Motoring Today Column

May 10, 2023

Festival Notes

It sure looks like there will be a hot summer for vehicle sales this year.

Despite the heat, thousands of people showed up over the four days of the 2023 Auto Focus Summer Test Drive Festival presented by Caltex at the SM Mall of Asia concert grounds held from May 4 to 7.

More than a thousand showed up on Sunday, the last day of the annual festival which brings together the country’s leading car manufacturers and distributors in a single venue to display their best models and offer test drives.

Available for test drives at this year’s summer festival were nearly complete vehicle lineups from Ford, GAC Motor, GWM, Honda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota and WM Motor.

Saturday was also a busy day for those manning the booths of the car manufacturers as many showed up with friends and families wanting to check out the latest vehicles in the market.

Perhaps expecting families with children at the festival, Suzuki prepared activities for children while parents waited for their turn at the Jimmy and the S-Presso, among the more popular vehicles requested from its lineup.

Despite the heat, many signed up for drives on the test track laid out to showcase the ride and handling of their dream vehicles.

Many opted to take out their choice rides for a road test on the busy streets at the SM Mall of Asia Complex to see what they feel like in real traffic situations.

The preference seems to still be for crossovers, SUVs, and MPVs—from five-to seven- seaters.

Although sedans and hatchbacks—the likes of the Mirage, Civic, Dzire, Altis, Empow— also saw some sign-ups. Car enthusiasts also showed just to experience bring behind the wheel of such sporty sedans like the Subaru WRX.

While the more established American, Japanese and Korean vehicles got majority of the test drives, China-brand vehicles — from GAC and GWM and WM Motor — were not far behind in the number of requests for drives.

The pickup truck market is quite competitive as shown by the many Rangers, Hilux, the GWM Cannon being tested on the track.

Many of the SUVs and crossovers running round the test track had children and other family members on board.

Lots of smiling faces on board may indicate that choices for family vehicles were being finalized.

A cursory look at the list of test drives reported by participating brands showed many names showing up twice or thrice, indicating that some were really doing some ‘comparos’ to perhaps narrow choices down for buying.

Team members from brands were ever present to explain the features as well as SRPs and financing options for respective lineups.

There is a healthy interest for hybrid vehicles as well as full electrics available for test drives.

Perhaps the lure of having a daily driver exempted from coding restrictions is real.

Toyota has one of the more extensive lineup of hybrids around with the hybrid variants of the RAV4, Camry, Corolla Altis, Corolla Cross now available in the market.

The full electrics from such brands as Nissan and Hyundai as well as newcomer WM Motor—the Nissan Leaf, Hyundai Ionic 5, Weltmeister W5 — also drew requests for test drives.

Drawn by curiosity or real buying interest, people are now seriously looking at going electric.

WM Motor set up the Eco X Charge booth to show what the future of vehicle ownership may look like.

Lasting up to 9PM in the evening, the four-day test drive festival was truly festive at twilight with the units on the track showcasing the many stylish headlamps and rear combination light designs.

One can readily tell the Hyundai Staria and Stargazer as they loom on the darkening track.

On a more personal note, I would like to thank Astara Philippines, Peugeot and GAC Motor—especially Peugeot’s Brand Head Maricar Parco, GAC Motor’s Managing Director Jun Cajayon and Astara Marketing Director Franz Decloedt— for hosting a dinner party in my honor with friends from the motoring beat and the industry during the final night of the festival.

I would also like to thank all my friends who showed up at the dinner party. They are too many to mention individually. But suffice it to say that you all truly warmed my heart.

Happy Motoring!!!

For comments & inquiries:

(email) sunshine.television@yahoo.com

(website) www.motoringtoday.ph

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ray Butch Gamboa graduated from the College of Arts and Letters of the University of Sto. Tomas. It was a course that should have been preparatory to a law degree, but the call of broadcasting aborted his plans.

At the age of 16, while still a student, Butch tried his hand at disc jockeying, landing a job at Mareco Broadcasting Network’s AM stations DZBM and DZLM. From there, Butch moved on with his illustrious career as a popular disc jockey, riding the airwaves of Bob Stewart’s middle-of-the-road music at DZXX, and ending his disc jockeying career at ABS-CBN’s DZYL and DZQL.

From there, he stayed on with ABS-CBN, covering live the proceedings at the Manila Stock Exchange and eventually entered into the world of television sales as an account manager for the premier channel of ABS-CBN Channel 2.

In the early 70’s, at the outbreak of Martial Law, Butch was one of the thousands of professionals who woke up jobless when then President Marcos declared the new status of the nation. With the closure of ABS-CBN, Butch ventured into different fields outside of broadcast. He tried his hand and with ease and success at export (Costume jewelry), real estate (brokerage), and restaurants (fast food).

In 1987, after the revolution, with the broadcast industry back to its free state, and with its irresistible call ringing in his ears, Butch made his inevitable comeback and pioneered in a local motoring show, producing Motoring Today on Channel 4 and co-hosting with local motor sports’ living legend Pocholo Ramirez.

After 4 years, he ventured into another pioneering format by producing and hosting Business & Leisure, which was originally aired on ABS-CBN’s Channel 2. The format eventually espoused similar ones in other different channels. But the clones in due course faded away leaving the original staying on airing on Channel 4 and eventually on Shop TV on Sky Cable’s Channel 13.

The following year, the pioneering spirit in Butch spurred him to produce another TV show, Race Weekend, also on Channel 4, covering circuit racing at the Subic International Raceway after the motor sport’s hiatus of 17 years. But when similar shows with duplicated formats sprouted, he decided to give way and ended the program after a year, although still enjoying unparalleled viewership.

In 1998, when the local automotive industry was in a slump, Butch contributed his share to help the ailing industry by producing another popular motoring-related show, this time exclusive to the automobile and its industry—Auto Focus, which became a vehicle for local automotive assemblers and importers to showcase their products and dwell on the industry’s latest technological developments.

In 2003, Butch teamed up with his brother, Rey Gamboa who was a former Shell executive and presently one Philippine Star’s business columnist to co-produce and co-host the TV show Breaking Barriers on Channel 13. It is a talk show that features guests who are in the news and in the middle of controversies. The program ventures to draw deeper insights into current issues to learn how they impact to our daily lives.

Today, Motoring Today on its 28th year of service to the general motoring public still enjoys its unprecedented loyal vierwership nationwide while Auto Focus, after 16 years has firmly established its niche viewership among automobile enthusiasts and on the other hand Business & Leisure is on its 24th year dishing out current business issues and lifestyle features.

Today, aside from writing weekly columns for the Philippine Star (Motoring Today on Wednesdays and Business & Leisure on Saturdays) and executive producer / host of weekly TV shows (Motoring Today, airs Sundays on Solar Sports Channel 70, Business & Leisure, airs Tuesdays on Shop TV, Sky Cable Channel 13 and Auto Focus airs Thursdays on Shop TV, Sky Cable Channel 13, Ray Butch Gamboa is currently the Chairman and CEO of Sunshine Television Production and Marketing Services Corp., President of Gamcor Management and Development Corp., Chairman of Asia-Pacific Realty Corporation, President and Chairman of Socio-Communication Foundation for Asia and Founding Chairman of the Society of Phil. Motoring Journalists (SPMJ)