After five months it was almost looking like Chevrolet weren’t going to announce much in the way of special editions for 2017, this week however Chevrolet have broken their silence and announced an all-new special edition for their line up of sports cars. Although the edition will boast a number of eye catching specs, the name is relatively straightforward, it’s simply called the Corvette Carbon 65. Fans of Chevrolet can expect to find an exterior that has its own custom finish along with a raft of weight saving materials, all designed to make driving the Carbon 65 as fun as possible.

There’s no mistaking the Corvette Carbon 65, particularly when you compare it to the other cars in Chevrolet’s 2017 lineup. The carbon fibre body panels that come as standard include the roof panels and rear spoiler, along with the hood insert and centre wheel caps. The Carbon 65 also has a custom designed door, with fender graphics. The sleek look is completed by an exterior which is entirely coated in Ceramic Matrix Grey, although it looks more white than grey.

When it comes to the interior, weight has been saved pretty much everywhere you look and the steering wheel trim is no exception, which is made from carbon fibre. It’s also not short on luxury, with the Carbon 65 boasting a premium sound system courtesy of BOSE. There’s also navigation and Bluetooth pairing and cooled front seats, making it a perfect choice for the UAE.

Although there are plenty of aspects that would make the Carbon 65 ideal for the UAE, unfortunately not many of them will be seen outside of US shores. General Motors have announced that only 650 will be made and a huge 500 of those are heading to the States. It means only 150 Carbon 65s will end up being exported, so you’re going to have to be quick if you want to secure yourself one.

The Carbon 65 package will be available for an additional AED 55,095, for those who are already purchasing Corvette’s with Z06 along with the Grand Sport packages.

The residents of Dubai are no strangers to unusual cars. Wealthy sheikhs will always find new ways to make their exotic toys stand out from the pack – whether that’s an enormous, six-wheeled Mercedes G-Wagon, a gold-plated Lamborghini Aventador or an ultra-rare, jet black Bugatti.

But soon there could be some even more arrestingly eye-catching machines on the roads of the UAE: flying Uber taxis. That’s right, the revolutionary San Francisco-based tech start-up has nominated the emirate as one of only two places in the world – the other being Dallas, Texas – where it plans to turn its futuristic vision of airborne cars into a reality.

The benefits of flying taxis, according to Uber, are clear – reducing congestion and pollution on Dubai’s busy streets, vastly decreasing journey times across and between cities, and making better use of space that would usually be used to park conventional, non-airborne vehicles.

It’s no surprise Uber chose Dubai over, say, Shanghai or London. The Arab city is known for embracing the opportunity to adopt the newest transportation technology, with plans in the pipeline for one of the world’s first Hyperloop tracks and even jetpacks for firefighters.

The plan is more realistic than it may first appear. Uber attracts vast amounts of funding from outside investors and has so far dominated almost every market it has entered. The firm remains a software company as opposed to a taxi service or a vehicle manufacturer. The expectation is that Uber will partner with various other aircraft and infrastructure manufacturers who will build the aircraft themselves, the docking ports, the charging stations and so on. Uber will simply develop the technology to dispatch the flying cars to and from their destinations, likely cashing in on sizeable profits along the way.

There are, of course, logistical and regulatory hurdles to overcome, with the skies over Dubai already overcrowded, but Uber plans first to work with the USA’s Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to devise legislation enabling the flying cars to operate in Texas. The Dubai authorities could then follow suit and emulate the legislation.

Uber’s plans are ambitious, and right now, they’re still up in the air. But that might change very soon.

Tyrese Gibson will always be associated with cars, due to his role in the hit film series, The Fast and The Furious. And now his love of cars has manifested itself in the UAE.

Gibson is setting up a new venture in the UAE, setting up a branch of his jeep assembly company in partnership with Sharjah Asset Management, which is the investment body of the local government. The actor’s interest in the UAE has been peaked during several trips here, including for the premiere of the eighth Fast and Furious movie.

In a recent post on social media network Instagram, the Hollywood superstar enthused: “My #OffRoadKillers just touched down in the #UAE #V8Supercharged engine – Showroom already built!!!!”

Gibson is evidently determined to succeed with the venture and has reported the sale of 17 vehicles since opening earlier in the month. A deal has been struck to feature the jeeps in no less than 300 showrooms, and the actor reported on his Instagram account that the regional pulling power of the UAE as an aspirational destination will contribute to the venture’s future success.

