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November 13, 2012

Honda Sneak Peeks Civic Redesign for 2013

After disappointing reviews and feed back from both critics and buyers alike, Honda has re-designed its ninth-generation Civic for 2013 (at least for the North American market). Full details and more photos will be available at its reveal at the Los Angeles Auto Show, but here's what we already know:

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series: Video

Mercedes-Benz has launched the first video of its new SLS AMG Black Series and its 622 horsepower V8 engine. Enjoy this minute-long video of the new 315 km/h super car. It's a great way to start the week!

Ford Ranger Wins International Pick-Up Award 2013

The new Ford Ranger has won the "International Pick-Up Award 2013" making it the third international award Ford has won this year.

Every member of the judging panel ranked the new Ranger as their number one choice; praising its performance on- and off-road, strong engine line-up, payload and towing capability, and safety.

Mazda to Produce Toyota Vehicles at Mexico Plant

Mazda Motor Corporation has just announced that it will be building Toyota vehicles at the Mazda plant in Mexico. The manufacturing facility, which is currently under construction, will produce a Toyota-brand vehicle for sale mainly in North America. The sub-compact Toyota will be based off the Mazda2 and will start production around the summer of 2015 at a pace of 50,000 units per year.

Mazda's plant in Mexico is scheduled to start production by March 2014 with Toyota investing an "appropriate" portion of production equipment costs and development costs related to the Toyota vehicle and also an appropriate portion of costs related to the plant's production capacity increase.

Currently, the Mazda Mexico plant is scheduled to produce the Mazda2 and Mazda3 vehicles with an annual capacity of 140,000 units.

This could mean we'll see all-new Mazda2 before the summer of 2015 (perhaps as early as late 2013 or 2014), and that the all-new Toyota Yaris will be relegated to service in Europe and Asia while Toyota will be getting their own sub-compact car.

Petron Offers "Passion for Porsche" Promotion

Petron, the country’s leading oil company, is offering sports car lovers the opportunity to have their very own collection of Porsche toy cars through the “Petron Passion for Porsche” promo, beginning November 1, 2012.

For only P1,000-worth of fuel purchase, using a single or accumulated receipts, a Petron customer can avail of a Porsche collectible toy car for only P180. Four models will be offered initially—a black Porsche Carrera, a red Porsche Cayman, a blue Porsche Panamera, and a silver Porsche Cayenne. To complete your set of 5, the white Porsche GT3 RSR will be available starting December 1, 2012.

Philippine Car Price Guide: November 2012

We're nearing the end of the year and you know what that means: not much new cars. Nonetheless, there are some new additions to the November 2012 edition of the Philippine Car Price Guide as well as several price adjustments. Here are some to name a few:

Chevrolet Traiblazer
Great Wall Haval H5
Great Wall Voleex C30
Great Wall Wingle
Hyundai Genesis Coupe (FL)
Isuzu D-MAX LS 4WD
Kia Sportage 2.0 EX CRDi 2WD
Peugeot 508
Peugeot 3008
Peugeot 5008
Peugeot RCZ
Subaru WRX STI 4DR A-Line

Ford Posts Best-Ever Monthly Sales in Philippines

Ford Philippines today reported that October represented its all-time best monthly performance, with strong demand across all nameplates driving overall retail sales up by 50 percent year-over-year to 1,248 units.

The record month was given a significant boost by the best-ever month for the Ford Ranger pickup, as the class-defining all-new Ranger delivered sales that jumped 213 percent from the previous generation truck last year to 282 units.

American Suzuki Motor Corporation, the sole distributor of Suzuki automobiles in the US has announced that it's pulling out of the US car market and has filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Citing low sales volumes, limited number of models in its line-up, unfavorable foreign exchange rates, among others, Suzuki will cease to sell cars and trucks in the US market after stocks are depleted and instead will re-align their business solely on motorcycles, ATVs, and watercraft.

A probe done by the US-based Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has concluded that Hyundai and Kia have both been found guilty of exaggerating a majority of their vehicle's fuel economy claims for the 2012 and 2013 model years. Apparently, the EPA estimates that this practice has been done since late 2010. As such, both of these Korean automakers will compensate the owners of some 900,000 vehicles sold under the now false claims.

