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Jul 31
Bob Lutz to Retire May 1

Bob Lutz, set to retire on May 1st 2010
Bob Lutz, set to retire on May 1st 2010
General Motors Vice Chairman Robert A. Lutz will retire effective May 1, 2010, capping a 47-year career in the global auto industry that included senior leadership positions at four of the world’s leading automakers.

Lutz, 78, rejoined GM September 1, 2001, as the head of product development, and has led the company’s resurgence in developing great cars and trucks.  He also worked at BMW, Chrysler and Ford.

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Girls of the frankfurt motorshow

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Mazda targets Oman

We interviewed Keizo Okue, Mazda’s General Manager for the Middle East and Africa sales department when he came to Oman to launch the Mazda 3

You have visited Oman many times in the past. How do you find Oman as an automotive market?

It is a very interesting market for me, because the position of Mazda here is totally different to that in other countries, because thanks to Towell Auto Centre, we have a relatively better position than other brands. The brand is strong here and the market itself accepts our vehicles. Maybe the younger generation, of which there is a significant size here, connect with us because we offer pleasure in driving and they prefer such vehicles.

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BMW ready for 2010

We interviewed Phil Horton, Managing Director of BMW Middle East for his insight on the brand’s readiness for the new year

Phil Horton
Phil Horton
What is BMW’s reading of the market during 2009 (The interview was during the Dubai Motorshow in end 2009)?

You are right. It has been a tough year in the market. In fact, we are at the end of November so we have few days to go. The market will be down at least 25% in the middle east overall. In what we call the premuim segment, it is pretty much the same. Having said that, at BMW, we have been very fortunate, particularly because of the strength of some of our models and particularly in that the new models. We were down overall in the whole region about 8%. Obviously better than 25% that the market shrank and in Oman particularly we were running down 5%, so were actually performing better than the whole region.
Primarily this is because of the 7-series. It coincided with the arrival of the credit crisis in the region. Because this part of the world likes big cars and novelty, we have really been saved by the arrival of the 7-series as well as BMW X5 and X6. Both continued to perform very well. Overall we are happy with the year and we are looking for some growth over the next year, 2010.
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Featured interview

Phil HortonWe interviewed Phil Horton, Managing Director of BMW Middle East for his insight on the brand’s readiness for...
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