BYD OPENS TWO NEW SHOWROOMS IN UAE
The UAE has an ambitious goal of having over 40,000 EVs on road by 2030 and BYD Auto has been galloping fast, keeping pace with the vision. Al Futtaim Electric Mobility Company, partners of BYD in the UAE, has already achieved 1000 sales and triggered 5000 showroom visits in their Dubai Festival City showroom. With 20,000 leads generated, they expect to remain all charged up in the months to come, and to provide more venues to host their prospects, they have opened two more showrooms in strategic locations – one on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai and the other in Abu Dhabi.
The Sheikh Zayed Road showroom is located next to the Oasis mall between the second and third interchanges. Spread over 750 sq. m., the showroom will house the BYD range of electrified vehicles. The Full Electric cars in the BYD range includes BYD HAN, the sports sedan; BYD Seal and BYD Atto 3, the compact SUV. BYD also deals in plug-in hybrids (PHEV) that offer up to a 1000 km range like the BYD Song Plus, the midsize SUV and the BYD Qin Plus sedan. The showrooms also have a Discovery Zone that provide an immersive experience showcasing two technologies BYD is proud to display – the Blade battery and DM-I engine.
The BYD showroom and Discovery Centre in Abu Dhabi is located at the heart of the city’s automotive hub – Rabdan. The showroom is another milestone in realizing the vision of the Abu Dhabi Government to reduce carbon emissions and promote the use of electric vehicles under its Sustainable Mobility Strategy en route to achieving Net Zero by 2050. The 131 sq. m. showroom displays BYD models and showcases their pathbreaking technology.
The opening of both the showrooms had a special highlight: BYD’s highly talked about luxury electric SUV expected in 2025 in the UAE offered a brief glimpse – the ultra-capable Yang Wang U8 (featured in the cover picture) with a 1100 horsepower quad motor system is an all-electric car with performance credentials that could rival the Hummer or the Defender.
Hasan Nergiz, Managing Director at Al-Futtaim Electric Mobility Company, commented, “We have planned to open three new showrooms by the end of the year as well as four after-sales workshops and are excited to bring BYD closer to our customers.”
GM EGYPT BECOMES FIRST TO MAKE 1 MILLION VEHICLES
On September 25th, General Motors (GM) Egypt marked a unique milestone, becoming the first automotive company to manufacture a million vehicles locally at their 6th of October Plant. GM Egypt was established in 1983, and in forty years, they have not only expanded the job market but also strengthened public and private partnerships to increase production volume, aspiring to become a regional export hub for General Motors in the region.
GM Egypt has invested over 530 million US dollars in expanding and upgrading products their manufacturing capability and products. In the last ten years alone, over 50 million US dollars have boosted the integration of robotics and automation, in what is seen as the most advanced automotive plant in Egypt.
GM Egypt’s millionth locally produced vehicle is the Chevrolet T-Series commercial pickup truck – known among Egyptians as ‘The Dababbah’. More than 60% of the Chevrolet Dababbah is locally produced by various local suppliers from their 78-strong industry feeder network.
AL TAYER MOTORS WINS 6th FORD TRUCKS CHAMPIONS AWARD
Al Tayer Motors, the official Ford Trucks importer-distributor in the United Arab Emirates has been honoured with the Champions Award 2023 for its outstanding performance in Sales, After-Sales Services, and Marketing for the sixth time – the only company in the Middle East to achieve this feat. In 2023, the distributor recorded a sales growth of 30 per cent over the previous year. Al Tayer Motors retails the full range of Ford commercial vehicles in the UAE including the Construction series, Road series and Tractors.
BRIDGESTONE NAMED EXCLUSIVE TYRE PARTNER FOR TEMERARIO
Lamborghini announced Temerario as the successor to Huracan in August. The mid-engine plug-in hybrid will be the brand’s first turbocharged sports car marking the return of its V8 mid-engine format. As the brand’s ‘official technical partner’, Bridgestone has custom-engineered three tyre fitments for the Hybrid High Performance Electrified Vehicle (HPEV), enabling the supercar to achieve its best performance on and off track, as well as in tough winter conditions. Bridgestone has delivered bespoke Potenza Sport and Potenza Race tyres for summer and track fitments and a custom-developed Blizzak LM005 tyre for its winter requirements. The tyres were developed using Bridgestone’s proprietary Virtual Tyre Development Technology that added benefits in sustainability ad efficiency.
The Bridgestone Potenza Sport fitment has a pattern design that maximizes dry handling, wet handling and high-speed performances while the ultra-high performance tyre is also available in a run-flat homologated version, which allows safe driving after a puncture for 80 km at speeds of up to 80 kmph. The Potenza Race tyre is designed to unleash the extreme performance of the first ever production supercar engine capable of reaching 10,000 rpm. The tyre’s exceptional grip is enabled by a bespoke compound developed for track usage, which was then applied for road usage.
BRIDGESTONE AND AL JAWADEN GROUP PARTNERS FOR SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS
Away from the sporting arena, Bridgestone has taken another major step towards sustainable mobility solutions, in partnership with Al Jawaden Group, a prominent player in Iraq’s automotive sector. Together they will develop mobility solutions that will transform the automotive sector in the Middle East. The partnership was signed up and revealed to the world at SO/Uptown Dubai on the last day of September.
The partnership will bring together Al Jawaden Group’s substantial market share in Iraq and Bridgestone’s state-of-the-art tyre technology and mobility services to develop innovative and sustainable offerings that improve efficiency and reliability. The union is perfectly aligned with Bridgestone’s E8 Commitment, which focuses on advancing sustainable and data-driven mobility solutions. The two entities will aim at elevating the automotive landscape in Iraq.
