Chrysler Group’s Mopar division has announced the grand opening of two new distribution centers overseas, one in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates another in Shanghai, China. Both new facilities help expand Mopar’s parts distribution networks and continues Mopar’s international growth.

The new parts center in China is a 16,000-square meters facility in Yangshan Port Shanghai. It is estimated to distribute more than 35,000 components to more than 130 dealers in China and more than 20 third-party distributors/joint-ventures throughout the Pacific region. It will also be a referral point for Mopar warehouses in South Korea, Japan and Australia.

The facility in Dubai measures in at 18,000-square meters and is located in the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone. The warehouse will be distributing more than 30,000 parts to the Middle East and Africa.

GALLERY: Mopar Parts Distribution Centers In Dubai And Shanghai

Audi is planning to launch new special editions of their R8 and Q7 vehicles in Russia and the United Arab Emirates, with prices as extravagant as their customers tastes.

Russia will be the first market to get their own special Audi, with a Q7 V12 TDI being offered with an exclusive two-tone black paint job and a retail price of $285,000 – more than double what a base model Q7 costs in the country. The UAE will get an R8 V10 Pure Sport, of which only 40 will be offered, at a more reasonable retail price of $136,000.

Audi’s special editions are not out of the ordinary for a luxury car maker, as BMW has been making market-specific versions of the M3 for China and the United States for the past year, while Audi itself previously sold a special edition of the TT in China. All three vehicles sold out quickly, leading to a whole new way for both brands to reap profits off of luxury-brand hungry consumers.

[Source: Motor Trend]

Fog and speeding were to blame for an early-morning pileup that involved 127 cars and left one man dead on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway.

The accident happened at 8am on Saturday between the cities of Sahama and Ghantoot, where fog reduced visibility to less than 150 feet. The fog hampered the efforts of over 100 police, army, civil defense force and medical personnel, who were amazingly able to restore traffic flow in two hours.

“I was very lucky to have escaped,” said one driver. “I was driving behind a bus…I must have been 15 feet away from it when I heard a loud crash and veered out of the lane just in time to avoid a collision. I then heard several bangs in the background—more cars had crashed into the bus. There were a lot of buses involved in the crash—most of them carrying workers.”

Witnesses and drivers said that they were speeding at over 70 miles per hour, despite the conditions. The resulting accident stretched for over a mile and the fog caused other highways and bridges to be closed later that day.

[Source: Gulf News]

With Middle East sales of their cars skyrocketing, Rolls Royce is following in the footsteps of their former stablemate at Bentley and introducing a special edition Phantom that celebrates the region.

The four door Phantom will be named after the Baynunah region of Abu Dhabi, with a sand-themed color palate both inside and out. The two-door Phantom, known as the Shaheen (a type of Falcon native to the region) is a little bit more extroverted, with a white exterior, and a striking red interior with “seashell” inserts and a Falcon motif on the headrests.

Rolls Royce customers in Abu Dhabi will also have access to the company’s bespoke program, which allows customers to go above and beyond the traditional options list to create truly custom cars.

[Source: Rolls Royce]

Hit the jump to read the official press release

Press release

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has announced that new Bespoke Phantoms have arrived in Abu Dhabi. The cars are based on two different motifs which are inspired by the city’s rich culture and natural landscape.

The four-door Phantom draws its inspiration from the stunning landscape of the Baynunah area in the western region of Abu Dhabi, UAE. With a history that dates back centuries, the region is renowned for the majesty of its sand dunes, captured through the interior and exterior styling of the car which incorporates shades of beige and brown, further complemented by a tan ever-flex roof.

The inlay and marquetry, inspired by the traditional, vibrant colours of an Arabian camel harness, were hand-crafted at Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood plant. At Goodwood, attention to detail is paramount; as such the marquetry for the Phantom was made using individually cut pieces of coloured veneer and hand assembled, using tweezers to ensure maximum precision.

Swift, agile and powerful characteristics of the region’s famous falcon, called Shaheen, are mirrored in Rolls-Royce’s driver-oriented Phantom Coupé. With a marquise-white exterior, featuring a twin coach line in Tudor red and offset by a red and Seashell leather interior, the Phantom Coupé is designed to make a statement.

With a view to highlighting the falcon and also the art of falconry, all the elements feature a distinctive, falcon motif. From the falcon inlay in brass, chemically etched from a single piece of stainless steel, to the falcon embroidered head-rests, which encompass 11-thread colours and boast a staggering 21,011 stitches per head-rest, it is a true representation of the skill and creativity of the artisans at Goodwood.

“The Bespoke programme continues to be a consistent driver for our business in the region, with four of the world’s top 10 selling Bespokedealers based in the Arabian Peninsula,” said James Crichton, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Regional Director for the Middle East. “The first half of 2010 saw our best sales result ever for the Middle East region, having doubled our sales in comparison to the same period in 2009.”

The Bespoke Programme, which has the highest global uptake in the Middle East, is a service offered to Rolls-Royce clients for individualization beyond the option list; the client may specify features of the car, in order to create one’s own, unique model.

In a country where exotic cars are (seemingly) as common as Camrys, the police are most certainly in need of a vehicle that can keep up. So the Abu Dhabi police service in the United Arab Emirates has just unveiled its secret weapon, a 485-hp Nissan GT-R.

Not much else is known about the car, but if you look around back you’re sure to notice the clever phrase, “We ensure you safety… in the fastest way.”

So it looks like we might be seeing a lot more Porsche GT2s pulled over on the side of the highway in Abu Dhabi.

GALLERY: R35 Nissan GT-R Police Car

We found these photos on SupercarsDubai.com – an excellent resource for photos of all sorts of ridiculous cars – and we just had to share them with you.

There’s no word on if this is a genuine paint job or just a wrap, but judging from the ripples in the paint we sure hope nobody (no matter how much money they have to blow) spent the big bucks on the real deal for this Mercedes C63.

What we can tell you is that the photos were taken outside the Mall of the Emirates (you know, that place with the indoor ski hill) in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Perhaps it’s all just a metaphor and the owner just wants to let the world know that he believes the 451hp C63 is worth its weight in gold.

[Source Supercarsdubai.com]

More photos after the jump: