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Hot sales

As usual there were plenty of cool pieces of metal snapped up on the stands at the Dubai motor show.

Two Maybach Landaulets went at AED 2m with 30-40 "serious buyers" before production kicks off.

Jerod Shelby sold three Ultimate Aeros, including the one on display. The other two are on order and will take 90 days to build.

West Coast Customs confirmed sales of nine Range Stormers at AED 1.3 million each, after they were tuned and tweaked.

The Aston Martin Vanquish customised by Mansory, with signature stingray hide (I don't think they'll sell it to fans of Steve Irwin) waltzed off the stand within an hour. There were a few quite attractive girls Mansory way too, you may have noticed.

There were three confirmed sales of SLR 722 GTs, and we were told to "expect more confirmations soon".

The Shelby Ultimate Aero, the fastest production car in the world, was a huge hit. The model on display was picked up for AED 2.16 million virtually as the doors opened. Two more models are on order and each will take 90 days to build.

The mega-quick Brabus, which isn't far behind the Ultimate Aero, had two sales.

And American MXT Truck, a biggie, valued at AED 450,000, attracted loads of attention. There were four orders and more are on the way.

At last count Audi shifted 25 R8s.

Shark chips in for Land Rover

Phil Popham, the managing director of Land Rover, has plenty reasons to smile at the moment, apart from being able to tap the advice of one of the all-time greats of golf to help with the handicap.

The Middle East remains the third biggest market for Land Rover behind the US and UK, Popham informs colleague Adam Daff.

"The Middle East is an important market for us and when I stood at the entrance to this show and looked out - I'm very happy with the market penetration we have here," he said moments after Greg Norman, no less, had helped him launch Land Rover's stand at the Middle East Motor Show. There were celebs all over town for the show but getting the Shark on the stand was a coup for Popham and his team.

Norman, the former world No.1 golfer, is part of a huge golf and real estate development in Dubai and as part of that deal Land Rover was chosen to develop a limited ‘Greg Norman' series of cars to be given away with every home sold in the ‘Fireside' estate he is involved in. That's not a bad endorsement, particularly when you consider it comes on the back of another record year of growth for Land Rover. Popham was right to be chuffed at a stand sporting the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, the new LR2 and LR3.

"We've sold 200,000 vehicles worldwide this year, which is another record and in Dubai we've seen 10-12 per cent growth," said Popham.

"The Range Rover in particular is our premium brand and it does so well because it's a car that looks just as good outside your million-dollar villa as it does outside your office, or out in the desert."

Competition in the 4x4 segment has seriously heated up in the past five year, but Popham said the competition had helped, rather than stymied the brand.

"Most of our records have been set when the competition has been the greatest. And I think that's because we are an authentic

four wheel drive company so as the profile of 4WDs have risen we've benefited.

"All our products have extensive testing around Dubai during the summer months for abrasion as well as heat and humidity. Then we take them to Siberia in Russia and test them in the cold. We want the harshest conditions for testing only."

Rachel charms Dubai

Supermodel stunner Rachel Hunter had a chat to us about all things important - mullets, rugby, how to dress and, of course, Caddy cars.

Rachel, the Sports Illustrated calendar legend - she was even one of the Dream Team - was in town for the GM Style Event, a corker of a night. She is a regular at similar Cadillac events in the US.

"GM does fantastic events. I like what they do," she tells a colleague. "I own a Cadillac Escalade and I bought it myself, I might add. For me for family and kids and the things I have to slip around to, I think it's a good car."

She has talked rugby (her beloved All Blacks were bundled out of the World Cup) and even mullets.

"The rugby is sad, sad, sad. We were meant to take that cup home this year," says the leggy one. "We just had bad luck. And the ref had a lot to do with it (the defeat by France). I think the All Blacks have one of the best teams they've had in a long, long time. That's the thing in sports though, it can change like that."

There are pressing things we want to talk about. The sort of stuff every red-blooded male knows the long and the short of ... the mullet.

"The mullet is not a good idea. It's not the way to go," she opines.

So what is?

"As much as I've been in the fashion industry, I think style has to be something that's so personal. But I love black, I think black is amazing and I think jeans are always amazing. But there's more to that. It has to be the right fit, it's about choosing the right style, all that kind of thing. But the mullet is not a good idea at all. Don't do the mullet. And Speedos ... no way. Never wear Speedos."

No mullets, watch the shoes, make sure your jeans fit and plenty of black. What else would we mere mortals have to do to have a chance of a second look from Rachel Hunter?

"If you see a great guy, it's chemistry and that's it."

She has two teenage children to rocker Rod Stewart and they were rock royalty for years. "The most ridiculous question people ask me is if I'm mates with Rod Stewart. He's got his own life going on and of course we have kids. But it's you know, beyond ...We're adults, you know."

Despite the glitz and glamour, the Kiwi supermodel is just like any other mum in that she spends a lot of time talking about her kids. And no two ways about it, she is tireless in her work for charity, which was what brought her to Dubai for the General Motors Style night which was for the benefit of Dubai Autism Centre.

Check out our sister publication Men's Style for a colleague's one-on-one interview with Rachel for the mag's cover story.

All style

A US gala red carpet events has been transplanted to Dubai. The General Motors Style Event brings together celebs, fashion and GM cars from around the world. It is held on the eve of the North American International Motor Show in Detroit.

This time GM's regional chief Terry Johnsson and his team brought it to the UAE as a curtain-raiser to the Dubai auto gala. The last Detroit event had Carmen Electra and Christian Slater in tow.

Dubai's boasted the gorgeous Rachel Hunter, and Egyptian actress Josra, one of the most influential figures in Arab cinema.

Other screen stars were Milad Yousef, the Syrian soapie and comedy star and the beautiful Sulaf Fawakherji, described by many showbiz writers as the ‘Arab Elizabeth Taylor.'

Yuri Mrakadi, filmmaker, singer and actor, was a popular guest. As he has chalked up double-platinum success he's certainly going to find fans wherever he goes.Another attendee was delightful Marwa Al Eifa, the Saudi-Emirati driver in the Lumina CSV series.

Many top GM executives made the trek from the US including Ed Welburn, GM vice president global design and Maureen Kempston-Darkes, GM group vice president and the company's president Latin America, Africa and Middle East.

There was some precious metal that wasn't on fingers. We saw the superb Cadillac CTS which is picking up Car of the Year gongs all over the world, the latest Escalade (Rachel's favourite!), the mega-cool Camaro Coupe, Corvette Z06, Hummer H3 Open Top, the phenomenal Holden Efijy, Saab Aero X and more.

Sure the event could have set a record for air kisses, but why not occasionally.

The main thing is that the event raised funds for Dubai Autism Centre.

Check out Men's Style magazine for full coverage.

Reporter's rave

Rarely do we publish the social doings of our auto mag competitors, but it would be negligent to ignore the musical pursuits of one Jon Saxon.

When Mr Saxon, of Evo magazine, felt things were getting a tad quiet at the Dubai Motor Show, he brought out his turntable and started spinning discs. Soon a crowd gathered to hear the tributes to all things '60s. He seemed particularly keen on Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues. He also wore a selection of wigs to get a bit more atmosphere going.

The stand next door was occupied by Top Gear magazine, boss of which is Mr Adel Habib, another genial gent known to enjoy his music.

Adel lodged a good-natured complaint - but not over the fact that Saxon was playing music. In fact Adel felt this should be encouraged: "I thought it was a good idea to play some music, but John's taste in tunes really does need some work. All that stuff from the ‘60s. I mean really..."

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