Volvo Philippines continues to go full throttle as it takes the concept of customer service to a new level. In addition to the obvious offerings from the Volvo workshop – such as Volvo Genuine Parts, Volvo methods and internationally trained Volvo technicians – the Volvo dealer has a complete service offering where the customer is always in focus. A fully integrated offer, Volvo Service 2.0 offers the Volvo owner something new, and something more than what others are offering.

Subaru to Hold Kansha Festival on November 14-18

Motor Image Pilipinas (MIP), the exclusive distributor of Subaru vehicles in the country, along with its authorized dealers will hold it’s much awaited annual Kansha Festival from November 14 -18, 2012 at all of its showrooms. Also known as Subaru customer appreciation week, the Kansha festival is originally a celebration adapted from the Japanese “Kinro Kansha no Hi” or Labor Thanksgiving Day.

In observance of this holiday in Japan, Motor Image will be using the same theme by giving away exclusive offers on selected Subaru vehicles, accessories, parts, aftersales service and even Subaru Lifestyle merchandise items which will only be offered only during the campaign week.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) is pleased to announce the much awaited launch of the all-new Mitsubishi Mirage on November 16. With this, MMPC will be treating its valued customers and the general public to a night filled with fun and awesome music as it holds the Mirage Music Festival at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds. Simply as exciting as driving home the all-new Mirage, MMPC promises you to experience an overwhelming night of surprises and an array good music from some of the country’s top OPM bands such as Pupil, General Luna, Up Dharma Down, Urbandub and a lot more.

Aside from the superb band lineup for the Mirage Music Festival, MMPC will also giveaway exciting raffle prizes such as iPads, Toshiba Netbook, Toshiba LCD TVs, and cool Mirage exclusives such as T-shirts, Mirage USB drives and wireless PC mouse.

Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI), the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the Philippines, proudly announces that two Filipino Service Advisors (SA) from the HARI dealership network won top honors at the 1st Hyundai Service Advisor Championship. Mr. Eduard de Guzman, who landed among the top 10 finalists, and Mr. Rommel Agpoon, stood out from among 62 participants from 44 countries to bag the Outstanding Skills and Recognized Skills Awards respectively, exhibiting Hyundai's continued commitment to service excellence.

Photos by Ulysses Ang

Car engineers and designers work on new products three to five years before the eventual market versions show up on the showroom floor. For Chevrolet, this would mean they’ve been carefully crafting and honing their Colorado pick-up as early as 2007; and at the time, the pick-up market was vastly different. Pick-ups were small, simple, and largely uncomfortable.

Boy, how times have changed. Fast-forward to today and pick-ups have become more of everyday vehicles: it transports the kids to school and the wife to work while still being able to do a bit of hauling every now and then. For all intents and purposes, buyers are now looking at pick-ups as alternatives to compact crossovers especially given the higher cost of unleaded gasoline as well as the poor condition of Philippine roads and their propensity to flash flood. In this regard, Chevrolet was caught napping.

Mediacorp Subaru Challenge 2012 Crowns Winner After 78 Hours

The MediaCorp Subaru Challenge 2012 – The Asian Face-Off came to a sensational close today, with 42-year-old Singaporean Gan Yu Shen Tholmas taking top honors in a grueling 78 hours 30 minutes face-off, clocking the second longest winning time in the 11 years of the Challenge.

The three-time participant, Mr. Gan, was a direct entry contestant who was selected from an online competition organized by Motor Image on the “I Love Subaru’ Facebook fan page.

A late afternoon heavy downpour today brought welcome relief to contestants who braved the unusually hot weather conditions for more than 50 hours in the MediaCorp Subaru Challenge 2012 – The Asian Face-Off.

The rain renewed optimism among the remaining 36 contestants in the 11th annual event - 25 from Singapore and 11 from nine regional teams, facing off at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza for the top prize of a Subaru car.

In any family, there’s always a degree of sibling rivalry going on. Whether it’s comparing which one shoots hoops better or aces more tests, pitting siblings in what seems to be a head-to-head grudge match is almost unavoidable in any family. Naturally, this comparison is much more heated when you’re talking about twins—people typically comment that one is more handsome or smarter than the other.

