CAR Middle East Awards 2010

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This year we were looking for automotive heroes and in this 18-page special we pay tribute to the

best cars and highest achievers of 2010

21 winners were honoured from 12 car categories, five industry awards and three people’s choice awards. Aside from the latter the three finalists and winners were all chosen by our panel of judges including myself, Dep Ed,

Imthishan Giado; Charged magazine editor, Michael Gordon; and CAR ME Editorial contributors Fraser Martin and Richard Whitehead.

Thanks also to our sponsors: AXA Insurance, Diva modelling and events, Victory, Raymond Weil Watches,

Polaris, Yas Marina Circuit, Kahn delivered by Signature Techniques

By Shahzad Sheikh

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JANUARY 2011 | CARMIDDLEEAST.COM

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CARMIDDLEEAST.COM | JANUARY 2011

Small car of the year

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The Honda CiviC 5-door is quiTe simply The mosT sTarkly futuristiC-looking haTchback you can buy, and The type r is menTal. buT for less Than $23k few are as much fun as The renault Clio sport rs200.

The liTTle fiat 500 simply can’t stand the pace in this company (Though waiT Till The abartH arrives!) yeT The cinquecenTo is adorable. and ThaT alone wins iT massive kudos. The facT ThaT iT is also affordable, pracTical and maTches The iConiC exTerior wiTh a highly appealing cabin seals The deal.

Renault Clio Sport RS200 Honda Civic 5-door

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The bmW 5-series is solid in everyway, so much beTTer looking Than before. an obvious premium choice. The kia optima Turns heads and is The besT looking new Three-box bar none!

buT iT is The ‘sleeper’ ThaT wins The day. wiTh iTs new more overT desirabiliTy, The volvo s60 offers a greaT inTerior, solid build, strong performance (T6 is The mosT poWerful car in iTs segmenT), and asTonishingly dynamiC handling. pracTical, fasT, comfy and, of course, safe, The sWede sneaks off wiTh The laurels.

BMW 5-Series Kia Optima

Saloon car of the year


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Family car of the year

We like the Kia Sportage, but more of that opposite... Volkswagen’s all-neW touareg offers porSche-level engineering for PeoPle’s Car money.

but rising from the ashes is a legendary american off-road brand that some thought Would diSappear into history, instead its fighting bacK. the grand cheroKee is good on and off-road, spacious and versatile, and quality has taken a huge leap forWard. drop the kids at school, head to Work and on the Weekend, take the family camping – perfect!

Kia Sportage Volkswagen Touareg

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Compact SUV of the year

BMw’s X1 looks good, feels premium and proves to be a Sporty and fun, lifestyle vehicle. hoWever right noW, buyers are looking for value,

this is Where the KoreanS are really delivering noW Without compromising quality. the latest gen hyundai tucSon and Kia Sportage are cousins and share a lot under the skin. both represent great buys. but the kia just edgeS it thanks to bold looks and sharp lines, cultivating a confidence that encourageS your custom.

BMW X1 Hyundai Tucson


SUV of the year

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the new nissan Patrol is most definitely not the old nissan Patrol. it takes the illustrious nameplate in a bold new direction. the toyota land Cruiser 5.7 V8 adds more oomPh to a proVen package and it is still the last remaining workhorse. meanwhile the new

PorsChe Cayenne has done the imPossible – it’s finally made us fall in love with it. it’s done this by significantly yet subtly imProving its styling to make it more likeable. it also helps that, for an suV, it is great to drive hard.

Nissan Patrol Toyota Land Cruiser 5.7 V8

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Coupe of the year

it’s very hard to resist the lure of the three-Pointed star, and the Cl CouPe is majestic, oVerwhelmingly so in amg guise. the 2011 mustang goes Camaro-baiting and you still ache for this eponymous musCle Car, now better than eVer. But it’s the sharp-suited, mean and rather menaCing CadillaC Cts boasting astonishingly able dynamics, solid showroom appeal and a Very palatable price tag that steals the show. in 556bhP v-sPeC guise, it’s damn near unstoPPable and has us helplessly saliVating!

Ford Mustang Mercedes CL & CL63


Convertible of the year

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MIDDLE EAST

Take Audi’S R8 V10, chop The roof off, and you have The SenSAtionAl and deeply desirable SpydeR. The MASeRAti GRAnCAbRio is jusT Sex-on-wheelS.

however The fasTesT four-seaT ConVeRtible in The world is The benTley ContinentAl SupeRSpoRtS. This thundeRouS drop-Top boasTs over 600bhp, 0-100 in 4 seconds and a Top speed norTh of 320kph. iT easily combines bRutAl and blunT poweR wiTh eleganT and suave sTyle, mixing in a dose of deVil-MAy-CARe glamour whilsT saving The world aT The same Time.

Maserati GranCabrio Audi R8 V10 Spyder

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The Audi A8 & bMw 5-SeRieS are serious GeRMAnS, boTh solid saloons ThaT have earned Their spaces in The exeC CAR pARk.

buT whilsT They siT There dripping SMuGneSS, a car hurTles in, tAil-SlideS inTo a parking space and wiTh a twinkle of iTs l.e.d. lighTs sTeals The show. The jaunTy JAGuAR xJ has lefT rivals sTanding when iT comes To moving The game on. liGhtweiGht body, feARSoMe performance, dexTrous handling, comfy cabin and ThaT deleCtAble dashboard easily Takes The CRown This year.