The extra safety afforded by the 4×4 cars is another reason Gibson is convinced of the company’s ability to establish itself in such a competitive market. That’s because Gibson believes the cars have the ability to reduce traffic accidents and their subsequent risk of injuries. He explained: “In addition to safety measures, we focus on top performance and innovative design techniques in our customised, modified and upgraded cars.”

The actor is reported to have stayed in Al Habtoor City on honeymoon with his wife, adding to his affection for the area.

Gibson certainly made an impression at the Fast and Furious premiere, when he greeted a large group of fans dressed in a traditional keffiyeh and white kondora made for the occasion. He handed out autographed posters to fans at the Rodhe Cinema Lounge. He whetted fans’ appetite for the ‘Fate of the Furious’ move by asking a Gulf News reporter: “How can you outdo the last one? How can you make it bigger and better?”

Although car enthusiasts in the gulf might have already been lucky enough to witness the Mercedes S-Class up close and personal, nobody seems aware of what the S-Class Dash seems to have in store.

As a bit of a scoop for those seeking the latest transport news in UAE, we can bring you some official information direct from Mercedes on what to expect. Needless to say, as luxury cars go, the S-Class Dash is up there with best – so let’s take a look why.

State of the art technology

Most new cars are fitted with plenty of tech, and as expected, the S-Class Dash comes with two 12” high definition displays – but there’s more than initially meets the eye.

Mercedes has upgraded the Active Steering Assist option which allows the vehicle to keep a safe distance from traffic and obstacles, allowing it to automatically steer itself (albeit in small doses) and automatically adjust its speed when traversing corners. On top of this, a further steering module (Evasive Steering Assist) provides the S-Class Dash with the ability to apply an extra touch to the steering motion upon the detection of a pedestrian within the “danger zone”.

Further semi-autonomous features

Perhaps one of the most impressive features implemented in the new S-Class Dash is “Car-to-X Communication”. When activated, this feature will verbally alert the driver of any upcoming road hazards instead of cluttering up the display unit. Given recent changes to the law in UAE with a focus on road safety, it’s a feature that will be welcomed by government and drivers alike.

When will the Mercedes S-Class Dash be on sale?

The updated configuration is about to go on show this week in New York and Shanghai, with a release date scheduled for late summer 2017. Mercedes have remained tight-lipped on further international release dates, meaning that UAE car buyers might have to wait slightly longer for the model to reach these shores.

Until then, you can keep up to date on all the latest comings and goings in the UAE automobile world via our cars blog, featuring information on selling cars in the UAE, new vehicle news and more.

Tesla has been in operation now for almost 14 years, but in that time has only managed to pump out 3 cars. It has been long famed for its failure to deliver on time and it has displayed a constant audacity to go about the process of building cars in a way different to every other car manufacturer in our time. But in the same period it has grown to become a truly iconic global company with revenues in 2016 of 25.71 billion AED. Their vehicles have become instant hits and they are staged to change the way the automotive industry works in every way imaginable. For those reasons, it’s safe to say that the world is keenly watching Elon Musk, Tesla and the newest addition to the family, the Model 3. In the mean time, here’s everything you need to know about this new car.

Cost

The Model 3 is a car designed perfectly in line with the long term business plan for Tesla, which is to provide a stunning, all-electric car that is for the masses. With the base model starting at around 128,555 AED it will pave the way for millions of Tesla fans to finally get their hands on the car of the future.

Practicality

It is predicted that on a single charge it can travel a distance of 345 km, and with there being almost 1,000 Tesla charging stations around the globe you should be able to travel much farther before plugging it back in at home. Formal production is expected to start in July 2017 with production hitting 10,000 a week by 2018. Meaning if you want to get one, you shouldn’t have to put up with the 2+ year waiting lists that early adopters of the Model S had to contend with.

Design

The Model 3 is to be around 20% smaller than the Model S sadan and the chief designer of the car, Franz von Holzhausen described its design as a cross between a Mercedes-Benz C-Class, BMW 3-series, and an Audi A4.

Name

Originally, Musk had planned to call this new car the “Model E”. This would have meant that the series of cars they had, the Model S, Model E and Model X would spell “SEX”. However once Ford caught wind of what Tesla planned they took them to court and had it ruled that it would infringe on the plans Ford have to name a car the Model E. The closest thing they could then get was the model 3. And thus this triad will now represent “S3X”; so not too dissimilar from their original plan.