Heat, Humidity Take Toll on Subaru Challenge Participants; Contestants Down to 80

The heat and humidity ignited the fighting spirit in contestants today at Asia’s biggest endurance challenge.

As an added incentive to spur the contestants on, organizers declared an additional cash prize of S$5000 for the second place winner.

As the contest entered its second night, in what is expected to be an arduous face-off to win the top prize, 80 contestants remain, with 30 from the regional teams and 50 from Singapore.

High Spirits Buoy Subaru Challenge Participants

The high heat and humidity did little to lower spirits yesterday at the start of Asia’s biggest endurance challenge.

The Mediacorp Subaru Challenge 2012 – The Asian Face-Off, now in its 11th year, kicked off at 1pm yesterday at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza, with 400 participants from 10 countries across the region vying to win a Subaru car.

MediaCorp Subaru Challenge 2012 Kicks Off

Asia’s most anticipated endurance challenge kicked off at 1pm sharp today at Ngee Ann City’s Civic Plaza, with 400 participants from around the region vying to win a much coveted Subaru Car.

More than 900 competition hopefuls thronged the event site this morning, some as early as 7am, for the chance to take part in the final qualifying round and go into what is expected to be an arduous, four-day face-off to win the top prize of a Subaru car, additional titles and cash prizes.

Change is about to happen at Smokey Mountain as Caltex’s latest social investment initiative, Driving Change with Caltex, makes a stop at Manila’s once dumpsite with the goal of providing the children in the community an avenue where they can play and rebuild the childhood joys they had missed out on due to poverty.

Driving Change with Caltex is the company’s latest reality community project show, in partnership with Fox International Channels (FIC), which harnesses the power of social media to embark on regional social efforts, from October 5 to November 4, 2012, spanning five Caltex markets in Asia—Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines, and Singapore.

Volkswagen Appoints Ayala Corporation as Philippine Distributor

Volkswagen AG, Europe's largest car maker, has chosen to partner with one of the Philippines' largest and most respected business groups, Ayala Corporation. In a statement issued from its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, Volkswagen announced the appointment of Ayala's wholly owned subsidiary, Ayala Automotive Holdings Corporation, as the Philippines distributor of Volkswagen passenger vehicles. This distributorship agreement brings together two premiere corporate names to compete in an industry with high growth potential.

Ferrari recently set a record-breaking parade of 964 Ferrari cars during the Ferrari Racing Days at the Silverstone Circuit in the UK. The event has been officially entered into the Guinness Book of World Records. Having previously set a record of 385 cars at Silverstone in 2007, the record was then transferred to Japan in 2008 with a parade of 490 Ferrari cars at the Suzuka circuit. Ferrari, together with the Ferrari Owners Club of Great Britain, were determined to take the record back in style and have now raised the bar to heights that will take some beating; at one point in the parade when all the cars were moving simultaneously, there were only less than 250 meters or 820 feet separating the lead car from the tail of the parade, meaning that the entire 3.66-mile Silverstone Grand Prix circuit was filled with Ferraris, three wide across the track.

October 23, 2012

Review: 2012 Honda Civic 1.8 EX

Photos by Ulysses Ang

For the life of me, I can’t seem to understand women and their almost-infinite choice of clothing styles. More than once, I’ve been accused of not paying attention to what my wife wears when she readily points out that her blouse today has got wider stripes compared to the one she wore yesterday. I mean, stripes are stripes. But the tables are turned when it comes to cars where I can readily point out each make and model based on a particular view, part, or sometimes even just by the engine sound. So when I drove up in the all-new Honda Civic, the first thing she asked? So what’s new?

Honed and perfected through more than a century of experience, Peugeot automobiles have become a synergy of style and technology epitomized by its tag line of “Motion & Emotion”. What started out as a manufacturer of bicycles has become Europe’s second largest selling automobile brand and the world’s leading producer of diesel engines. With such a reputation, Peugeot is surely a force to be reckoned with, and all they need is the best local partner to grow the business in the Philippines. That partner has arrived through Eurobrands Distributors, Inc. and now they are setting their sights on leading the luxury car segment.

Ford Cainta Opens, Showcases Brand's New Look

Ford Philippines celebrated the continued expansion of its nationwide dealer network with the opening of Ford Cainta, the first of 12 new authorized dealerships the company will open over the next six months.

