Dubai: If there are still prospective car buyers in the UAE waiting to be convinced, recent launches and upcoming ones could give them more than one reason to go out and buy.
Land Rover has just introduced the Discovery Sport, the first member of the freshly imagined Discovery family and which will slug it out in the premium compact SUV space — a segment that still has a lot of room for growth. If the manufacturer wins over enough volumes, it will help widen the base of best-selling models that it possesses with the Range Rover, the Range Rover Sport and the Evoque.
A fortnight ago, Lexus came out with the RC Coupe, available in two variants and with prices of Dh180,000 plus and Dh310,000 respectively. “The Gulf’s premium car market and its preferences seem to look settled, but there are still gaps in model choices that manufacturers can try to develop,” said Takashi Obata, General Manager, Sales and Marketing, the Middle East and Southwest Asia Division at Toyota Motor Corp. “As for Lexus, we see doing a lot more with a compact SUV.”
And it has just the model — the all-new NX, already available in the US and being readied for a Middle East launch date.
Ford has two sure-fire hits up ahead, in the form of the new Mustang — priced between Dh130,000 to Dh195,000 — and the F-150 all-aluminium truck.
BMW’s got the X6 out and Mercedes-Benz will have the new CLA 45 AMG.
All of which has enough horsepower and prestige to drive strong double-digit numbers for the local premium car market. Arno Husselmann of Abu Dhabi Motors waxes confidence when he says: “The affluent market is usually affected less than the entry level segment here in the UAE. Given most of our sales are to Individuals we do not feel the effects of an economic downturn as much as the corporate market would.”
