Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors — BMW Group (Naghi BMW) has undertaken a series of initiatives to provide employment opportunities to Saudi citizens and to secure long-term financial security, according to Donn Muirhead, managing director of Naghi BMW.
In an interview with Arab News, Muirhead confirmed that the company has increased BMW and MINI sales in the Kingdom during the first quarter of this year by 30 percent.
He revealed that he sees Vision 2030 as a roadmap for transforming the country’s economy.
In a wide-ranging interview, the Briton revealed that the Saudi market will see the launch of new models this year including the 6 Series Gran Turismo which made its public debut at Frankfurt’s International Motor Show (IAA) in last month. This will be followed by the new X3 later in the year.
Here’s what he had to tell Arab News.
How did BMW do in the Kingdom in the first quarter of this year compared to first quarter of 2016 and which model has been the best seller?
We have increased BMW and MINI sales by 30 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2016 thanks to our top-selling BMW 7 Series. The BMW 7 Series continues to be the favorite of many of our customers including government sectors and commercial entities.
Are there any implications for the car industry in Saudi Arabia and specifically for BMW from the announced strategy of Vision 2030?
The Saudi Vision 2030 provides the ideal roadmap for transforming the Saudi economy. The Saudi automotive industry plays a huge role in the vision, as it caters to the largest market in the GCC.
Living up to Vision 2030, Naghi BMW has undertaken a series of initiatives and measures to improve the business environment to ensure economic growth, to provide employment opportunities to citizens and to secure long-term financial security. These include empowering Saudi youth, continuous investment in infrastructure and new technologies and a pledge of delivering a high level of customer service.
While most companies are racing to produce electric and plug-in hybrids, how do you see that segment developing in Saudi Arabia from brands such as BMW?
Electric and hybrid vehicles are gaining more exposure in the region and are steadily increasing due to evolution of technology, consumer needs and oil instability. BMW pioneers in this sector with the BMW i8 locally and globally and we believe this segment is expanding.
BMW has already made strong developments in the electric and plug-in hybrid cars segment with the BMWi being a BMW Group brand focused on connected mobility services, visionary vehicle concepts and a new understanding of premium strongly defined by sustainability.
What new models will you have introduced to the Saudi Arabian market during 2017?
Naghi Motors — BMW Group has launched the BMW 5 Series in March 2017. The seventh generation of the BMW 5 Series Sedan cuts a sporty, elegant and stylish figure with further enhanced dynamics and an unbeatable line-up of assistance systems. In addition, we welcomed the BMW M760Li xDrive. The 12-cylinder petrol engine with M Performance TwinPower Turbo technology under the bonnet reinforces the new car’s range-topping status. We are looking forward to the launch of the BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo which made its public debut at Frankfurt’s International Motor Show (IAA) last month. The market launch will then get underway in November. Later this year will also see the launch of the BMW X3.
How do you see the market in Saudi Arabia performing this year compared to last year, in view of volatility of oil prices?
2017 has been characterized by fluctuation and the automotive market has been influenced as well. The total automotive industry in the Kingdom showed a decrease in sales of around 15 percent [reaching 30 percent] for the premium brands, such as BMW. In Naghi BMW, the strong team spirit, the dedication to our values and most of all our customer-centric philosophy has proved an additional asset that contributed significantly to the dominance of the 7 Series in its segment and a market share of 75.5 percent.
What after-sale services are you offering the Saudi consumer? And how widespread are BMW’s service and spare parts points in the Kingdom?
Naghi Motors — BMW Group is continuously expanding its after-sales services in all areas to maintain mechanism and body work. Services included are for brakes, oil, exhaust, mechanical repairs. Including minor to complete engine rebuild, and body work that begins from minor scratch to complete accident rebuild. Naghi BMW is constantly growing its network of new and used cars and after-sales showrooms as well as fast-lane service centres in key areas across the Kingdom, including the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
Service centers and spare parts stretch across the Kingdom with centres in Jeddah, Riyadh, Alkhobar, Makkah, Madinah and Al-Qassim.
How long does it take to get delivery of a BMW car with individual options after an order from Saudi Arabia?
BMW group follow a set of standards and procedures to ensure customers receive their favorite car with their choice of options. This process takes around five months — the same applies to any individual delivery worldwide.
What is BMW’s share of the local premium-car market? And who are your main competitors?
Our main competitors in the market are Mercedes and Audi. We have a market share of 22.5 percent.
