Document 6589767

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014
BUSINESS
The new Mercedes-Benz ML 400 now available
Driving Dynamics and Increased Efficiency
KUWAIT: Abdul Rahman Albisher &
Zaid Alkazemi Co, the authorized
General Distributor of MercedesBenz in Kuwait has announced the
arrival of the new ML 400 to Kuwait.
The new generation of the
Mercedes-Benz M-Class maintains
its strong off-road vehicle heritage
while continuing to fascinate and
excite through its unique combination of driving enjoyment and agility with superior ride comfort.
The new BlueDIRECT V-shape
six-cylinder bi-turbo petrol engine
delivers a highly convincing performance, generating maximum
output at 333 horsepower and
allowing the premium SUV to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 6.1 seconds with a top speed of 247km/h
and an increase of maximum
torque by 29.7% to 480 Nm. The
compact low weight design partially made from light-weight materials, features state of the art engineering which underpins outstand-
ing fuel economy and a number of
comprehensive energy efficient
measures.
Further strengthening the new
ML 400 4MATIC’s feature portfolio is
a highly responsive suspension system and shock absorbers ensuring
driving stability, safety and
enhancement of the occupant’s
wellbeing. With electric steering
for dynamic on-road handling and
extensive off-road capability features as standard, the all-wheel
drive SUV has options for all modes
of driving and driving situations.
Michael Ruehle, CEO Abdul
Rahman Albisher & Zaid Alkazemi
Company said: “We are pleased to
announce the availability of the ML
400 with the new V6 engine in
Kuwait. With increased power and
performance, we are certain
Mercedes-Benz customers will be
impressed by the new addition to
the already popular M-Class.”
High level of comfort
The new ML 400 offers a high
level of comfort, dynamic on-road
handling and outstanding off-road
capabilities. The M-Class chassis
with steel suspension features
selective damping, while electric
steering assists the driver to ensure
the optimum level of assistance for
the current driving situation In
addition to this, the SUV continues
to impresses with the smallest turning circle in its market segment.
The optional ON & OFFROAD package for the new M-Class has six
driving modes for optimized driving dynamics and handling safety,
for an extremely wide range of onroad and off-road operating conditions.
The six transmission modes in
detail:Automatic - covers most
everyday driving operations;
Offroad 1 - light terrain, dirt roads
and tracks; Offroad 2 - challenging
off-road terrain with hilly stretches;
Winter - for driving in wintry conditions on slippery roads, on snow,
ice or with snow chains; Sport more adventurous, dynamic driving
on winding roads; Trailer - optimizes moving off, maneuvering
and braking with a trailer. Despite
so many options, for the driver the
decision is always very clear: the
setting is made intuitively, and the
program selected is shown in the
multifunction display as well as in
very realistic, almost photo-quality
imagery on the screen of the
COMAND system.
Impressive credentials
The new generation is instantly
recognizable as an M-Class by its
characteristic body design with the
hallmark C-pillar shape. Like other
M class models, the ML 400 combines high levels of design, appeal
and ease of use to create a powerful presence. The front of the vehicle is dominated by the powerfully
self-confident design of the radiator grille with its centrally positioned Mercedes star, giving it that
typical M-Class look. Seen from the
side, the elongated lines give formal emphasis to the on-road cre-
KIPCO announces
26% rise in profit
KUWAIT: KIPCO - the Kuwait Projects lion ($424 million) for the first nine
Company - has announced a net profit of months of 2014, an increase of 27 per
KD10.1 million ($ 35.1 million), or 7.36fils cent from KD96.6 million ($342 million)
(US 2.6 cents) per share, for the three reported for the same period in 2013.
Tariq AbdulSalam,
months
ended
KIPCO’s Chief Executive
September 30, 2014, an
Officer - Investments,
increase of 26 per cent
said that the company is
on the KD8 million
on track to achieve dou($28.3 million) profit, or
ble digit growth in
5.56 fils (US 2.0 cents)
2014. Indicators point
per share, achieved durtowards healthy pering the same period of
formance as anticipated
2013. KIPCO’s net profit
earlier in the year: “As
during the first nine
we forecast during our
months of 2014 came to
Shafafiyah Investors’
KD31.82million
Forum in March, our
($110.5million), or 22.63
third quarter results
fils(US 7.9 cents) per
Tariq Abdulsalam
have maintained growth
share, an increase of 22
per cent on the KD26.1 million ($92.3 mil- patterns in double digits across core
lion) profit, or 18.22fils (US 6.4 cents) per businesses in 2014. Revenue from our
share, reported for the same period last financial services and media segments
have increased by 25% and 35%
year.
