3 years ago
Charlie Cooksey interviews Cesar Habib, Regional Director of Rolls-Royce Middle East & Africa. Rolls-Royce as a brand is known to be the pinnacle of luxury. What is “luxury”, and what defines a luxury car? I believe that luxury is not just a product. Luxury is a journey and a lifestyle that somebody has to experience. Every Rolls-Royce is a piece of art; from the engineering to the smallest of details and what makes Rolls-Royce luxurious is the Bespoke capabilities and service level it entails. When a customer starts a journey with Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, he becomes a member of our family. How do the demands of Middle East clients differ from other clients? Our clients are global citizens. With that said, they know what the trends are globally. They are open minded, they are passionate about luxury, and more importantly, they like to share. Our customers may differ in demographics, but their mindset and what they regard as important are the same: they want luxury and service. They want to be proud of what they own. In short — there’s not a big difference. They’re very, very, similar. Are there any defining characteristics that makes Rolls-Royce unique? No two Rolls-Royces […]
3 years ago
Charlie Cooksey from Gulf Insider drives the new Ferrari F8 Spider. The F8 Spider is a mid-rear-mounted two-seater that provides jaw dropping performance with reputedly the best 8-cylinder engine in the world. It offers intense driving pleasure, unprecedented handling, and superior ride comfort. Luxuriously stitched leather seats hold you in secure comfort no matter how hard you drive this car. Every element of the dash, steering wheel, door panels and tunnel is beautifully designed. It was a beautiful April day – not too hot, and while waiting at the Al Hawaj traffic lights, I remembered this car becomes a convertible at the touch of a button… So, I activated the process, by which, the blue sky opened up for me. The conversion to an open top sports car takes a dozen or so seconds and is mechanics as an art form. I realized all eyes from within the other cars around me were watching with fascination as the car changed. The F8 Spider was designed in parallel with the F8 Tributo – the most powerful, fastest, and lightest Ferrari for its type. They replace the 488 GTB and 488 Spider and have been significantly improved to provide even better control […]
4 years ago
Review by Charlie Cooksey I remember attending the EuroMotors launch of the new Ferrari Roma at the Bahrain International Circuit in late 2019 or early 2020 (pre-Covid days). The theme was La dolce vita (“the sweet life”), the iconic 1960 Italian movie directed by Federico Fellini that came to symbolize Italian style and attitudes for over a generation. It was a fun evening held outdoors in the Paddock area and we were treated to delicious Italian cooking, music, and there were lots of posters of Italian movie stars from long ago. Of course, the star of the night was the Roma. It was not for driving that evening, just for admiring. I remember looking forward to getting the chance to get behind the wheel, I just didn’t think it would take so long – over a year. The Roma, though understated compared to other Ferraris, is a beautiful car. I personally loved this particular car’s grey paintwork – the car I and everyone was admiring at EuroMotor’s La Dolce vita launch was this same rare colour so I’m guessing that this is the same car. So where does the Roma fit into the Ferrari family? I suppose it could be […]
4 years ago
Just recently, we spoke to David McGoldrick, the General Manager of BMW Group in Bahrain to know more about their plans ahead of the year. What were the greatest challenges BMW, and the motor industry in general, faced in 2020? The challenges can be defined in two areas: pre-Covid and post-Covid. The pre-Covid challenges were focused on the changes in people’s mobility requirements in the modern world. This includes issues on sustainability and environment as well as the costs associated with the research and development of new products. Post-Covid, would be the economic impact that affects the supply and demand of cars. Were you able to resolve these problems? In terms of dealing with Covid, we had to be agile. It’s not something that any of us have encountered before and we at BMW are continuing to react quickly to the circumstances each day posed. We have innovated the way we operate and offered our services. We have pioneered in an online showroom (for new and used cars), reduced consumer touch points and made our digital offerings more visible and seamless. Our customer service has been elevated – an example of that would be our car service and repair at […]
4 years ago
