The Best of the Dubai International Motor Show

Welcome to Absurdistan. The Devel’s striking proportions and gorgeous looks stopped me in my tracks. I asked people at the booth for some details. “Ah, 5,000 horsepower.” I laughed at this, but I seemed to be the only one that found it supremely amusing. 5,000? I asked. “Actually, 5,007. Even more than 5,000.” For perspective, the Bugatti Chiron tops out at nearly 1,500 horsepower. And while a lot of people have been throwing out some pretty wild figures lately, the Bugattis and Koenigseggs of the world are putting some serious research, and actually delivering with production cars. The kind you can actually buy and—under the proper conditions—do absurd things with.

The Devel crew say they are serious about making a line of Devel Sixteen hypercars, for what it’s worth. Powered by a Steve Morris-built V16 engine, the 5,000-ponied car will be for drag racing only. A 3,000 hp version will supposedly be available as a hypercar, and a twin-turbo V8 version will produce a modest 2,000 horses. While the show models have been built and designed in Dubai, the production cars are to be produced in Italy. The V8 is said to be on sale in 15 months, starting at $1.6 million. And that drag racer? $2.1 million, and two years. We wouldn’t hold our breath waiting for these cars to drop, but they certainly will turn heads if they ever make it to the streets.

The Dubai Police are famous for having a separate fleet of exotic and extremely alluring cars. On prominent display at their stand was one of their latest, a police-outfitted Rolls-Royce Wraith. The Wraith is one of “16 or 17 cars” currently in the fancier fleet. There’s also a Brabus 700 G-Class, a GT-R 35, two BMW i8s, a McLaren 570S and 720S, Mercedes-Benz GTS, Bentley GT Continental, Ferrari FF, and a Mercedes SLS. For off-road purposes the Dubai police bash the dunes in style in a GMC Sierra, and a Ford Raptor.

Only a unit of 15 police are allowed to drive these vehicles, and they get to push them on track. Manufacturers come to the testing facilities and also teach them about new features. The idea is that they can familiarize themselves with the cars unique features. Also, this way they won’t be tempted to see what the cars can do on the street, in theory. While these are of the more exotic variety, with 25,000 active police officers, they naturally have more pedestrian vehicles as well. Those include cars like the Nissan Patrol (Armada in the U.S.), Dodge Challenger, BMW 5 Series, Audi A6 and Q7, Chevy Tahoe, and more. Yes, law enforcement of the world, you’re allowed to be envious.

While not debuting an all-new model, McLaren did want to bring a little something special to Dubai. This special one-off is a Performance trim 720S, meaning it has the Exterior Carbon Fibre Pack 1, with carbon fiber applications on the hood air intakes, side mirrors, and rear fender. McLaren’s special custom group MSO added addition carbon fiber in several other places. All of this is to complement gold colored alloy wheels (a Dubai special if there ever was one), gold lettering, and a 24-karat-gold heat shield.

As a special ode to the city of Dubai, McLaren painted an interpretation of the Dubai skyline on the rear deck lid, but it’s cleverly shaped into arabic letters as well. The letters form a Bruce McLaren quote, “life is measured in achievement, not in years alone.”