porsche

Porsche’s 718 Cayman and Boxster had been launched globally over a year ago. And now they’re being officially launched in India on February 15. Both cars will be powered by a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo petrol engine that generates 296bhp of power and 380Nm of torque. While they both boast top speeds of 275kph, the manual transmission variant can sprint from 0 to 100kph in 5.1 seconds, while the automatic does it in 4.9 seconds and 4.7 seconds with a sport chrono package.
Both the cars are expected to be priced between Rs 80 lakh – Rs 85 lakh (Ex-showroom).

oyo rooms

OYO Rooms glides into the premium segment with its fully-owned chain of premium hotels termed OYO Townhouse. Positioned as the “friendly neighbourhood hotel”, OYO Townhouse “will operate as a hotel, community hotspot, cafe and merchandise store – to deliver an all-encompassing experience to guests,” according to OYO Founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal.  He also added that they were looking at 250 properties with over 10,000 rooms across 12 cities in India by the end of 2017. The Townhouse debuted with OYO Townhouse hotel in Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi, which sports a cool grey look inspired by the classic British townhouse, with red and funky wall art adding zing to the ambience. The first OYO Townhouse came up last month in Gurgaon, but the Safdarjung property marks the official debut of the chain. This will be followed by Colaba in Mumbaiand further 12 cities across India. Founded in 2013, OYO operates 7,000 hotels and 70,000 rooms in over 200 Indian cities and Malaysia.

bugatti chiron

Hennessey Venom GT, flaunted as the fastest “hardtop coupe and convertible” in the world, will soon be bidding adieu. After being in production for only six years and selling a dozen cars during its production run, the American hypercar has officially concluded its production. To commemorate the final Venom GT built, Hennessey Performance (HPE) is making a “Final Edition” of its 270+ mph supercar.  The Venom GT Final Edition is finished in a special “glacier blue” paint with white stripes and is powered by the same twin turbo 7.0 Liter V8 engine producing 1,451 bhp.  The Final Edition has already been sold at the price of $1.2 millon. Since its inception, Texas-based HPE built only 12 road-going Venom GT’s and one working prototype. The first six models were hardtop coupes, whereas the rest of the six were roadsters. Over the past six years of production, the power figures of the Venom GT grew from 1,000 bhp initially to the astonishing 1,451bhp, says the carmaker. With a combined weight of just 1,245kg, the Venom GT brags of becoming the first supercar to attain and exceed the power to weight ratio of 1:1. The successor to the Venom GT is already in place: the Venom F5, to be introduced sometime later this year. The Venom F5 will be taking on none other than the Bugatti Chiron.

luxury perfumes

Along with its exotic bags and accessories, American designer Judith Leiber is now all set to offer two fragrances under his name, Minaudière and Minaudière Oud.  While the Minaudière has a floral blend with undertones of blackcurrant bud, bergamot, apple, jasmine, lily of the valley, white flowers, praline, musk and sandalwood, the Minaudière Oud is a darker, intense, seductive fragrance with an oriental concoction of rose, plum, raspberry, black pepper, vanilla orchid, orris, incense, amber and oud, of course. What’s more, they boast of luxe decanters in silver, styled exactly like Leiber’s coveted purses, adorned with a cabochon-embellished push clasp as a stopper, with pink highlights for the Minaudière and jet black with gold touches for the Minaudière Oud.  The prices for both are $195 for a 100ml Eau de Parfum each.

luxury leather goods

Flight amenity kits have evolved into something of a collector’s item, what with brands like Salvatore Ferragamo and Bulgari being invited by airlines to reinvent the commonplace item. And now New Delhi-based Nappa Dori will be joining the select club by designing exclusive high end kits for Qatar Airways.  Founded by National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) graduate Gautam Sinha and named after the materials it uses—leather (nappa) and thread (dori ), Nappa Dori would be providing its minimalist, wanderlust-inspiring design ethos to a collection of pouches that would feature vintage city scenes from London, Paris, and Doha. The kits will be given to business and first class passengers flying on short and medium-haul Qatar Airways flights around the world. Another one for the collectibles list!

