By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

IT is easy to fall prey to preconceived notions, biases if you will. Even the world of cars and motoring is not free of arbitrary, foregone conclusions. Rain always brings horrendous traffic. Station wagon owners have large, hairy dogs. Traffic cops like doughnuts.

Ask yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, what comes to mind when you think of the Hyundai brand? Honestly, in our subconscious’ hierarchy of automotive brands, cars with the italicized H aren’t vehicles that we are completely comfortable with. More often than not, a little sense of hesitation always creeps in when thinking of this marque.

Chalk up this line of thinking to a less than stellar complement of vehicles that initially introduced Hyundai cars to the local market around a decade ago. To say that the current generation of automobiles from this Korean manufacturer is now radically different would just state the obvious. Inevitably, everything changes over time. What really has to be said is that change has been kind to the Hyundai brand and the second generation Santa Fe is confirmation of the good news.

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By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

FIRST, congratulations on your status as a respected leader in the international automobile industry. No, strike that. Rock star seems a title more appropriate. Turning around the worldwide operations of Nissan is possibly one of the greatest feats in the history of man making the automobile. You did that as an outsider, a gaijin at that. And now you have a Japanese cartoon character in your likeness to show for it.

Everything you seem to do is done in boldface. Unveiling the R35 Nissan GT-R, the spiritual successor of the Skyline, to the driving world last year in Tokyo, stole the show for all intents and purposes. Standing there, elbow to solar plexus with the rest of the world’s motoring press, even our habitually cynical lot was obviously excited. I was there in the Godzilla-frenzied mosh pit and have lousy, ill-taken photos filled with other journalists’ heads and shoulders to prove it.

Your statements at Davos this year were typically far from low-key as well. Betting Renault’s and Nissan’s future on electric vehicles is considerably risky. Add to that the pledge that your electric car will be fun to drive and provide a significant economic advantage over the internal combustion engine. Imagine the anticipation for this landmark endeavor, especially when it’s the CEO of world’s fourth largest automotive conglomerate doing the talking. Double the expectation since Carlos Ghosn spoke those words himself.

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By Aida Sevilla-Mendoza
Philippine Daily Inquirer

DRIVING fast is not much fun these days — what with oil prices soaring and the guilty feeling that pricks your conscience when you exceed 100 kph. So you learn to moderate your speed in your daily commute.

Just the same, you still want a car that can zoom way ahead of the pack when the spirit moves you on the highway.

Enter the 2008 Subaru Impreza 2.0R Sport.

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By Aida Sevilla-Mendoza
Philippine Daily Inquirer

PICTURE in your mind this photo op: the 2008 Volvo XC70 AWD in all its rugged elegance parked on a sandy beach, the waves lapping at its 17-inch alloy wheels while the sun sets behind it on the horizon of the South China Sea.

The opportunity to set up this photo op came last week, so I broached it to the Volvo representatives present. But unfortunately the beach at Puerto del Sol resort in Bolinao, Pangasinan is fenced off and therefore inaccessible to cars.

But let me tell you how an XC70 ended up at a beach resort in the distant north.

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By Aida Sevilla-Mendoza
Philippine Daily Inquirer

CHINA is the third largest country in the world in land area and the largest in population with 1.2 billion. China is also, after the United States, the world’s second largest car market (8.8 million motor vehicles sold in 2007) with sales rising nearly 20 percent every year, and it aims to be the world’s second largest automobile manufacturing country. Naturally, when this giant holds its bi-annual international auto show, it has got to be on the grandest scale, with car makers from all over the world scrambling to showcase their best and gain market share.

The 10th Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, a.k.a. Auto China 2008, opened on April 22 and ended last Monday at the new China International Exhibition Center. It had 106,000 square meters of indoor space in eight halls, all displaying passenger vehicles plus 80,000 sq m outdoors; 2,100 exhibitors of which 225 were from 18 countries; a total of 890 models, almost 100 brand-new, with 55 concept cars, seven global debuts and 24 Asian debuts. Nearly 10,000 domestic and overseas reporters attended the press days (April 20-21) and 600,000 visitors were expected, including 30,000 foreigners.

