bond
DUBAI: I was privileged to get a glimpse of the Aston Martin DBX a few years back at the carmaker’s main production plant in Warwickshire in the UK when it was just in the concept stage, and it looked a knock-out then.
A super SUV from the maker of the vehicle of choice of James Bond, the legendary British spy? Who would say no to that idea? Certainly not elite car aficionados in the Middle East, that’s for sure, and I recall telling Aston executives back then that they should get the car to the Gulf as quick as possible, because it was sure to be a winner.
A lot has happened at Aston since then, but it is reassuring to know that the company has lived up to the promise of the super SUV, which can now be seen and bought in the cities of the Gulf. It’s also reassuring to know that my judgement back then has been proved correct — the DBX is a real show-stopper.
Aston has come under new management over the past year, to help it through another bout of financial pressure brought on by a combination of Brexit, stock market woes, and the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But it has not let those problems distract it from the main job — designing, manufacturing and selling top-class vehicles that have a distinctive British flavor, as well as an edge of excitement and — even — danger that other elite marks do not possess. The Bond heritage.
But how to combine that with the comfort, accessibility and adaptability of an SUV? Other super-car manufacturers have tried it, with varying degrees of success, but I think the DBX has produced an all-terrain vehicle that retains the pizzazz and glamour of its sports car stablemates better than most.
In the DBX, you could imagine Mrs Bond dropping the kids at school and doing a supermarket shop before handing the keys back to James for a spot of clandestine espionage. Mr Bond would be pleased to have the chance to drive it, I’d guarantee.
The one that I was lucky enough to test in Dubai was a real head-turner. My favorite hotel valet man at one of Dubai’s glitzy five-star hotels — who knows a thing or two about elite cars, having parked all of them — took a sharp intake of breath at the matt Xenon grey body paint that made the DBX look quite sinister, but also very muscular and powerful.
The wheels are big, even by SUV standards and would be sure to get you to the crest of even the most demanding sand dune, if that was your aim, or just to add to the road-holding qualities the DBX has even at high speeds and sharp corners.
A 4.0 litre V8 turbocharged engine — from Aston’s German partner Mercedes — speeds you from 0 to 100km in 4.5 seconds and deliver a top speed of just under 300kph. Mrs Bond will be fine with that. James might want just a little a bit more but that’s a minor quibble — and in any case he could flick it into Sport+ mode when in hot pursuit of a villain.
Aston’s sound system — encased in leather like the rest of the interior — belts out the decibels through 14 strategically placed speakers that allow you to hear the music even above the distinctive deep-throated growl of the engine.
It is an SUV for sure, with plenty of space and comfort in the back and a boot that will carry everything you’ll want, including the dog. (One option is a pet-package that includes a washing facility for muddy post-walk paws, which would be equally useful for sandy feet.)
One thing I really liked was a huge sliding roof that pulled back to give you a skyline view and instantly made the interior look even more spacious. Great for night-time cruising in the high-rise cities of the Middle East.
The DBX starts at AED837,000 ($228,000), but extras — courtesy of Aston’s Q department — will probably make it a near AED1 million investment. That’s well worth it for a car that combines heritage, power and urban sophistication in one very head-turning package.
