|
The Gulf’s lust for the car shows no signs of abating. But what will happen when the oil runs out? Georgia Lewis reports
The stands at the Middle East Motor Show have been packed up for another year, leaving in their wake a fluttering trail of money – a lot of money. More than 100,000 auto aficionados descended on Dubai, many with platinum credit cards at the ready. It’s at events such as this you’re reminded just how deeply in love with the automobile the Gulf is.
It’s a love shared. The world’s car makers are head-over-heels about the Gulf too. Nissan courted affection by shipping in its multi-performance, super-potent GT-R especially for the Motor Show, causing attendees to go all gooey-eyed and attracting a host of pre-orders, despite the fact the car has yet to hit the roads in the Middle East. There was even more swooning over the Shelby Ultimate Aero, the fastest production car in the world with a top speed of 414kph. The show model was snapped up for US$500,000, while a further pair were ordered by equally cashed-up punt-ers, who now have to wait the 90 days it takes to build one of these lethal weapons. There were willing suitors for Mercedes’ US$545,000 dream-machine, the Maybach; meanwhile, the behind hit TV show Pimp My Ride, took nine orders for their US$355,000 Range Stormer, each one made to the buyer’s exact specifications.
For those who failed to find their ideal four-wheeled mate in Dubai, the inaugral Bahrain International Motor Show hits the Kingdom in April.
The reasons for this automotive love-fest are not hard to fathom. More than 60 percent of the world’s proved oil reserves are in the Middle East – so, no harm in burning a little up then! What better way to flaunt some of the ridiculous wealth generated by the world’s oil addiction than to parade around in some over-powered, over-priced wheeled totem of virility. Especially one that can be customised to excess: solid-gold fittings, monogram-embossed upholstery, personalised number-plates (the Saudi number-plate AAA-1111 recently sold at auction for US$1.7 million).
Not to mention that driving in the Gulf is fun. To see just how much fun, log on to YouTube.com and type in “Saudi sandals driving”. This takes you to one of the most viewed clips of recent times: footage of a group of young Saudi men motoring along a super-smooth road. But the passengers aren’t keeping to their seats. Instead, they are clinging to the outside of the car and road-skating in their flimsy, open-toed footwear. It’s probably not an activity recommended by the local constabulary, but it’s a clip that can’t help but raise a smile at the sheer fun of it all.
As well as plenty of magnificent, wide roads, there is plenty of driving joy to be had off-road in the Gulf. With affordable 4×4s on the market, petrol dirt cheap because it is literally springing out of the ground and some amazing desert landscapes, it’s no wonder the art of “dune-bashing” is incredibly popular.
The dark side of this obsession with fast, powerful cars is a tragically high death toll on the roads, with speed and overpowered cars prime factors in many accidents. Based on current figures, road accidents are projected to be the third most common cause of death in the Middle East by 2020.
But the date the region is really keeping an eye on is when the oil runs outs. While most experts reckon this is at least 25 years away, it would take a huge shift in attitude to prise people out of their cars. The need for automobile transport is not entirely one of consumer choice. Over the decades, city planners the world over have acceded to out-of-town developments with massive car parks, supposedly to ease our leisure and professional pursuits. In the Gulf, of course, cars make sense: you leave your air-conditioned apartment foyer, step into your air-conditioned car and drive to the air-conditioned mall or office block – all the time protected from the 45C heat outdoors.
Car manufacturers around the world are working to develop vehicles that use alternative sources of fuel for when the oil dries up. While there’s not yet an electric car that can deliver the same power as a petrol engine, the technology can’t be far away. Chevrolet brought its Volt concept car, powered by electricity and hydrogen, to the Middle East Motor Show – a bold move in the heart of the oil world. Ed Welburn, General Motors’ global vice president of design, hopes the car will make an impression on the region’s US$11 billion car industry when it goes into production: “This is a game-changing concept that we really take very seriously,” he said.
How long before car buyers take it seriously remains to be seen. A survey of attendees at the Middle East Motor Show revealed the cars they most aspire to owning are BMWs, Bentleys, Lamborghinis and Mercedes. With gas-guzzlers, high-powered muscle cars and slick sports cars still reigning supreme on the highways of the Gulf nations, this place remains a petrolhead’s paradise.
Writer Georgia Lewis is editor-at-large for Middle East Car magazine; www.middleeastcar.ae
Phantom lover
They may love their luuxry automobiles in the Middle East, says Ted Macauley, but there’s one buy that beats them all
The luxury limousine market in the Middle East is dominated by the 7-series BMW, along with sportier models from Ferrari, Porsche and Maserati. But, for a truly distinctive ride, nothing beats the US$520,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom.
The company has just launched its drophead Phantom in the region, which it hopes will further boost its global sales figure, which last year was 805 cars. There’s a waiting list of 18 months to two years, but, then, this is the Middle East’s ultimate status symbol.
On a recent trip to the UAE, the spanking new cream-and-coffee coloured Phantom I travelled in had, as standard equipment, two umbrellas that popped out of the back doors at the touch of a button. It would accelerate to 240kph on its six-speed automatic gearbox and pass through the 96kph mark from a dead stop in six seconds, with its 6.8 V12 engine hardly drawing breath. It also cornered with the safety and precision of the lowest-slung of sports cars.
There are seven outlets for Rolls-Royce in the Middle East – Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia – and each car can be customised to meet the client’s specific wishes.
“All you have to do is tell us what you want in your Rolls-Royce, how you wish it to look and what special equipment you would prefer, and we will do it,” says a spokesman for the distinguished company, from its headquarters in Goodwood, in the south of England. “We offer 43,000 colour choices, our superb leather and hide work is second to none, our woodwork, too – with special inlays, crests and the like – may be fashioned to the complete satisfaction of the fussiest customer. We are truly bespoke.”
There are Rolls-Royces in the Gulf that are fitted with electric backseats that elevate through a sliding roof for falconers to ply their pastime without moving too far, for too long, from the air-conditioned comfort of their motor.
And the most expensive Rolls-Royce the company has ever built? A long wheelbase version, armoured and in a “very special and unique colour mix,” with such add-ons as a cocktail bar, giant DVD screen, intercom to the driver behind a special divider, extra seats and treadplates bearing the owner’s name – plus bullet-proof glass, of course. All for US$3.2 million.
|
 |
