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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CAR manufacturers seem to shrug off successive oil price increases as just part of the inevitable, and hope that Filipino buyers would do the same. And from the looks of it, things are still going the carmakers’ way, as new car launches continue left and right, and buyers aren’t just window shopping.

The newest car launch was courtesy of General Motors (featuring its new Chevy Aveo hatchback). This is to be followed by other launches of Mitsubishi (public launch of the new Lancer EX), Motor Image Pilipinas’ Subaru (launching the full-sized SUV Tribeca) and Nissan (introducing the Livina MPV).

In April, the auto industry registered a year-to-date growth of 14.8 percent compared to the same period (January to April) last year. There were 39,981 units sold, of which 11,078 units were sold in April alone.

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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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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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BRING it on!

Now that could have been a cute takeoff for a fun motoring article, except that at almost P50 per liter (and counting), the cost of fuel is no longer a laughing matter. And the next time legendary ol’ Tito Poch utters this now-famous sentence, it may be to face a rioting mob of motorists fed up with the rising cost of the rice-gasoline cocktail. Intoxicating thought, isn’t it?

For those who haven’t gone to the extent of installing their cars with LPG tanks, or at the extreme dumping their old (or new) gas guzzlers for some two-wheeled fuel misers, they may be holding on to the hope that, perhaps, changing some wasteful driving habits may do the trick of squeezing out a few more kilometers out of that last precious drop of fuel.

Some car manufacturers, understandably, are willing to help. Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (HCPI) recently held the motoring media edition of a fuel-efficiency driving competition on a combination of city and highway driving. This turns out to be a bold move on the part of HCPI, which cited a survey that most Honda owners still preferred performance over fuel economy.

Here’s Mario Marasigan, the director for the Department of Energy’s Energy Utilization Management Bureau, and HCPI president and GM Hiroshi Shimizu signaling the start of Honda Challenge Cup.

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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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Video taken by INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Christine Octia at the SM Megamall Megatrade Hall.

THE LAST strip of confetti from the Manila International Auto Show, attended by over 77,000 visitors, has barely been swept off the spacious hall of the World Trade Center, and yet the fireworks begin again for another car show, the Trans Sport Show 2008 at SM Megamall. But that’s another story fit for restoration enthusiasts.

These two exhibits, spaced so close to one another, just show that Filipinos’ thirst for new cars isn’t quenched by “rice-ing” fuel and food prices.

So what exactly were the MIAS machines that made us forget, albeit for a while, the growl in the stomach, for the roar of the engines?

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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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Video taken by INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Christine Octia at the SM Megamall Megatrade Hall.