Executive car of the year

Audi A8 L BMW 5-Series


Luxury car of the year

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MIDDLE EAST

The Mercedes s-class isThe sTandard bearer in The segmenT. BuT when iT comes down To ultiMate luxury, iT has To Be BeTween Two marques – rolls-royce and bentley. choosing BeTween ghosT and mulsanne proved To Be one of The toughest decisions of The awards.

ghosT is The new junior roller, whilsT mulsanne is The new flagship; The ghosT excels aT luxury, The mulsanne a superior drive. The flying lady Takes The TiTle from The flying b By The sliMMest of margins Thanks To iTs marginally greaTer Majesty.

Bentley Mulsanne Mercedes S63

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Sports saloon of the year


few cars fiT BeTTer inTo The sports saloon BrackeT Than BMW’s Five. however There were Two oThers To consider: The beautiful, BuT flawed gem ThaT is The aston Martin rapide, and The deadly Mixed-Martial arts specialisT from japan – the lexus is-f.

The asTon however is a rare beast and raTher Too arisTocraTic To Be a back-street bruiser, someThing The lexus is cerTainly noT shy about in ‘F’ guise. tough, poTenT, loud and lairy, it’s everything a lexus norMally isn’t! We love it.

Aston Martin Rapide BMW 5-Series


Sports car of the year

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few cars can match the Lotus Evora for driving precision this side of a porsche Cayman. Plus it’s so rare it’s almost exotic. the audi r8 v10 is also a formidable contender.

but for hard-core drivers the Gt2 rs represents the 911 wEapon of ChoiCE – it is the fastEst and most powErfuL road car that porsChE has ever built, the hardest to tame too. it’s the most thriLLinG 911 that you can buy… well you could. it’s soLd out now. but if we could, this is the one we’d get, aLtErnativELy there’s always the gt3 rs…

Audi R8 V10 Lotus Evora

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And the Car of the Year is...

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SUpercar of the year:See a MercedeS SLS aMG on the road and it takeS your breath away, eSpecially when it liftS thoSe amazing GULLwinG doorS. goeS well too. but the LaMborGhini GaLLardo SUperLeGGera iS a proper raging bull that keepS you on the edge and leaveS you fizzinG after every drive. the SUpercar of the year title waS hard foUGht but in the end it went to the ferrari 458 itaLia.

which alSo won another accolade – our titLe award in fact. the 458 italia alSo won another title...

overaLL car of the year: the overall winner waS choSen by anonyMoUS Scoring. in third place waS the bentLey continentaL SUperSportS convertibLe with 42 pointS proving that it waS quite Simply the ULtiMate high-Speed open-air experience. beatinG it by two pointS waS the JaGUar XJ with 44 proving that an oLd doG could learn new trickS.

but the fiery italian redhead waS irreSiStible, even if it did grab victory by juSt a SinGLe point! the ferrari 458 itaLia iS one of the more deSirabLe carS on the pLanet, and will Surely go down aS a prancing horSe ‘great’. Stunning lineS, exquiSite detailing, pULveriSinG performance, aStoniShing dynamicS and yet everyday uSability. it manageS to vanqUiSh all comerS with frightening eaSe, and it iS our ultimate SUperhero car of the day.

Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera

Mercedes AMG SLS

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Overall Car of the year 2010

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PeoPle’s choice awardsNew for this year, it was the first time we invited you, our readers, to take part in choosing our winners. Readers logged on to CARMiddleEast.com and voted for three People’s Choice awards for Car of the Year, Dealer of the Year and Insurer of the year. Up for grabs was a great day out on track at Yas Marina Circuit

insurer of the yearaXa insurance

Alexis de Beauregard of AXA (right): ‘We’re very proud to be a winner. Furthermore, it’s the People’s Choice one and really coming from customers which is fully in line with our strategy of being customer-centric. It rewards completely what AXA has been doing in the past years.’

dealer of the yearal futtaim Motors

Hugh Dickerson of Al Futtaim Motors: ‘The fact that it’s voted by our customers means a lot more, so I’m glad that we’ve been of service and obviously want to continue to improve on that in the years to come.’

car of the yearaudi r8 V10 spyder

Jeff Mannering Managing Director of Audi Middle East said upon winning the award: ‘It’s always great to win a prize when it’s been voted by the people. It’s part of our strategy to be the number one premium brand. And c’mon it’s a great looking car!’


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MotorsPort achieVeMent of the yearGulf sport racing

GullSport Racing sells high-performance cars, prepares and runs race cars as well as its own team featuring Ginettas and Maserati Granturismos and has embarked on plans to run the region’s first single-seater series (FG1000) with the sole purpose of finding a future Formula 1 racing driver from the GCC.

