By Tessa R. Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer

THEY say the best measure of a product or service’s quality is its ability to thrive even when its competitors are having a tough time. And such is evident in a highly competitive market as the automotive industry, where consumer loyalty can be retained or swayed as swiftly as car manufacturers can produce new vehicle models.

Honda Cars Philippines Inc., however, has two models that prove that when you hit the bull’s eye of your target market, loyalty and consequently continued sales are almost always assured despite the influx of competitor models. The Honda Civic has captured a 63-percent market share of the compact class sedan, while the CR-V has gained a 25-percent share in its class. The two vehicles have bolstered HCPI’s No. 2 position in the automotive industry.

In a statement released by HCPI citing Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (Campi) report, Honda led the passenger segment in January with a 35-percent market share. HCPI sold 1,045 units in January out of the total passenger car unit sales of 2,961.Arnel Doria, HCPI VP for marketing, said that with continued positive sales trend, Honda hopes to significantly contribute to Campi’s 125,000-unit year-end industry sales target.

HCPI registered a 65-percent increase over the same period in 2007.

Doria pointed out that despite the 23-percent downtrend in the passenger car market compared to the December 2007 performance, Honda even managed to post a 19-percent growth.

Industry historical trends show that the industry normally experiences a sales slump at the beginning of every year due to advanced demands in December when buyers take advantage of aggressive year-end promotions.Honda credits its passenger cars dominance with its iconic Civic model, which has registered a 14,000-unit accumulated sales since its introduction in April 2006. Mirroring buyers’ approval, various industry awards have been heaped on the Civic for its superior engine performance, fuel economy, dynamic styling and overall value. Overall, the Civic emerged as one of the top three best-selling models in 2007.

The CR-V is also credited by HCPI as adding a significant contribution in sustaining its position with 431 unit sales.

By Tessa R. Salazar
INQUIRER.net

AFTER SATISFYING over 32 million owners around the world and undergoing nine “generational” changes, the Toyota Corolla is ready to take another step up in the evolutionary ladder.

So, 42 years after the first Corollas came out of the assembly line worldwide, the 10th generation Corolla Altis makes its debut in the Philippines in March. And basing on raw measurements: the overall look can now be described as sportier, but roomier. That seems contradictory at first, but read on and you’ll get the picture.

It may not look as sporty as the 5-door Corolla Auris hatchback, the one that you will see in Europe and Japan, but at least the 10th generation Altis is sportier than its local predecessors.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Tessa R. Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE AUTOMOTIVE buzz last week was that US automaker General Motors Corp.’s “solid sales growth” gave it a slim lead over Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp. in 2007 global vehicle sales, allowing it to keep its top spot for the 77th year.

GM sold 9,369,524 vehicles last year — a measly lead of 3,000 over Toyota’s 9.366 million vehicles sold last year. Automotive business analysts are expecting a more intense rivalry this year as the two compete for emerging markets like China and India.

But the No. 2 placer, it seems, isn’t complaining.

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By Tessa R. Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer

INDIAN carmaker Tata recently took the automotive world by storm when it launched its $2,500 Nano. The world’s cheapest car, by far, costs only the equivalent of a high-end laptop in this part of the world, at around P100,000.

To be sure, though, Tata threw out all the little extras to come up with only the barest essentials of a car. At 625-cc, it has one windscreen wiper, no power steering, no power windows, no air-conditioner, and will give about 20 km to a liter. And no one in India is complaining, yet, because the Nano has been marketed as a four-wheel vehicle alternative to the motorcycle.

4 times as much

In comparison, a decent three-liter diesel-powered jeepney in the Philippines would cost four times as much. The cheapest car exported to the Philippines is an 800-cc ultra subcompact priced at P319,000.

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By Tessa R. Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE SMOKE from the New Year’s celebrations had barely dissipated, and some fires in Metro Manila were still raging, when one of the Inquirer editors at the busy newsroom suddenly said from out of the blue, “I’m now beginning to be afraid of the future.”

Asked why, he bluntly blurted, “because oil has breached $100 a barrel.”

Indeed, the implications of this historic breach are still yet to be felt (and the major oil players are now most likely recalculating their prices). But why wait for the inevitable oil price hikes before we start re-thinking the way we choose our cars and the way we drive? Why pay up to P25,000 for special plates ending in number 8s so that we can get lucky on and off the road, when our driving habits and life attitudes make us burn fuel and personal bridges faster than a squatter colony on fire?

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By Tessa R. Salazar
Inquirer

INQUIRER MOTORING puts the spotlight on the individuals who have made their mark in local motorsports. Let’s start with the legendary “Tito Poch.”

“A single word would describe my wishes for motoring in 2008: consideration. If everyone would show some consideration toward other drivers, we would have less traffic, stress, accidents. Simple things like not blocking the way of the cars around you, not using two lanes to make a right turn, keeping the intersections open. These are all things that require only a little consideration on our part, and it will give everyone a better road system to drive in.” — Pocholo “Tito Poch” Ramirez, 74, co-host of “Motoring Today,” racing credentials here and abroad are too many to list down, one of which is winner of the Driver of the Year title five times in the 1970s

“My wish is to see our government invest more on road safety and also better implementation of road rules.” — JP Tuason, 32, founder of Tuason Racing School and two-time Karter of the Year.

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By Tessa R. Salazar
Inquirer

BMW’S sports activity vehicle with the “athletic Asian physique” (as we call the X5’s mini-me version) sports a new engine, a fresh interior and exterior design as well as some new high-tech stuff.

