AUTOS
Indoor and outdoor action at Dubai’s motor show By Linda Benbow
I
t was a brilliant move on someone’s part to suggest that Dubai’s 10th International Motor Show should take place at the same time as a family activity show, i.e. Outdoor Adventure Dubai, at the now sizeable Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC). The combination of family activities of the outdoor land and water varieties, and what used to be the adult fun of looking for a car to buy, intermingled with all ages happily trying out the many things on offer. Within the Motor Show area, children, the next generation of car drivers, were encouraged to follow a fun-filled Green Trail Adventure Quest which took younger visitors through the car exhibits to find the green and environmentally-friendly highlights 48 l UAE Digest, January 2010
on exhibitors’ stands. A number of manufacturers brought their latest sustainable cars to compliment these features including BMW’s Active Hybrid 7 & the X6, General Motors’ Volt, Lexus’ LS600hL, the S400 from MercedesBenz and the 1/X from Toyota. There were other activities and events which included the dazzling gold leafing of a luxury Lexus, the chance to get behind the wheel of an F1 racing car, off-road driving tracks, test drives and a chance to meet Russ Wicks the fastest man on land and water. In the face of challenging global market conditions, which has witnessed the global scaling down of automotive shows around the world, this one welcomed over 200 companies with an unprecedented 13 exclusive global launches and a staggering 40 regional
from top name manufacturers. Models making their worldwide debuts at this year’s show were the Kepler Motors’ ‘Motion’ supercar, MercedesBenz G-Class Geländewagen Edition ‘79 and the Renault GCC Fluence. Adding further excitement, concept cars from BMW, General Motors, Hyundai and Toyota were shown, as well as a host of tuning and modification programmes from companies including, Brabus, FAB Design, Hamman, LRC Racing Engineering, PPI and Vorsteiner Manufacturers including Audi, BMW, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Hyundai, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, MercedesBenz, Nissan, Peugeot, Renault, Toyota and Volkswagen wowed curious motoring fans with regional premiers. Visitors saw arguably the world’s most expensive production car from Mantide,