insight vacations

India has for the first time been featured in the luxury gold itineraries of Geneva based luxury tours provider Insight Vacations. The recently launched 2017 luxury gold itineraries for high net worth individuals features eight other countries including luxury tours to Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Insight Vacations provides premium and luxury escorted tours and cruises around the world and has been servicing Indian customers since the eighties. Previously, Indian destinations like Varanasi, Rajasthan and Kerala have figured in the premium segment but this is India’s first time as a destination in in the luxury gold segment. This segment provides an entirely luxe travel experience including five star and boutique hotels and exclusive events as well as experiences for its clients.  For instance, guests will stay at the Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur in the new portfolio in India besides The Langham in Sydney, The Milestone Hotel in London and the Belmond Copacabana Palace in Brazil.

predator center finland

Of all kinds of bizarre art flourishing in the world out there,  this must be the most unbelievable: an artistic bear making paintings with his paws! What’s even more unbelievable is that the paintings are selling for 4000 Euros! So this incredibly talented animal is Juuso, a 17 year old, 930 pound brown bear who lives at the Predator Center animal sanctuary in the northern Finnish town of Kuusamo and uses his body, especially his paws as paintbrushes. His keepers discovered his talent when they found him playing with paint while redoing some of the facilities at their center, and since then he’s been catapulted to celebrity status in the world of art enthusiasts. Juuso favours blue and red colours, said Pasi Jantti, one of his keepers, adding that the paints used posed no health risk to the bear. The keepers at the Predator Center actually raised about 8,000 euros ($8,500) by selling 15 of his paintings. According to them, he’s quite the temperamental artist—if you ask him to do something, he won’t budge an inch. But if you just leave paint, plywood and paper lying around, the great brown bear Juuso happily paints away, “sitting and moving his legs on the paper.”  And now an exhibition of his artworks is opening at the Rupla gallery in Helsinki, featuring 11 pieces of original work, with some prints priced from 50 to 4,000 euros. Some of the paintings still feature bits of Juuso’s fur. Funds raised from the exhibition will be used to make a documentary about bears. What’s more, you can even the incredible artist live, creating his little world of art. Now isn’t that quite a treat.

harry potter restaurant

Great news for all Potterheads: Brooklyn is now going to have a Harry Potter-themed restaurant called PastaWiz, which serves customised pastas created to suit the taste of customers.  The décor is completely from the Potter universe with what appear to be spell books towering from floor to ceiling in one place. Oh, and let’s not forget—there’s the Sorting Hat too. So savour your personalised pasta in a very Potterised ambience. Heading out to Brooklyn already?

volkswagen

With their new Volkswagen I.D. Buzz Concept Van, Volkswagen is taking on the future. While incorporating the Modular Electric Drive Kit (MEB), the new concept van stretches out seats up to eight passengers while retaining two storage areas with modular seating layouts.  Boasting all-wheel 369 horsepower duel motor drive system with an average 270 mile range per charge, this van of the future also holds an I.D. Pilot autonomous driving mode that lets the I.D. Buzz do the driving. And that’s not all—the front seats can be turned to the rear to let the former driver interact with the other passengers—howzzat!  And it’s not too far away either, expected to arrive at the beginning of 2020. Now that’s truly visionary, we say!

luxury treatment

Mandarin Oriental, Prague is offering guests a new Spa Renaissance package, in their unique spa set within a former 14th century Renaissance chapel. Guests are treated to a morning yoga session followed by a 30-minute Signature Quintessence steam treatment and are given a specially created guide of ten traditional Czech rituals designed to bring a state of equilibrium. All of the ten rituals, from specially created treatments using products derived from the Linden tree; the national tree of the Czech Republic, to winter swimming in the Vltava River can be arranged by the hotel. The Spa Renaissance package is valid year-round and also includes luxury accommodation, buffet breakfast, morning yoga sessions in the Renaissance chapel along with spa treatments.