The additional 12 locations will expand Ford’s dealer network by 50 percent, bringing the total number of authorized Ford dealerships to 35 in the Philippines.

With three test weekends down, qualitative testing for the 2012 - 2013 Car of the Year Philippines (COTY-P) has been as much a mix of vehicles as of respective reactions. Various configurations of four-wheeled personal transport - from the pint-sized, front-wheel-drive Hyundai EON to the mechanically-balanced, four-wheel-drive Subaru Impreza sedan to the mobile-boardroom Chrysler Town and Country minivan - have been put through their paces through either the North or East Triangle loop of Quezon City, always departing from the bright, expansive, and well-secured staging area provided by the official test venue ETON Centris, located at the busy corner of EDSA and Quezon Avenue.

Help pick the final 12 winners by voting from over 500 qualified entries to the Hyundai POPArt Contest.

Official voting period runs from October 16 to October 28 at Hyundai Philippines’ official Facebook page. You may vote for as many entries as you like. However, only one vote per entry is allowed daily. Fifty lucky voters will win exclusive Hyundai merchandise. Popularity of choices consists 20% of the final judging criteria.

The 12 winners will receive a cash prize of Php 50,000 each and a chance for their artwork to be part of Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc.’s (HARI) 2013 Hyundai Calendar and limited edition merchandise.
The Hyundai POPArt Contest, launched by HARI is a competition that brings together aspiring Filipino artists in its advocacy to promote home-grown talent and to showcase the beauty and uniqueness of Filipino art and culture.

Last Few Days for Honda Accord Special Offer

Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) will offer Accord buyers big savings and attractive financing options this month of October. Accord buyers can choose either a low interest or low down payment scheme through UnionBank. At the same time, all-in and zero discount packages will also be available. In addition, Honda will provide a Special Financing Assistance that Accord buyers can apply to any of these financing options to get added savings. For cash buyers, special discounts can be availed.

The Honda Accord provides its owner with a commanding presence, powerful yet fuel efficient driving performance, spacious interior and high level of safety. With this new offer from Honda, owning an Accord just became easier.

This offer is available until October 31, 2012 only. For more information, customers may visit any of the 28 Honda authorized dealerships or UnionBank branch nationwide or log on to www.hondaphil.com.

Volvo Now Offering Polestar Performance Package on Selected Models

Volvo Philippines goes full throttle as it now offers performance tuning for late-model Volvo gasoline and diesel turbocharged engines. The tuning is not limited to any single car and this makes the power boost available for a wide variety of old and new Volvos. Volvo works closely with its official motorsports partner, Polestar, and its team of engineers who have run Volvo official motorsport since 1996. Together, they developed the technology to ensure exhilarating driving wrapped in world-renowned Volvo safety.

AVID Posts 20% Growth to Cap 3rd Quarter

The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, Inc. (AVID) announced its January to September sales record of 21,762 units, up by 20% from 18,086 units in the same period last year. Both the Passenger Car (PC) and Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) categories saw positive growth. In the same period, PC sales maintained a robust pace with 38% growth to 12,931 units sold as opposed to 9,343 units sold. Leading the pack of gainers for this period were British United Automobiles, Inc. (MINI), The Covenant Car Company, Inc. (Chevrolet) and Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc., posting 35%, 26%, and 15% growth respectively. Likewise, the LCV category saw a 1% rise to 8,831 units sold versus 8,743 units sold in the first nine months of 2011.
For the month of September, while total sales fell by 9% year-on-year on the back of supply setbacks in the PC category, LCV sales rose by 31% to 1,005 units sold from 770 units sold on strong consumer demand.

Korean culture is taking the entire world by storm. Everything from food to pop music to soap operas is enjoying tremendous success, catapulting them to mainstream culture. The latest one to cross the oceans from Seoul to the rest of the world is PSY and his addictive song, “Gangnam Style”.

Gangnam refers to a district in Seoul where people are generally considered trendy, hip, and classy. You can liken it to their version of Beverly Hills in the US or Bonifacio Global City here. Cool and chic as the people are from Gangnam though, they never proclaim that they are, hence the comedic value of the song. In that sense, the all-new 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe is a true citizen of Gangnam. It’s not a luxury pretender. It’s cool and classy, down to its diesel-fed soul.

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