Corporate bits | Cotai Water Jet launches complementary limousine service

Cotai Water Jet is offering a complimentary Macau limousine service for passengers who purchase three full adult fare, Cotai First tickets on the same Airport Route sailing.

The service must be booked before 5 p.m. at least a day before departure, and limousines can accommodate a maximum of three passengers and three check-in bags. 

Customers can also take advantage of the Cotai Water Jet WeChat fan promotion and Bank of China (BOC) card offers.

Until the end of the year, Sands Resorts Macao WeChat fans can take advantage of a WeChat fan promotion offer to enjoy a 15 percent discount on City Route Cotai Class and Cotai First full adult fare one-way tickets. 

Passengers who purchase full adult fare Cotai Water Jet Cotai Class tickets using BOC credit or debit cards are entitled to a 15 percent discount on the City route, or 20 percent discount on Airport route sailings. All sailings must be made on or before June 30, 2017.

Range Rover Velar targets younger drivers

Range Rover’s new Velar SUV will be the brand’s most road-friendly auto yet, allowing manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover to put the squeeze on top-selling models from BMW AG and Audi, JLR Chief Executive Officer Ralf Speth said Wednesday as the car was unveiled.

The Velar will be 20 centimeters lower than the traditional Range Rover, reducing the degree of roll or tilt when cornering and marking the model out as a true driver’s car, Speth said at the Design Museum in London, where the auto made its public debut.

Priced from 44,000 pounds (USD54,000), the Velar will fill the gap between the $42,000 Evoque, which debuted in 2010, and the Range Rover Sport, which sells from about $65,000 after a ground-up revamp in 2013. Aside from its handling, the model is characterized by a minimalist design and new dashboard with three touch-screen information panels or “plates,” Speth said.

“It’s a more car-like Range Rover, but still with SUV capabilities,” the CEO said in an interview. “It’s lower, but there’s a higher seating position. It’s also a modernistic design, very dynamic, and we have this plate technology, with the opportunity to shift the contents from one screen to the another.”

The Velar will compete with SUVs including BMW’s X5 and the Q7 from Volkswagen AG’s Audi arm, the CEO said. While he declined to comment on sales volumes, production could be running at almost 52,000 cars a year by 2019, according to analysts at IHS Markit, who estimate that Range Rover Sport output may fall below 70,000 units from 87,000 last year.