The man behind GulfSport Racing is Barry Hope, one of the most ardent and long-serving proponents of motorsports and in the gulf. There are few in Motorsport who have continued to push against the odds time and time again. In promoting motorsport through his own business he has been a loyal supporter of anyone who showed interest. His tireless efforts to push new series, get more people and manufacturers involved and his ability to enthuse newcomers to the world of motorsport here, have been an invaluable source of inspiration to many.

eVent of the yearyas Marina drag racing inaugural event

In late March 2010 two top fuel dragsters boasting 8000bhp each blasted down a brand new drag strip in anger for the first time. That weekend Rod ‘Hot Rod’ Fuller became the fastest man in the UAE catapulting from zero to 499.97kph in just 3.893 seconds.

For Yas Marina Circuit on the Yas Island in UAE capital Abu Dhabi it wasn’t enough to build the only ‘all concrete’ quarter mile dragstrip in the Middle East, or to be the first one outside of the USA to be accredited by the National Hot Rod Association, it also bought not one but two Top Fuel dragsters, including a full support team two of America’s leading drag racers.

The circuit then held its inaugural drag racing event with a varied and exciting mix of dedicated dragsters including Funny Cars, Pro Mods and even production models. A great day out and if you’ve never seen, heard and felt a Top Fueller blast down a strip, make sure you don’t miss the next one.


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desiGn and technoloGy awardJaguar c-X75

Electric cars just got sexy. Very, very sexy. Jaguar’s surprise Paris Motor Show concept, the C-X75 demonstrated how, in the not-to-distant future, we would have our cake and eat it too. Voluptuous yet sleek, 780bhp but zero emissions, oh… and 80,000rpm!

You read that right. Tiny turbines powered by diesel spin up to that speed, produce 95bhp and charge four electric motors in each wheel hub producing a total of 1578lb ft of torque for a theoretical 0-100kph in 3.4 seconds and a 330kph.

Brilliantly innovative, the tech is some way off working to quite this level, but attempting to glimpse the future, whilst exciting us about cars to come, is what concepts cars should be all about. This one scored on every front.

Manufacturer of the yearhyundai & Kia

Choosing the most outstand-ing car maker this proved tough when the same two names kept popping up. So in the end we broke with custom and decided that Hyundai and Kia would jointly win the title, particularly as they are sister companies anyway.

A succession of hugely impressive cars means the world has started taking serious note of everything new wearing these badges. And this year they’ve come thick and fast: Kia Cadenza, Sorento and Sportage, each one increasingly better-than the last and culminating in the incredibly stylish Optima. And from Hyundai: Tucson, Sonata, the Lexus LS-chasing Centennial and a lifetime warranty offer in Bahrain!

The Japanese are watching them very closely and are getting quite frantic about the strong products and matching prices with them. We suggest they should also worry about design and styling too. Well done to the dynamic duo!

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Personality of the yearraed abu Zinadh

He’s a long-time reader of CAR Middle East, and a proper petrolhead with a collection of cars that has us turning green with envy every time we think about it.

He’s also designed motor racing facilities in the region and built the first FIA-approved International Circuit in Saudi Arabia – which he also runs. He himself started racing in 1993 and still regularly races – most recently in the Middle East Radicals series and in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East.

He also started the Saudi Falcons – the Kingdom’s first professional racing team. And when he’s not racing, he’s helping others to go

racing and sponsors 16-17-year olds coming up from karting to go take part in the Saudi Formula Championship.

On top of all that, he’s also the host of MBC Action’s new Arabic motoring TV show, Driven.

Plus he also raises pet cats – and when we say cat, we’re actually referring to big cats like lions and tigers! And as if all this didn’t present him with enough danger, he also holds a shark-feeder certificate. So while everyone else jumps out of the water, he goes in to feed the sharks.

Okay so these last two attributes are utterly irrelevant to the award, but we think they’re cool and they prove that he is a committed car-loving adrenalin junkie that lives on the limit everyday. And for that, we salute him. Our personality of the year is Raed Abu Zinadh.

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Night of Winners

THE FOURTH ANNUAL CAR Middle East Awards was held to rousing success last month at the Westin Hotel in Dubai. Close to 200 guests were on hand to toast the cream of the regional motoring community in a glittering ceremony hosted by our very own genial Editorial Director Shahzad Sheikh. On the night, we gave away awards to cars in 12 categories, with the much-lauded Ferrari 458 Italia bagging the top double of Supercar

of the Year and Overall Car of the Year. There were surprises as well, with the Korean duo of Hyundai and Kia jointly securing Manufacturer of the Year.

We also presented five industry awards, with the prestigious trophy for Personality of the Year going to Reem Circuit’s Raed Abu Zinadh.

For full coverage of the awards and all our winners, turn to page 41 to check out our exclusive comics spread by ace artist Ashraf Ghori.

AGENDA16


Future cars // motorsport // gadgets // people // car culture // opINIoN // 17

Raed Abu Zinadh receives the prize for Personality of the Year from MD Ali Akawi

Great seats, excellent ergonomics, satisfying qua Great seats, excellent ergonomics,

Audi PR Arafaat Ali Khan chats with our cover artist, Ashraf Ghori

Ferrari’s Marco Sambaldi picked up two tropies on the night, including Car of the Year

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CAR Middle East Awards 2010

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