Naghi BMW director: ‘Saudi Vision 2030 offers road map to transform Saudi economy’
Naghi BMW director: ‘Saudi Vision 2030 offers road map to transform Saudi economy’
Treat for local fans as Berlin set for Formula E double-header
- Germany leads both Drivers’ and Teams’ championships with Pascal Wehrlein and his TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team topping the tables
- Tempelhof Airport’s notorious concrete slab track set to be a tough test for drivers as the GEN3 race car competes in Europe for the first time
Formula E fans at the historic Tempelhof Airport Circuit in Berlin this weekend will, for the first time in championship history, get to cheer a German team and driver at the top of the standings going into the 2023 SABIC Berlin E-Prix double-header.
The Porsche 99X Electric has proven to be the benchmark car package in Season 9 with Pascal Wehrlein winning twice in the first three races to lead the Drivers’ World Championship and putting his TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team at the top of the Teams’ standings.
Great Britain’s Jake Dennis of Avalanche Andretti Formula E, the Porsche customer team, is 24 points behind Wehrlein in second and under pressure from Nick Cassidy (Envision Racing), just a point back in third after three consecutive appearances on the podium.
Double champion Jean-Éric Vergne (DS PENSKE) is only two points away in fourth having steered to victory in Hyderabad and finished second in Cape Town.
Jaguar’s I-TYPE 6 has emerged as the strongest competitor to the Porsche-powered cars since Round 4 in India. Cassidy has led the charge for Jaguar customer Envision Racing who sit just behind the German manufacturer in the standings.
The factory Jaguar TCS Racing team finally capitalized on its race-winning pace and energy management for a 1-3 result last time out in São Paulo as Mitch Evans and teammate Sam Bird (Jaguar TCS Racing) took to the podium. They find themselves 42 and 46 points from top spot in the Drivers’ table but with plenty of racing still to come.
Reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne (DS PENSKE) sits 11th in the standings, more than 60 points back. Retaining the title now looks like a distant dream, but he has form around Tempelhof with a win and two podiums to his name. Dominating the double-header in Berlin would put the Belgian firmly back in contention.
Berlin is the only city to have hosted a race in every season of Formula E — 16 in total. The 2.4-km Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit on the outskirts of the German capital city is a unique challenge for the teams and drivers, and a favorite of many.
Saudi-backed Lucid EV cars get global launch
- The Lucid Air has already been named the MotorTrend Car of the Year and honored as one of Time Magazine’s 200 Best Innovations of 2022
BEVERLY HILLS: Just a few weeks after Lucid Motors opened their first Middle East studio in Riyadh, and four years after the Saudi government made its initial investment of $1 billion, the vehicle manufacturer held the global launch event for their debut line of electric sedans.
And Saudi support has been influential in bringing the vehicle to fruition, according to Derek Jenkins, senior vice-president of design at Lucid.
“We wouldn't be here today without the support from the Saudi Public Investment Fund,” he said. “It allowed us to really develop our technology, not just at a concept level, but all the way through the production and deliver it to customers worldwide.”
The Lucid Air has already been named the MotorTrend Car of the Year and honored as one of Time Magazine’s 200 Best Innovations of 2022.
With the full line now launched and more planned for 2023, Lucid is working to stand out in the electric car market.
“It's a relentless obsession on efficiency as well as performance and taking the technology of electric cars to an entirely new level,” Jenkins said.
“The Lucid Air is really just the first step at that. Then we go into our SUV and then more mainstream models later on, and we really want to be at the very pinnacle of the technology.”
As they premiere their cars worldwide, Lucid has an eye on the Middle East, hoping to boost the prominence of electric vehicles in the region. They revealed plans in May for the construction of a world-class Lucid production factory in Saudi Arabia with a capacity of 155,000 electric vehicles. The plant will be located in the King Abdullah Economic City.
Jenkins continued: “The car looks amazing on the road over there. And we have a lot of people, not just from Saudi Arabia but all over the Middle East, that are fans of Lucid, and they're following Lucid very closely. So we're super excited about that.”
REVIEW: Pizzazz and power – The Ferrari F8 Spider
- The Italian supercar maker has produced an exhilarating and head-turning open-top icon
DUBAI: I’ve had a thing about Spiders — the car model, rather than the eight-legged variety — ever since Dustin Hoffman drove off into the sunset with Katharine Ross in the movie “The Graduate,” but at last I’ve had the chance to drive the real thing.
