Category: Automotive

BYD are launching a new car electric sports car called the Yangwang U9 that can jump over potholes. That sounds like the perfect car for Kuwait.

A couple of weeks ago I posted how there were going to be no track days at Kuwait Motor Town this season because the contract with the company running the place had expired and wasn’t renewed. Well it’s been renewed now so track days are back again and the racetrack will be open this season. @kmtkw

This is pretty disappointing news but it doesn’t look like there will be track days this year at Kuwait Motor Town. Supposedly the contract with the company that was running KMT expired and it wasn’t renewed and neither does anyone else seem to want to run it. So all events that were scheduled to take place at the race track were canceled and there won’t be any open track days until a new company takes over. Sucks.

I thought I posted about @q8knight79 before on the blog but I just checked and don’t think I have. He’s a guy I follow on my cars account and he’s got a super 80s vibe.

Last year he flew to the US, bought a 96 Corvette, then did an epic road trip with the car before shipping it to Kuwait. He uploaded the video a couple of weeks ago to YouTube and I thought it was pretty entertaining.

I kinda need to do the same thing now, fly to the US, buy a first generation Viper, do an epic road trip, crash it, and then fly back.

According to the MOI, a new law will soon be implemented where expatriates in Kuwait will no longer be allowed to own more than one vehicle (source). Thats so ridiculous! I’m trying to understand what issue they’re trying to solve by doing that. It can’t be reducing traffic since even though I own 7 cars I can only drive 1 of them at a time. The only thing I can think of is solving the parking situation in densely populated areas.

I live in Salmiya and I’m lucky my building has plenty of underground parking, but most of the other tall residential towers have like 6 or 8 parking spots under the building and thats it. A lot of the buildings which have underground parking had them converted to storage which they rent out commercially. Instead of disallowing that, or requiring buildings to have enough parking for every resident, the easiest solution is just ban expats from owning more than a car. How many expats own multiple cars anyway? I’d assume most are probably just dad’s the have their wives and kids cars registered under their own name.

Thanks Del

Video is in Arabic but shows you the step by step guide on how to do it. They don’t seem to mention how to get a printed copy of the registration though, only that once you update it you can then refresh the registration in your Kuwait Mobile ID app and it will be updated there. YouTube

If you’ve renewed your car this way, I’d be interested to hear about the experience or if you ran into any issues.

If you’re a fan of cars you’re going to appreciate this video. It was shot in 1982 and is of a car meetup in Blajat Street, Salmiya. YouTube

I’ve known about this event for weeks but couldn’t share details until now. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to go to a monster truck show, and it’s finally going to happen!

The Hot Wheels Monster Trucks show is coming to Kuwait next month to perform 4 shows over 4 days from October 23 to 26. The event will be taking place at the Basel Salem Alsabah Club and is it brought to you by Blast Off Events and Live Nation.

Tickets will start at 15KD and will be available later today on Eventat.com and LiveNation.me

If you want a preview, check out @hotwheelsmonstertruckslive

Update: I replaced the main photo with the official poster now that it’s launched.

Auto World Show is a car show that’s more than just a car show. Last year was their first year and they had a bunch of different things happening during the week including talks, sim and RC racing, stunt shows, a 4×4 proving ground and more. This year they’re back again for the second year running and the show starts from today and will last till September 28th.

All the major car brands will be there including the major European ones as well as most of the Chinese brands. I went to it last year and I didn’t find it interesting at all since there wasn’t any car I hadn’t seen before, but I’ll be going to it again this year just for fun.

The show is being held at the Mishref Fair Grounds and is from 10AM to 10PM. For more info, here is a link to their website.

Yesterday the Ministry of Interior announced they’ll be installing new intelligent AI-powered traffic cameras. The new cameras are meant to automatically detect seat belt violations, and drivers using their phones while driving. This isn’t the first time the MOI announced automated monitoring. Back in January 2023, the MOI announced they were installing new smart cameras that could detect both those violations, but that never materialized for some reason.

Although not much information was shared yesterday regarding the new cameras, based on some research I did there are a couple of companies that provide these traffic cameras, including Acusensus and VITRONIC. VITRONIC recently installed AI cameras in the UAE and have a Middle East office so it’s very probable those are the ones we are getting.