The theme, “Dream, Harmony and New Vision” aptly has “dream” as the first word. Independent Chinese car manufacturers — those that have not formed joint ventures with European, American, Japanese or Korean brands — dream of breaking into the European and North American markets, which comprise 50 to 60 percent of the world market. Among the dreamers is Chery, China’s foremost state-owned automaker, which displayed 26 models in a 2,500-sq-m exhibit area, one of the largest in the show. The theme “Safe and Save” underscored Chery’s goal to build much safer, more energy-saving and more eco-friendly cars.

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By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

BIGGER isn’t always better, having more doesn’t always equate into being merrier.

When was the last time you chose to buy a car because of the number of speakers, cupholders or map lights in the cabin? These things are nice to have but in the end, many brands just do this to overcome their products’ shortcomings. We live in a world where products loaded beyond reason saturate the market. A common marketing tactic is that vehicles that can’t cut it as fundamentally sound products load up on knickknacks for much-needed brochure appeal.

Peeling back all the extras is one way to figure out just how good a product is. Finding a car that is good enough just by merely how it drives, sans all the frills, is a wonderful thing. Better even is when a lower model and trim level still delivers the same amount of satisfaction. But is it more amazing when a product with a smaller engine strikes almost the same chords as its better endowed brethren?

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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.

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By Aida Sevilla-Mendoza
Philippine Daily Inquirer

IN THE PHILIPPINE car industry, there are two groups: the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the non-Campi. The non-Campi are considered mavericks or upstarts that, for one reason or another, dropped out of Campi or have not joined the Campi establishment.

Early this month, the non-Campi showcased their products at the 4th Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) at the World Trade Center. The new wrinkle in the 4th MIAS was the participation of two Chinese car manufacturers—Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. and Chana. The newest kids on the block occupied large pavilions and unveiled cute minicars that are priced to grab market share from the Suzuki Alto, Chevrolet Spark and Kia Picanto.

Many people have heard of Chery, which entered the Philippine market last year and now has 28 dealerships all over the country. Geely, another Chinese brand, set up a distribution hub in the Subic Freeport in 2007. But Chana?

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By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

BEFORE EVERYONE gets excited about the title of this week’s installment, an explanation is in order. While the issue of declining build quality is a valid and very important one, especially since the local emergence of economy brands from the Mainland, this rant is more about the changing spirit of the automobile.

More and more cars are being designed, built and marketed so as to appeal to larger market segments. Nothing’s wrong with that really, if one is benefiting from the sale of automobiles. Across the industry, from the boardrooms to the assembly lines, everyone tied to the car business is better off the more they sell.

Yet by pandering to the needs, wants and level of skill behind the wheel of a larger segment of the population, even some of the leading performance brands are beginning to hawk weaker tea. What more the compromises made by the mass-market volume makes?

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By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

EMPHASIS is too often placed on the person behind the wheel. Drivers are labeled good or bad, judged in the most extreme cases, by those who would just lounge and enjoy the ride. Behind the backs of the drivers who just took them to their destination, passengers whisper about nauseating pedal work, terrible lane choice and near misses.

Passengers should understand that by agreeing to ride with someone, a meeting of the minds takes place. When people get into a car, a social contract is mutely agreed upon. Someone is going to get behind the wheel and drive, while others pile into the free seats and just go along for the ride. Even in cases where the relationship of driver and driven is strictly professional, the car’s owner may have strategic control of the automobile but the how and when is under full control of the driver.

That said the behavior of those along for the ride is a gray area at best. In the worst of situations, this is seen as a free pass to act in whichever way they want. The light jokes about back seat driving, or passengers who think that an automobile can be operated by voice command, cease to become funny when it happens to you. Admit it, ladies and gentlemen, how many times have you wished for an ejection seat function in your car, just so you can lose the noisiest and pushiest of your cargo.

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