By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

IF the idea of a Filipino-designed car tickles your fancy, rest easy that you are not alone. There is enough history to point that we as a people have been perennially on the brink of breaking into truly homegrown auto manufacturing. Most will dismiss the idea of a locally penned automobile as sheer lunacy but there are some cars that have been designed and built in the Philippines that would argue otherwise.

Conge is a name that still comes up over rounds of beer and stories of better days gone by. Much of the reminiscing is centered on the two-door, two-seat Partner model, basically a fiberglass shell built around a space frame chassis and powered by a tuned Toyota 2TG.

In an age without computer-aided design and engineering software, the Partner soldiered solidly in the Golden Age of Philippine rallying, even foraying into Malaysia. Piloted by the best and brightest Filipino rallying talent at the time, both Conge Partner entries finished respectably on the international rallying stage. Mandy Eduque and Jun Espino finished well within the top 20, while Vip Isada and Blue Reyna hovered just above the best 10.

Several other Conge models were built for the growing motor sport scene at the time. A Lancia 037 copy comes to mind, also the slalom-specific “slipper” model and a twin-engine rally version that ran front and rear 1200cc Mitsubishi Mirage units resulting in an archaic form of all-wheel drive.

Aside from sporting designs, Conge also released the Sikat utility vehicle, similar to a Ford Fiera, and the aerodynamic-looking Spirit mini van, eerily comparable to modern day MPVs (multipurpose vehicles). Whatever happened to the brand and the men behind this local car endeavor remains unclear. Their contribution to Filipino car history is unmistakable nonetheless.

We need not look further than one of the nation’s strongest cultural icons for the next example of the Filipino’s innate auto-building capacity. For something that started foreign, the Jeepney was naturalized by a combination of necessity and ingenuity. Born of materiel surplus, the devastation of war and the need for cheap motorized transport, today’s jeepney bears little resemblance to the Willys and Ford jeeps that they evolved from.

The cut and paste style of modification used in the initial war wagon to public transport conversions lives on in today’s jeepney also. The hodgepodges of parts that make up each jeepney reflect both the diversity of our own culture and the sad economics that keep us from going forward in many aspects of life.

The final argument comes from the new breed of cars that jumped out of science fiction and became actual working Filipino made cars. The Sinag solar car project of La Salle’s Mechanical Engineering and Electronic and Communications Engineering Departments points to a bright future, forgive the pun. Finishing the 2007 World Solar Challenge’s 3000-km route should have been enough reason to declare a national holiday, but placing 20th in a field of 38 world-class teams is what is really spectacular about this Filipino endeavor.

The current environmental and economic impacts of rising oil prices have also helped spawn a mushroom patch of indigenous electric cars. Every few months it seems someone claims to have built a vehicle powered by some sort of electric motor. Never mind the questions of whether these cars are actually cheaper to run long term than the new breed of efficient fossil fuel burners. The whole point is that it can be done and that a Filipino can do it.

The theme that binds these Filipino cars seems to be adaptation born out of necessity. Conge’s came at a time that brand-new cars, let alone performance models, were hard to come by and if at all available were ridiculously priced. The jeepney and the electric cars show how we adapt in times of societal adversity. Sinag is a nod to Filipino engineering and technical competence.

What more do we need to say that we as a nation are capable of building a cheap, efficient and sound automobile that has more than just a little panache? Do we lack the essential funds to finance the next Filipino automobile? The venture capital is out there in troves. The time to build a Filipino car is now.