No matter which brand we are getting, they all work similarly:

• The traffic cameras capture high-resolution images of approaching vehicles.

• Artificial intelligence (AI) software filters the images to detect possible mobile phone use, or failure to wear a seatbelt by the driver and front seat passenger.

• If AI does not see a potential violation, it will reject the image.

• If AI detects a driver who may be using a phone or not wearing their seatbelt, it flags the image for further review.

• Images which are flagged for potential violations are then checked and verified by an officer.

So AI won’t be issuing tickets automatically, violations will still be double checked by a real person which is good news. These new AI cameras are also really effective. In Australia they trialed a similar AI traffic camera and in the first month alone, 1,500 drivers and 225 passengers were caught not wearing seatbelts, and almost 1,200 drivers were caught using their mobile phones.

Not sure how bad seatbelt violations are, but I’m really hoping this will stop people using their phones while driving since they’re the most annoying drivers.

I’m a huge fan of the way the Cybertruck looks. There is at least one in Kuwait since I’ve seen it park next to my office but there’s now another one and it’s for sale.

The local car dealer AlSarraf Motors has a Cybertruck in stock with 0 mileage available and it’s priced at KD62,000. In comparison, back in July a Cybertruck with just 500miles sold for around KD36,600 on bringatrailer.com. Add around 600KD for shipping plus 5% for customs and it would obviously be cheaper to get one directly from the states. But, if money is no object and you want a Cybertruck right now, this is your only option.

A few days ago they introduced a new feature to the Sahel app where you can transfer the car registration from one persons name to another using just the app. Below is a step by step video on how to do that.

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The new Nissan Patrol got released yesterday and the Kuwait prices are already available. The price of the entry level Patrol starts at KD 19,399 while the top of the line model is priced at KD 30,499. Here are the prices:

Patrol 3.8L, V6 (310HP)
XE: KD 19,399
SE T2: KD 20,950
SE Titan: KD 23,499
SE Platinum City: KD 26,099

Patrol 3.5L, V6 Twin Turbo (425HP)
LE-T1: KD 23,499
LE-T2: KD 24,999
LE-Titanium: KD 26,950
LE-Titanium+: KD 27,950
LE-Platinum City: KD 30,499

Nissan Kuwait already have the car up on their website along with the details on what every version of the car has in terms of equipment so if you want more details, click here.

There is a German car dealer that has a 1963 Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider for sale that was originally sold in Kuwait back in 1963.

According to confirmation from the Alfa Romeo archives, the Spider they’re selling was delivered to Kuwait on 1 April 1963. The car later went to South Africa and then a few years ago was sent to Germany where its now on sale again.

I actually have a copy of the ad above that I had taken from a 1962 issue of the Kuwait Times that showcases the Spider. The dealer for Alfa Romeo back in the early 60s was Kazima Trading Co.

It’s a beautiful car and I kinda feel someone needs to buy it and bring it back to Kuwait. I would have, but at over 40,000KD it’s not really an impulse buy. Link

Last week, there was a heated debate in the Kuwait Reddit community about why anyone in Kuwait would get an electric car when fuel is so cheap. Curious to find out for myself, I contacted Mercedes and borrowed an EQS 450 electric SUV for a few days. Now, I think I have an answer.

It turns out EV owners in Kuwait never have to pay to charge their cars.

From what I can tell, all the public charging stations in Kuwait are free. There are currently over 40 different charging locations in Kuwait, including all along the Gulf Road, and in popular spots like The Avenues and 360 Mall. If you work at an office tower like Al Hamra or Al Raya, you also have EV chargers available there. That means you can charge your car for free while you’re at work or out shopping. But, in some apartment buildings like mine, there are power sockets in the parking that residents can use for free. So, when I had the car, I just plugged the car into one of the sockets and charged it overnight at no cost.

I also tried charging at one of the new EV chargers on the Gulf Road to see what that experience was like. They’re located in all the parking lots that were part of the recently refurbished waterfront. I chose to charge at the station next to the Kuwait Towers because I needed a nice shot for this post and it was super easy to use. I didn’t even need to use my own charging cable, the chargers have cables already attached. All I had to do was take the cable and plug it into the car, and it started charging right away.

I’m not saying you should buy an electric car just because you don’t have to pay for fuel. There are many other benefits to owning an EV, but free charging is definitely a nice bonus.