The company’s total revenue for the respectively over the last nine months,
first nine months of 2014 increased by while revenue from real estate opera19 per cent to KD438.3 million ($1.5 bil- tions rose by 17% for the same period.
lion) compared to KD369.5 million ($1.3 These results reflect the strength of our
billion) reported for the first nine core companies. We believe this growth
months of last year. Operating profit will continue throughout the remainder
before provisions rose to KD122.2 mil- of the year.”
dentials of this vehicle, whose compact proportions are defined by a
large wheelbase and short overhangs.
Interior with a firstclass ambience
The interior design concept
clearly combines an authentic SUV
experience with a sense of wellbeing that is usually the reserve of
top-class Mercedes-Benz saloons.
While an expressive dome shape
embodies the power of an SUV, the
gently sloping contours of the
dashboard in the front passenger
area afford an outstanding sense of
space, thereby highlighting the
vehicle’s suitability for long journeys. The spacious, bright interior
offers substantially more elbow
room thus enhancing spaciousness.
Eye-catching features on the dashboard include a large trim element
that matches the trim used for the
doors and therefore creates a harmonious wrap-around effect. As
with other ML models, the seats in
the new ML 400 have been
designed to offer greater long-distance comfort and optimum lateral
support. All of the key settings can
be adjusted electrically.
The M-Class comes with the
Audio 20 CD system, which comprises a radio with twin-tuner, a color display with a 14.7 cm screen
diagonal, an MP3/WMA/AAC-compatible CD player, a USB interface
with CD Cover Art display (if saved
on the storage medium), an AUX-IN
socket in the centre armrest and a
telephone keypad. The Bluetooth
interface also allows hands-free
telephony and Audio Streaming for
the transfer of music. The COMAND
Online multimedia system with a
high-resolution 17.8 cm color dis-
play once again provides internet
access in the M-Class. As an option,
COMAND Online is available with a
6-disc DVD-changer.
Engines: Latest-generation
The ML 400 4MATIC petrolengine model features the ground
breaking technology of the new
generation of engines from
Mercedes-Benz. At the heart of the
BlueDIRECT technology package
lies the enhanced third-generation
spray-guided direct petrol engine
with piezo-electric injectors. In
combination with multi-spark ignition, this technology offers further
possibilities for fuel savings. The
V6 engine in the ML 400 4MATIC
utilises a stratified combustion
process with a considerably
extended characteristic map and
fuel-efficient lean-burn technology (“homogeneous stratified
mode”). As the name implies, HOS
is a combination of homogeneous
lean-burn and classic stratified
combustion.
The first injection is sprayed
into the intake stroke, forming a
homogeneous basic mixture.
Actual “stratified” injection takes
place during the compression
stroke before ignition, and is a single or double injection depending
on the characteristic map. In the
ultra-modern 3 liter V6 engine, the
V-angle between the cylinder
banks has been reduced to 60
degrees, enabling the balancer
shaft compensating primary vibrations to be omitted. As a result the
driver notices an outstanding level
of comfort.
The design highlights of the 3
liter V6 include a completely new
air intake and exhaust system in
conjunction with a variable resonance intake manifold and optimized inflow and outflow. Result:
with the same displacement, the
output compared with the previous 225 kW (306 hp) model is
increased by 8.9 percent to 245 kW
(333 hp). In parallel with this substantial increase in power,
Mercedes engineers have maintained an equally impressive
reduction in fuel consumption.
The new V6 petrol engine in the
ML 400 4MATIC consumes as little
as 8.81 liters per 100 kilometers,
making it one the most economical petrol models in its class.
Hyundai and Kia in
‘record settlement’
Carmakers to pay $350m for overstating mileage
WASHINGTON: Korean carmakers Hyundai
Motor Co and affiliate Kia Motors Corp will pay
$350 million in penalties to the US government
for overstating fuel economy ratings in what officials said on Monday was the biggest settlement
of its kind. The deal comes on top of $395 million the automakers agreed to pay last
December to resolve claims from the owners of
the vehicles, bringing the companies’ total cost
for the mileage overstatements to more than
$700 million. Monday’s settlement with the US
Environmental Protection Agency, the US
Department of Justice and the California Air
Resources Board resolves an investigation of the
South Korean carmakers’ 2012 fuel economy ratings.
The penalties were the largest ever under the
Clean Air Act. “This will send an important message to automakers around the world that they
must comply with the law,” said Attorney
General Eric Holder. Under the accord, which
involved the sale of 1.2 million cars and SUVs,
the South Korean car firms will pay a $100 million penalty, spend around $50 million to prevent future violations and forfeit emissions credits estimated to be worth more than $200 million. The greenhouse gas emissions that the forfeited credits would have allowed are equal to
the emissions from powering more than 433,000
homes for a year, the EPA said.