The Ferrari F8 Spider is a vastly different car from the one all those years back in the movie, but a few hours behind the wheel shows exactly why Dustin got his girl. The Ferrari F8 is just about the most exciting Italian super-sports car on wheels (although I must admit I have not yet tried the new “Aperta” version of the v-12, which has just been unveiled in Italy.)
Why Spider? The term goes back to horse-and-carriage days — it was a type of carriage with a small body and large spoked wheels that had a distinctly arachnid look. But Ferrari has laid claim to the design by offering virtually all its models in “Spider” version — an open top sports car that allows you to feel the wind and sun on your face as you go through the exhilarating Ferrari driving experience.
The technology has certainly moved on. The Graduate Spider had a quaint hand wind-down canopy. In the F8, the roof slides back silently and electronically in a few seconds, a feat you can accomplish at the touch of a rooftop button and while traveling at speeds up to 45kph. One pedestrian stood jaw-dropped in amazement as I did this on Jumeirah Beach Road in Dubai, probably expecting the roof to fly off in the jet stream.
But everyone stares at a Ferrari. The pizzazz factor is extreme, and the sleek but powerful lines of the F8 certainly draw the stares. If you like to be made a fuss of on five-star hotel forecourts, this is the car for you.
Equally, if you like neck-jerking acceleration and a roaring exhaust, this is your car. The 3.9-liter V8 twin turbo engine does 0-100kph in a scary 2.9 seconds and can reach a top speed of nearly 340kph.
Even at lower speeds, the experience is absolutely exhilarating, especially inside the Ferrari “cockpit” with the sensation of being strapped to a fighter jet. The car responds to each touch of a pedal or flick of a switch with an instant and frightening surge in power.
The acceleration in the F8 Spider is truly awesome, and even a bit frightening, especially with the top down. Flick the drive mode selector into “race” and you could be on the test track at Marinello in Italy.
I got the distinct impression at one stage of my test drive — when I gunned it as fast as I dared — that the car was about to lift off front-first from Sheikh Zayed Road, but of course that is an impossibility. The sleek aerodynamics and incredible road-holding, steering and braking technology leave you in control of the car even at eye-ball popping acceleration. Racing out of a sharp bend with the tires squealing and G-forces mounting is a real thrill.
Ferraris are supposed to be red, of course, but the one I drove was a classy golden brown, which I thought contrasted better with the yellow “prancing horse” badge. Even more potential for head-turning.
And now, the bad news. The Ferrari F8 Spider will cost in the region of 1 million dirhams ($270,000) for starters, and extras and customization will add to that. But if you want an iconic piece of high technology supercar with all the heritage of the prancing horse, you might think of it as a bargain.
REVIEW: Heritage, power and urban sophistication — Aston Martin DBX
- The British car maker has made an SUV that will appeal to Mr. and Mrs. Bond
DUBAI: I was privileged to get a glimpse of the Aston Martin DBX a few years back at the carmaker’s main production plant in Warwickshire in the UK when it was just in the concept stage, and it looked a knock-out then.
A super SUV from the maker of the vehicle of choice of James Bond, the legendary British spy? Who would say no to that idea? Certainly not elite car aficionados in the Middle East, that’s for sure, and I recall telling Aston executives back then that they should get the car to the Gulf as quick as possible, because it was sure to be a winner.
A lot has happened at Aston since then, but it is reassuring to know that the company has lived up to the promise of the super SUV, which can now be seen and bought in the cities of the Gulf. It’s also reassuring to know that my judgement back then has been proved correct — the DBX is a real show-stopper.
Aston has come under new management over the past year, to help it through another bout of financial pressure brought on by a combination of Brexit, stock market woes, and the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But it has not let those problems distract it from the main job — designing, manufacturing and selling top-class vehicles that have a distinctive British flavor, as well as an edge of excitement and — even — danger that other elite marks do not possess. The Bond heritage.
But how to combine that with the comfort, accessibility and adaptability of an SUV? Other super-car manufacturers have tried it, with varying degrees of success, but I think the DBX has produced an all-terrain vehicle that retains the pizzazz and glamour of its sports car stablemates better than most.
In the DBX, you could imagine Mrs Bond dropping the kids at school and doing a supermarket shop before handing the keys back to James for a spot of clandestine espionage. Mr Bond would be pleased to have the chance to drive it, I’d guarantee.
The one that I was lucky enough to test in Dubai was a real head-turner. My favorite hotel valet man at one of Dubai’s glitzy five-star hotels — who knows a thing or two about elite cars, having parked all of them — took a sharp intake of breath at the matt Xenon grey body paint that made the DBX look quite sinister, but also very muscular and powerful.
