Universal Motors Agencies Co. (UMA), General Motors’ (GM) dealer in Saudi Arabia, received Dan Quayle, former vice president of the United States of America and the chairman of Cerberus Global Investments, recently visited the Kingdom and met with governmental officials and businessmen in Riyadh and Jeddah. The purpose of his visit was to further improve the economic and commercial relationship between the Kingdom and the United States. Quayle was the 44th vice president of the United States. UMA is the oldest and highly recognized GM dealership in the Middle East. The company is a joint venture between Arabian Motors & Engineering Company (Ameco-Zahid) and General Machinery Agencies (GMA), two of the oldest and most respected GM dealers in Saudi Arabia. Today, UMA employs more than 1,600 staff in 16 branches and 53 lease operations sites spread across the Kingdom. UMA continues to invest in facilities and manpower to meet its ever-growing customer base.
 

An 80-day ‘Spread the Smile’ campaign recently ended with a remarkable success. Visitors of the online campaign launched on the social networking site ‘Facebook’ reached more than 30,000 in just one week. In addition, the working team succeeded in distributing more than 230,000 brochures to spread the smile in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. Turki Kari, Saudi Arabia’s brand manager of Springles, which organized the campaign, expressed his pleasure over the success of the campaign. “We in Pringles always strive to strengthen the channels of communication based on continuous communication with society. That was how the campaign was organized to spread the culture of smile among the people. It is a complement to the strategy pursued by Pringles social responsibility program in the Kingdom and within the framework of the performance of our duty toward the local community,” he added. The campaign was also for the first time in the Kingdom accompanied by a radio promotion designed to attract public attention and invite listeners to participate actively in spreading the smile among people. The 15-second radio advertisement was simultaneously broadcast on eight radio stations (MBC FM, Panorama FM, Alif Alif FM, Rotana FM, Mix FM, Saudi FM, Qur’an FM and UFM). “This campaign has a great moral value that goes with our Islamic culture — spreading the smile and forgiveness among members of the community,” Turki said. “We hope to leverage this success and continue the campaign in the future at frequent intervals.”
 

Jaguar MENA has announced the arrival of its “highly anticipated” 12MY lineup across showrooms. Unveiled at the Geneva and New York motor shows earlier this year, the 12MY fleet features the newly renovated, award winning XF and enhanced flagship XJ, as well as the debut of the XKR-S, Jaguar’s fastest production vehicle to date reaching speeds of up to 300 kph. A saloon with the soul of a sports car, the XF has won accolades and enthusiastic fans across the globe for its dynamic abilities and dramatic looks. Advances in lighting technology have allowed the new 2012 XF model range to adopt the bold Jaguar design language introduced on the flagship XJ saloon. The supercharged XFR has received a unique, assertive styling treatment that signals the performance available in this quintessential Jaguar saloon. The 2012 model year XK builds on the car’s award-winning reputation as a high-performance sporting GT. A new range-topping variant, the XKR-S, creates a new performance flagship for Jaguar by becoming its most powerful production car ever, capable of reaching 300kph, and 0-100kph in 4.4 seconds. Purposeful cosmetic alterations to the front and rear have been made to the entire XK range, bringing its visual appeal right up to date, while further personalization options are available to both the car’s performance and styling through a series of special order upgrade packages. Robin Colgan, MD, Jaguar Land Rover MENA, said: “Our new fleet is the strongest embodiment of the Jaguar essence that we have seen in decades.”
 

Jeddah’s Rosewood Corniche will take diners on a culinary tour of fine traditional and modern Italian food during its Italian food festival from Oct. 26 to Nov. 4. Under the guidance of Chef Claudio Melis from Italian restaurant La Cucina at sister Rosewood property Al Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh, staff at Rosewood Corniche’s Habsburg restaurant will prepare and serve Italian food from eight live cooking stations. The luxury hotel will offer diverse items not usually found in the Kingdom, such as Sicilian street food, Italian gelati and traditional comfort food like slow-cooked, meat-heavy “mamma style” dishes. Prices for the festival start at SR165 per person plus a 15 percent service charge. “My aim is to introduce the people of Jeddah to my favorite Italian dishes,” said Melis. “We have sourced the very best ingredients for our diners so they can truly understand the flavors of Italy.” Amid panoramic views of the Red Sea, festival guests will feel like they have been transported to Florence, Rome and Venice as they enjoy soothing Italian music and elaborate decorations while live cooking displays will reveal gastronomic secrets from the old country. “We would like to elevate the Italian experience for our guests by bringing in specialties they may not have tried before in Saudi Arabia while also satisfying their desire for well prepared, quality favorites,” said Hans-Peter Leitzke, MD, Rosewood Corniche. All Italian festival diners will have the chance to enter a raffle draw.
 

Saudi Arabia’s National Petrochemical Industrial Company (NATPET), a producer of high quality polypropylene, has signed partnership agreements with European logistics providers De Rijke NV and Katoen Natie to establish regional storage and distribution centers for NATPET customers in the Benelux, Germany, northern Italy, France and the UK. The agreements will create numerous benefits for NATPET customers ranging from cost savings and increased efficiencies to improved after-sales services and delivery times of a 72-hour maximum. The company will offer through the distribution centers a wide range of PP grade mix (homopolymers, random and heterphasic copolymers) in accordance to its supply agreements with customers under the tradename Teldene that serve diversified market segments including rigid and flexible packaging, fiber and raffia, consumer goods, automotive and others. Jamal Malaikah, president and COO of NATPET; L.H. De Rijke, president and MD, De Rijke; and Fabian Leroy, VP, Katoen Natie, signed the deals. “This is a landmark moment for NATPET as these agreements allow us to firmly establish our presence in the European and UK markets and bring us much closer to our European clientele base. De Rijke and Katoen Natie are renowned the world over for their top quality logistics services and we hope these partnerships will bring more value and success to our customers,” said Malaikah. Leroy said: “Our facilities at Cremona are world-class and our expertise in the field of petrochemicals will add value to this partnership.”