The X3 magic has not yet worn out, as it retains the nimble handling, admirable steering and braking with the touch of that stiff ride.

The new X3 2.5Si makes its debut with its in-line six-cylinder engine that features a lightweight composite magnesium/aluminum crankcase. It weighs just 165 kg and features variable Valvetronic valve control.

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By Tessa R. Salazar
Inquirer

WAS it just coincidence that as the Inquirer flashed the news about climate change on its banner page, its Motoring section had in its possession (for a couple of days, at least) two hybrid cars from two of the world’s trailblazers in hybrid power technology?

Maybe there has been, indeed, an ultimate purpose for endeavors that would, at first, seem meaningless and a waste of time. Take, for example, our effort to drive these two hybrid cars (a Toyota Prius and a Honda Civic with Integrated Motor Assist) through some of the most congested locations in Metro Manila at the worst possible driving times (payday Friday night and Saturday afternoon).

Thus, the 1.5-liter Prius (a second-generation test unit) and the 2006 Civic 1.3 i-DSi with IMA were virtually inseparable for two days, driven in identical routes and lanes, loaded up at the same fuel stations and subjected to the same traffic situations.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Tessa R. Salazar
Inquirer

THE NUMBER of companies that participated in the recently concluded 40th Tokyo Motor Show was 241, two more than the 2005 edition’s 239. But if you were to go by the Who’s Who of the automotive industry, numbers can’t hide the gaping hole left by those who were conspicuously absent this time.

Some of the Detroit Motown’s top executives were not seen and their absence didn’t go unnoticed. Asahi Shimbun wasted no time reporting these truants. A Fortune report at CNNMoney even went so far as writing “RIP” for the Tokyo Motor Show after citing auto launches by US top automakers being done elsewhere.

Have these fortune tellers hit the nail on the head, or have they just been too quick to the draw? Journalists who attended the motor show witnessed numerous concept vehicles and environment-friendly hybrid machines, making this writer think that the motor show was undergoing a sea change in its overall vision.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Tessa R. Salazar
Inquirer

HE isn’t just swift. He’s precise. And wouldn’t we wish we were a bit just like him in our everyday struggles in the chaotic streets of Metro Manila.

His name, fittingly so, is Russ Swift, and he is a world-class precision driver and Guinness record holder. Russ can execute the tightest J turns and parallel park in the blink of an eye. He can spin a car into a parking space just 33 cm longer than the vehicle.

At the Honda Automobile R&D center in Tochigi, each of the automotive writers present didn’t dare do a Swift-like parking maneuver. Instead, they did somewhat the opposite: park a vehicle equipped with a park assist system with computer-assisted steering and voice guidance, which effectively takes the guesswork out of parking.

Parallel-assist parking

Here’s how the “spoon-fed” parallel-assist parking works. Stop on the nose of the parked rear vehicle when it is aligned with the indicator on the left front door lining. Then turn on the parallel-assist switch.

The driver moves the car slowly forward until the voice guide asks him or her to stop the car.

While backing, the driver is asked to keep the position of the steering wheel. The voice guide will tell the driver when to stop. He or she is then asked to turn the steering wheel into the center position to make the precise position in backing the car. Voila!

This same program also does reverse parking. And this does away with an expensive rear monitor. Such technologies have been at use already in many Honda cars in Japan. This system would not be introduced in the Philippines in the near future.

Glow in the dark

Though it does look like a ghost glowing in the dark, it’s actually a living, breathing pedestrian reflected in front of a car in the dead of night. By reflecting images obtained from two far infrared cameras positioned in the lower section of the front bumper in the heads up display, this visibility safety system introduced in the Japanese car Legend in 2004 supports the driver’s night-time vision. When the system detects pedestrians, it cautions the driver via an audio warning and visual enhancement frame.

Journalists were then brought to the world’s first indoor, omni-directional real-world crash test facility in the Tochigi R&D center that Honda built in 2000.

Here, scribes were able to witness an actual head-on collision between a CR-V and an Accord (complete with crash test dummies) at 60 kph. Ugh! Even for crash-test dummies, the postcrash details are quite gory but suffice to say, based on the tests, the occupants will survive albeit with some injuries. One crash was enough, though. The facility also conducts collision tests between vehicles at various angles, in addition to fixed barrier tests.

Crash dummy

Honda has even developed a pedestrian crash dummy that reproduces the kinetics of the human body during car-to-pedestrian collisions to identify the parts of the car body most often involved in the infliction of injuries.

And we have to thank this hapless dummy for making it possible for the carmaker to introduce recent safety designs such as the pop-up hood and the pedestrian injury reduction body to reduce head injuries during collisions.

Actuators “pop up” the rear portion of the engine hood at approximately 10 cm when three sensors located in the front bumper and a vehicle speed sensor determine a collision with a pedestrian has occurred. This provides a space between the rigid engine components and the hood, reducing head injuries to pedestrians. Again, this technology had been first incorporated in the Legend that is being sold in Europe.

Bikers’ airbags

Motorcyclists plunging face first into airbags? Sounds loony, but it may help save countless lives. And yes, Honda is taking this seriously and has developed the world’s first airbag system for mass production in motorcycles, and can help lessen the severity of head injuries caused by motorcycle frontal collisions.

Airbag-equipped motorcycles have been on sale in the United States since September 2006, in Europe in October 2006 and in Japan in June 2007.