The wheels are big, even by SUV standards and would be sure to get you to the crest of even the most demanding sand dune, if that was your aim, or just to add to the road-holding qualities the DBX has even at high speeds and sharp corners.
A 4.0 litre V8 turbocharged engine — from Aston’s German partner Mercedes — speeds you from 0 to 100km in 4.5 seconds and deliver a top speed of just under 300kph. Mrs Bond will be fine with that. James might want just a little a bit more but that’s a minor quibble — and in any case he could flick it into Sport+ mode when in hot pursuit of a villain.
Aston’s sound system — encased in leather like the rest of the interior — belts out the decibels through 14 strategically placed speakers that allow you to hear the music even above the distinctive deep-throated growl of the engine.
It is an SUV for sure, with plenty of space and comfort in the back and a boot that will carry everything you’ll want, including the dog. (One option is a pet-package that includes a washing facility for muddy post-walk paws, which would be equally useful for sandy feet.)
One thing I really liked was a huge sliding roof that pulled back to give you a skyline view and instantly made the interior look even more spacious. Great for night-time cruising in the high-rise cities of the Middle East.
The DBX starts at AED837,000 ($228,000), but extras — courtesy of Aston’s Q department — will probably make it a near AED1 million investment. That’s well worth it for a car that combines heritage, power and urban sophistication in one very head-turning package.
REVIEW: Eternally aerodynamic – the Porsche 911 Turbo S
- The German master car maker has produced a roaring tiger of a sports car, with technology to match
The Germans have a phrase for it: “Gibt es keinen Ersatz - there is no substitute”. And when it comes to the 2021 Porsche Turbo S, you just have to agree.
I do like German cars. The engineering and technology is always guaranteed to be top notch, good performance is taken for granted, and - personal view this - the styling and design says quality, efficiency and precision.
On the 911 Turbo S, you can add in mind-boggling speed. It is the fastest ever in the long line of iconic 911 sports cars, with neck-breaking acceleration of 0-100km in just 2.7 seconds. With a comparatively modest 3.8 liters of engine, that is considerably faster than many other super sports cars that have significantly bigger capacity.
The technology is best in class. You want front and rear spoilers at the push of a button? You got it. You want to avoid crunching the speed bumps by lifting the front of the car on approach? Flick of a switch. You want automatic door opening via a built-in finger print reader on the handle? That’s there too.
But it is behind the wheel that the Turbo S really impresses. You just somehow feel that is always has so much in reserve that there is no tricky road situation that could throw you. Instant acceleration - thanks to the powerful turbos - could get you out of any tough spot, and four-wheel drive and state-of-the-art braking ensures you can handle the car with assurance in even the most extreme of conditions.
One quirky detail that shows the attention to fine detail: to keep the front low on the road even in high-speed conditions, the rear wheels are slightly bigger than the front. Fiendishly clever, but simple dynamics.
Different driving modes - controlled by a switch on the steering wheel - take you from “normal” to “supersport” in the blink of an eye, and turn you into a Nurburgring legend at the flick of a switch.
In an era when cars are increasingly being promoted on the levels of silence from their engines, it is gratifying that Porsche has decided against all that new-age messaging.
In “normal”, the 640bhp engine is a growling lion, but slip it into “supersport” and it becomes a roaring tiger, ready to beat anything else on the road. It is a thrilling drive, even in a country where you cannot hope to get near its top speed of 330kmh - as, of course, you can still do in theory on many parts of the Germany autobahn network.
I especially liked the driving cockpit. Easy to get in and out for such a low-slung vehicle, it has everything you need and more in a hi-tech environment that oozes efficiency and functionality. There is no flash gimmickry, just 100 per cent precision.
The Bose surround-sound audio system would allow you to enjoy a Beethoven piano sonata even at top engine revs.
Although there is space for two fairly petite passengers in the back, this is obviously not a family car. The front luggage compartment will take a couple of weekend bags, but that’s about it.
Some people say that Porsche lacks imagination when it comes to body design, that one model looks pretty much like any other, regardless of price or specification. Why pay all that extra money for the Turbo S - around AED750,000 in the UAE - when it looks like any other 911?
I didn’t see it that way. The shape and design of the 911 is the iconic symbol of one of the greatest German car makers, and has been refined and fine-tuned over the decades without ever looking dated, just eternally aero-dynamic.
There is no substitute for class, quality and heritage, and the 911 Turbo S has those aplenty.
