112 November 2016 www.bahrainthismonth.com Beauty of a Beast Saving the hardest until last, the new Lotus Exige 350 Special Edition is a fitting completion to the trilogy of Lotus 50th celebration editions. Based on the most extreme Exige to date, the Sport 350, the new special edition adds a number of lightweight, performance-enhancing features, as well as unique paint and interior options as standard. Long regarded as the enthusiast’s favourite, the new Lotus Exige 350 Special Edition takes the model’s benchmark handling and raw performance and adds a sense of occasion. Packing a supercharged 345bhp, V6 3.5-litre engine, and weighing 26kg less than the Exige Sport 350, the new model accelerates to 100kmph in 3.9 seconds before reaching a top speed of 274kmph. Jean-Marc Gales, CEO of Group Lotus, says: “The Lotus Exige is the quickest point-to-point sports car on the road; nothing can match its levels of accessible performance and grip. It’s lightweight, responsive and exceedingly fast, with the purity expected of a Lotus. It is a real beast that needs taming but it won’t bite back. ” Helping to celebrate the company’s 50 years in Norfolk, the special edition coupe is limited to 50 examples, available on a first-come, first-served basis. Like the already sold out Evora 400 Hethel Edition and Elise 250 Special Edition, this Exige is built to mark 2016 as a special anniversary year. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has announced a new facet of the ultra-luxury marque’s personality, a dark and edgy lifestyle statement: ‘Black Badge’. A permanent new sub-brand of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars – Black Badge – was unveiled earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show and transforms the character of both the Ghost and Wraith. The Black Badge ‘inspired by a dark, edgy lifestyle’, is now available to order from Euro Motors, the marque’s dealers in the Kingdom. Brett Soso, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars regional director for Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and South America, says: “Following the launch of Wraith in 2013, many of our new customers have gravitated towards the revitalised Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, as the brand most capable of encapsulating their truly individual lifestyles. “Through the introduction of Black Badge, we are able to further satisfy the demands of these new customers for a more dark and assertive Ghost and Wraith, to suit their personalities and lifestyles and offer the most commanding presence on the super-luxury landscape.” Black Badge will bring the colour black to new levels of intensity, the company says. The multiple layers of paint and lacquer that go into creating Black Badge black are repeatedly hand polished – the most exacting painting and polishing process ever used for a solid paint colour. The result is the deepest, darkest and most intense black ever seen on a production car surface. The centrepiece of the Black Badge cabin is the aerospace-grade aluminium-threaded carbon fibre composite surfacing – material often seen on the finish of stealth aircraft. This futuristic material has been reinterpreted at Goodwood to become the world’s most innovative new super-luxury material. The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Microsoft Corporation have signed a global, multi-year agreement to collaborate on next-generation technologies to advance connected driving experiences worldwide. The companies will work together to develop next-generation connected services for cars powered by Microsoft Azure, one of the company’s intelligent cloud offerings. These new services will improve customer experience via advanced navigation, predictive maintenance and vehicle-centric services, remote monitoring of car features, external mobile experiences and over-the-air updates. “Cars are becoming increasingly connected, intelligent and personal,” says Ogi Redzic, Renault-Nissan Alliance senior vice-president, connected vehicles and mobility services. “Partnering with Microsoft allows us to accelerate the development of the associated key technologies needed to enable scenarios our customers want and build all-new ones they haven’t even imagined. We aim to become the provider of connected mobility for everyone with one single global platform.” The Renault-Nissan Alliance is pioneering autonomous driving and connectivity features on mainstream, mass-market vehicles at affordable prices. The alliance aims to develop connectivity technologies and features to support the launch of more than 10 vehicles with autonomous driving technology by 2020 with services to maximise better use of newly found in-car free time. “While the connected car experience is in its infancy, we believe there’s so much potential to dramatically change the industry. We are partnering to accelerate Renault-Nissan’s mobile and cloud strategies and unlock new experiences for their customers,” says Jean-Philippe Courtois, executive vice president and president, Microsoft global sales, marketing and operations. The Future of Connected Driving motoringnews&launches A Dark, Edgy, Lifestyle Statement
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk0MTkxMQ==