“Businesses that play by the rules shouldn’t
have to compete with those breaking the law,”
said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. McCarthy
said Hyundai and Kia had committed the most
egregious violation of the reporting standards.
She declined to say whether other violators may
also be fined. “Every automaker will be looking
carefully at its current testing procedure to avoid
a similar penalty in the future,” said Karl Brauer,
senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com,
who noted “frustration in the gray area between
automakers’ stated MPG numbers and the realworld results experienced by car owners”.
In November 2012, Hyundai and Kia conceded they overstated fuel economy by at least a
mile per gallon on vehicles after the EPA found
errors for 13 Hyundai and Kia models from the
2011 to 2013 model years. Hyundai said at the
time that the affected cars’ reported fuel economy would be adjusted by 1 to 2 miles per gallon.
Hyundai Motor shares fell as much as 4.4 percent
in Seoul trading on Tuesday, extending a slide
that has dragged them to their lowest in over
four years.
The decline knocked Hyundai from its perch
as South Korea’s second-most valuable company
after Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, according to
exchange data on common shares, a spot it had
held since March 29, 2011. Hyundai and Kia both
increased their shares of the US new-vehicle
market in the past decade, particularly during
the economic downturn of 2008 to 2010 when
consumers craved fuel-efficient and relatively
low-priced vehicles.
However, Hyundai has lost US market share in
the past couple of years, as US and Japanese
rivals made a comeback. Hyundai said on
Monday that its US vehicle sales fell 7 percent in
October from a year earlier, lagging the market’s
6 percent gain, with weaker sales of the Sonata
sedan offsetting demand for its Santa Fe sport
utility vehicles. Kia’s US shipments rose 12 percent in October. “We are pleased to put this
behind us,” said Hyundai US chief David
Zuchowski. The company added that it believes
its process for testing vehicle fuel economy
meets US guidelines, and the overstatement
was a result of a data processing error.
Hyundai’s US chief at the time, John Krafcik,
stepped down after his contract expired at the
end of 2013. Kia in a statement said its priority
“remains making things right for our customers
through our fair and transparent reimbursement program”.—Reuters
Over 100 thinkers converge for summit on Global Agenda
DUBAI: More than 100 thought
leaders and experts from the
UAE and Arab countries are set
to converge in Dubai for the
Summit on the Global Agenda
2014, which is being organized
under the theme ‘UAE
Brainstorms for a Better World’,
from November 9 to 11, 2014.
Hosted by the United Arab
Emirates for the seventh consecutive year in collaboration
with the World Economic
Forum, the summit will provide
a major platform for participants to focus on the most
pressing global issues and recommend appropriate solutions,
which will then be taken up at
the annual meeting of the
World Economic Forum in
Davos in 2015.
On this occasion, His
Excellency Sultan Bin Saeed Al
Mansouri, Minister of Economy
and Co-Chair of the Summit on
the Global Agenda, stated: “The
active participation of elite
Emirati and Arab thinkers and
experts from academic, scientific and government fields,
along with their international
counterparts, raises hopes for
effective recommendations
that will help alleviate people’s
sufferings and ensure a better
life for every human being on
the planet.” HE Al Mansouri
added: “The UAE brainstorming
initiative is a call to move forward to broader brainstorming
efforts on the Arab and region-
al level to find the best possible
solutions for the challenges
facing the Arab world. This will
help achieve greatest level of
satisfaction in Arab societies
and contribute to their sustainable development.”
The participants in this international event include a number of experts and innovators
in the fields of renewable energy, climate change, competitiveness, multinational companies in emerging markets, energy security, institutional governance systems, social innovation, media and entertainment,
infrastructure, intellectual
property, and internet security.
The ‘UAE Brainstorms for a
Better World’ campaign has
been launched within the
framework of the country ’s
relentless pursuit to contribute
towards providing innovative
solutions to global humanitarian challenges, in partnership
with the Summit on the Global
Agenda.
The campaign provides a
summary of the UAE experiences as part of the country’s
efforts to contribute towards a
better world. It includes innovative programs, especially pioneering initiatives such as the
National Innovation Strategy
launched by His Highness
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Al Maktoum, UAE Vice
President and Prime Minister
and Ruler of Dubai, which aims
Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim
Mona Al Marri
Sultan Al Mansouri
to make the UAE one of the
most innovative countries in
the world within the next seven
years. The ‘UAE Brainstorms for
a Better World’ campaign is
based on four pillars: smart
government, future of media,
competitiveness, and innovation. The aim is to adopt innovation in providing practical
and effective solutions that can
complement international
efforts to overcome hurdles in
vital sectors and improve
human life.