Luxury car maker Porsche is concerned about potential delays due to the disruption of shipping in the Red Sea, although there has been no impact on production so far, its regional head has said.
“It's a concern currently in terms of delays or product arrival. But that's really all for now,” Manfred Braunl, chief executive of Porsche Middle East and Africa, told The National on Friday, on the sidelines of a press briefing.
“So, we all hope for the best [and for the conflict to end].”
The escalating conflict in the Red Sea, as attacks on shipping vessels by Yemen's Houthis intensify in retaliation against Israel's bombardment of Gaza, has reignited inflationary fears and concerns over supply chains.
Shipping companies have suspended operations on the route and are rerouting through the Cape of Good Hope, which, in turn, is adding more time and cost.
The route joins Eastern Asia and Europe to the southern parts of Africa.
Electric vehicle maker Tesla on Friday said it was suspending most car production at its factory near Berlin for two weeks from the end of this month, due to a squeeze on component supplies.
“The armed conflicts in the Red Sea and the associated shifts in transport routes between Europe and Asia via the Cape of Good Hope are also having an impact on production in Gruenheide,” it said.
The latest shipping disruption threatens to derail supply chains just as they were steadying following the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, which began in February 2022.
For Germany's Porsche, waiting times for some of its models, which had been extended to more than a year during the peak of disruptions, have now normalised, more or less, to pre-pandemic levels, Mr Braunl said.
“Waiting times in general have been significantly reduced. And if I compare this to two years ago, and it still depends a little bit also on the model line, … we are going now back to kind of a normal one,” he said.
“When the war in Ukraine started, there were a lot of suppliers affected. And, of course, this had immediately also an impact on the production. So, it was a mix of suppliers and also of logistics, and both of these things have significantly improved right now.”
Despite the disruptions, Porsche did not raise its prices in the region.
The company delivered 9,135 cars in the Middle East, Africa and India region last year, an increase of 11 per cent annually, it said on Friday. New car deliveries since 2020 have now grown by 47 per cent.
The Cayenne was the best-selling model for Porsche in the region last year, as a new model was launched.
Meanwhile, the Taycan all-electric sports car also reported strong sales, up 80 per cent from the previous year.
The Taycan currently accounts for nearly 10 per cent of sales across the region, indicating the strong trend towards electrification, said Mr Braunl.
“People are buying electric cars for multiple reasons. Of course, they're buying it for environmental reasons, but an electric car has also different things which people like. It has an amazing acceleration. It is full of new technology. And I think this is also what customers really are going for,” he said.
In terms of electric vehicle infrastructure, some countries in the region, such as the UAE, are more advanced, although the infrastructure is currently in a development phase across the board.
Porsche currently has 326 destination chargers in the Emirates, in locations such as malls and hotels.
The brand is currently working towards its goal of having 80 per cent of its cars being all-electric by 2030, Mr Braunl said.
On Thursday, the company said it was putting the prototype of its next generation all-electric Macan through a test programme before its launch later this month.
“And then, in the second half of the year, we will also see it here in the [regional] market,” he said.
Regionally, Porsche plans to expand in Morocco this year. It is also studying the Saudi market, although there are no concrete plans in place as of now.
“I think when you see the product line-up, and we see the strong customer base we're having, [we are] definitely optimistic for this year, and we just hope that all these conflicts come down, and the economy stays strong … It's important to be optimistic, and that's what we are,” Mr Braunl said.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
Jumanji: The Next Level
Director: Jake Kasdan
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Nick Jonas
Two out of five stars
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MORE ON THE US DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The Freedom Artist
By Ben Okri (Head of Zeus)
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MATCH INFO
AC Milan v Inter, Sunday, 6pm (UAE), match live on BeIN Sports
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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Movie: Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster 3
Producer: JAR Films
Director: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Jimmy Sheirgill, Mahie Gill, Chitrangda Singh, Kabir Bedi
Rating: 3 star
THE%20SPECS
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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I Feel Pretty
Dir: Abby Kohn/Mark Silverstein
Starring: Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams, Emily Ratajkowski, Rory Scovel