2020 has been a difficult year for a lot of industries, automotive included. How has Porsche dealt with the issues regionally and what effect, if any, has it had on the business? It has been a year unlike any other, but I’m pleased to say we’ve dealt with it head on. Naturally, the safety and well-being of our employees was at the forefront of our decision-making. Thanks to flexible business plans, fast support measures, creative ideas and above all, the great support of our Porsche partners across the region, we can be proud of what we achieved. We started the year off well and reported a 5-per cent growth in new car deliveries in the first quarter of 2020. Following the lockdown in the second quarter, which unsurprisingly affected our business, we had the best third quarter results over a 5-year period. What would you say have been the most significant moments and milestones for Porsche throughout the Middle East in 2020? Despite COVID-19 presenting a challenge on a scale which we have never seen before, we took big steps throughout the year that will continue to impact our operations positively in the years to come. What I found most […]
4 years ago
Just recently, we interviewed Dr. Hamid Haqparwar, Managing Director of BMW Group Middle East to know more about #NextGen, their latest innovations and plans for the region. What was the inspiration behind #NextGen? The concept of #NextGen has been developed a couple of years ago. Nowadays, people are becoming more and more digital savvy; they prefer to have the latest information within a very short timespan. At BMW, we decided to refocus our product launch strategies by transitioning into a digital concept. #NextGen is a first-of-its-kind platform where we elaborate about our technologies and showcase our latest innovations. It has various content hubs which contains highlights, discussions, videos and more information on our new products. We have started preparing for this global digital event long back and it was certainly fun for us to see the reaction of the audience. How difficult was it to transition to doing this totally digitally after years of doing everything through physical events? The transition was quite easy as we have been preparing for this for a while. As I’ve mentioned, we have already made significant progress in reducing our carbon footprint by going more into digital spaces. The idea, strategy and vision of […]
4 years ago
Earlier this year, NEOM entered a long-term partnership as Principal Partner of the Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team (MBFE). The partnership will serve to drive knowledge transfer and development of sustainable technology and mobility in alignment with Saudi vision 2030. We talked to Neal Coupland, Sports Partnership Director at NEOM to know more. What was the vision behind the NEOM-Mercedes-Benz EQ’s partnership?The NEOM-Mercedes-Benz EQ partnership is founded on a shared vision to pursue pioneering ideas, accelerating our bold ambitions to create a land of the future where the greatest minds are empowered to exceed boundaries. We are excited to be working with an organisation with such a rich heritage in sport who share our values, championing sustainability in support of the world’s first net carbon zero sport and leading advances in technology and engineering, seeking to pioneer the at-scale use of electric vehicles in everyday life. With the announcement of the partnership, development programs were outlined. How will these contribute to the global sports landscape and the region’s positioning? At NEOM one of major aims is to inspire a community of pioneers and nurture the next generation of talent. The partnership with Mercedes-Benz EQ will provide vital knowledge sharing opportunities […]
4 years ago
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4 years ago
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
5 years ago
Gulf Insider’s Charlie Cooksey goes to Dubai to experience a very special drive… I recently went to Dubai to experience the latest Ferrari Portofino M. Ferrari booked me into the beautiful Bulgari Hotel which was quite possibly the most stunning and luxurious hotel I have ever stayed in… residing on its own private island in Dubai. The Bulgari hotel is an excellent match to the luxury standard to that of Ferrari. The next morning, the Portofino M was delivered to me – loaded onto a flatbed truck. Usually, I prefer my Ferraris in traditional red, but I must admit to being strongly drawn to the unique dark grey paintwork of this particular Ferrari. After it was unloaded and I had signed the relevant paperwork accepting responsibility for it, the car was mine for the day to take wherever I wanted to go. I always enjoy cruising and driving around Dubai, up and down Sheikh Zayed road, and in the cool winter sunshine, it’s even more enjoyable to take the roof down to feel the speed, wind and the sun… However, when you start climbing over 120kph it can mess up your hair style! It was a working business day for me, […]