It would be easy to confuse this Rolls Royce Abu Dhabi dealership for a luxury hotel lobby or loungeroom. The new Rolls showroom in Abu Dhabi is the biggest for the brand in the world, measuring 900 m2. It holds a space for five models on display, an office area, bar and a “boudoir” where each potential customer can configure their Roller.

The new showroom is a kind of homage to the Middle East whose market has contributed 15 percent to Rolls Royce global production figures. Of 82 Rolls Royce dealerships around the world, eight are in the Middle East, and the newly opened Abu Dhabi store has the new Spirit of Ecstasy Centenery Collection Phantom Drophead Coupé on display. I’d go just to sit on one of those lounges….

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After our news on Ferrari’s new board member from Abu Dhabi, it seems the Ferrari-Arab combination strikes again, this time with the opening of the world’s biggest Ferrari showroom in Dubai. The new Ferrari store measures 1,000 square metres, and was inaugurated with a special presentation, including a closer look at the Ferrari California for Middle East customers.

Source | Autoblog.it

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The Ferrari board of directors has expanded to include a surprise member from Abu Dhabi in the figure of Khaldoon Al Mubarak. The Italians are a little miffed, to say the least, proclaiming a headline of “An Arab on Ferrari’s board” and saying that this is the first time this has happened.

Al Mubarak is chairman of the Mubadala financing group from Abu Dhabi, and takes his place on the board along with Alessandro Gianni Baldi from Fiat, who are replacing Jean Todt and Ferruccio Luppi.

Ferrari recently released its sales figures for this year, down on last year’s, but has put a positive spin on the situation, highlighting that 2008 was a record year for Ferrari sales. The first nine months of this year were down 6.9 percent on the same period last year, though that figure in the last three months has reduced to 4.3 percent with earnings of 396 million euros.

Source | Autoblog.it and Quattroruote

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This is the official logo of the Ferrari theme park in Abu Dhabi, which was presented by Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa at the Sakhir circuit.

The theme park is being constructed on the isle of Yas, and while it was recently postponed, the park should be finished and opened in 2010. The logo has made more than one reader on Motorsportblog have a hiccup…

The park will include space for more than 20 attractions with roller coaster rides, go-kart tracks and dune-buggy facilities. Whether there’s going to be any room for an appreciation of the elegance and history of the Ferrari brand is anyone’s guess.

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It’s difficult to imagine fog in the middle of the desert, but a dramatic accident on the highway from Abu Dhabi to Dubai has been caused by just such a phenomenon. More than 200 cars were involved in a pile-up in which six people have reportedly died and over 300 injured.

Several cars caught alight and it is reported than rescue efforts were hampered by thick fog and the mass of cars. With thanks to our friends in Abu Dhabi, photos of the scene show a mess of flames, car wrecks and the carnage caused by the reduced visibility conditions.

While authorities despatched rescue teams, the severe weather conditions created further disaster and reports from hospitals are of the worst accident ever seen. Motorists have said that while fog does occur in this area, the accident was caused by reckless driving and lack of respect for the conditions.

Continue reading: Abu Dhabi accident

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The project for a Ferrari Park is finally coming true. It will be inaugurated in 2009, and will include a whole new circuit, which will be the home of the first Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix in the same year.

A Foundation Stone Ceremony was held today to celebrate the start of construction of one of the most anticipated amusement parks in the world. Special guests in attendance for today’s event included Ferrari’s President Luca di Montezemolo and Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Chairman of ALDAR Properties.

During the ceremony a capsule containing a piston and a conrod from the F2007 engine, have been buried underground and will be disinterred in 2047, in occasion of Ferrari’s 100th anniversary. The park will offer a number of different attractions displaced on a 250.000 sqm area, 80.000 of which will be covered.

Continue reading: Ferrari Theme Park in Abu Dhabi

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