Motoring Today Column

Nov 02, 2016

Right after presenting its latest vehicle offering recently to the members of the Association of Filipino Franchisers, its primary target market of entrepreneurs who are running micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, Suzuki Philippines (SPH) also proudly unveiled the array of variants of the all-new Super Carry to the motoring media last Thursday, October 27.

Suzuki presents the all-new Super Carry as beneficial to businesses in more ways than one. It is specially designed to help more businesses reach their maximum potential as the Super Carry is built to efficiently carry out more tasks and be more practical, cost-efficient and reliable workhorse for any kind of enterprise.

"Super Carry is brought to the Philippine market with the objective of improving business processes and operations especially among small and medium sized businesses, which comprise more than 90 percent of the overall in the country," remarked Shuzo Hoshikura, Suzuki Philippines General Manager for Automobile during the media luncheon-launch and test drive.

"We seek to help more businesses flourish and reach their maximum potential and what better way is there than through this reliable workhorse, " he added during the well-attended event.

Some of the Super Carry's technical specs include; 793cc, 2-cylinder Euro-4 diesel engine with 5-speed manual transmission with a peak power of 32 HP @ 3,500 RPM and torque of 75 NM @ 2,000 RPM. It also boasts of a fuel performance of 22.07 kilometers for a liter of diesel fuel.

The Super Carry's other features for safety, comfort and convenience are best appreciated up-close and hands-on with a test drive at any of its numerous dealerships located nationwide.

The price varies depending on its 5 variants from a low of Php 479,000.00 for the Super Carry Truck to Php 630,000.00 for the high-end APV Utility Van that comes with dual aircon.

If you are in business, it's your business to check the Super Carry.

Though rarely seen on the road, the Porsche Boxster is arguably one of the most beautiful sports cars-and that's my own take.

And last week, Wednesday, October 26^th to be precise, PGA Cars, Inc., the official importer and dealer ofPorsche vehicles in the Philippines, launched the latest model of this iconic sports car, the Porsche 718 Boxster together with another legendary sports car model, the Porsche 718 Cayman.

In one of his rare TV interviews, Porsche Philippines top-honcho, Robert "Ompee" Coyiuto III confidently mentioned to me, "The new two-seat sports cars, which now use the 718 moniker to pay homage to Porsche's esteemed model line, are now more powerful, yet more fuel efficient."

We also learned that for the first time the Boxster and the Cayman have identical engine outputs. Both of their entry-level versions have 220 kW (300 hp) from 2 liters of displacement while theBoxter S and Cayman S both have 257 kW (350 hp) with displacements of 2.5 liters, both engines with four cylinders and both turbocharged.

There's really a mouthful to say about these new twin Porsche 718 sports cars and the best thing to do, if you're really interested to know more about them is to drop by Porsche Philippines in EDSA, Bonifacio Global City, Westgate Alabang and also Seaside City Cebu and take a closer look or better still, an actual test drive.

Twin launches seem to be the trend nowadays or the auto industry is just getting to be more interesting by the day as earlier last week, Monday, October 24, the Shangri-La Hotel at The Fort was a buzz with formally dressed ladies and gentlemen for a Magnum Opus of a launch of two Volvo automobile models-the World's most awarded SUV, the New Volvo XC90 and the Volvo S90.

According to Viking Cars, the country's exclusive importers and distributors of Volvo vehicles, since its global launch the XC90, a premium 7-seat SUV has garnered over 118 awards for Car of the Year, Best Luxury SUV, Overall Best in Class, among others from different sectors all over the world, journalists, experts, motoring institutions, publications and automotive enthusiasts.

While the S90 is Volvo's new premium 4-door, 5-seat flagship sedan that is built on the new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), Volvo's advanced modular product platform that will underpin all new Volvo cars in the 90 and 60 series.

Both the XC90 and S90 are powered by Volvo's Drive-E powertrains, including petrol, diesel and Volvo's T8 Twin Engine, a petrol plug-in hybrid mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission.

It was quite an assembly of beautiful people that multi-brand top executive Atty. Albert Arcilla, president of both Viking Cars (Volvo) and The Car Covenant Company (Chevrolet) graciously put together that evening to witness not only the twin launch of remarkable automobiles but also a top-notched entertainment package of talents performing in front of a very discerning audience.

"This evening will mark the beginning of Volvo's renewed thrust in the local automotive market with this twin launch of notable and renowned global models with the Volvo badge-the XC90 and the S90," were the remarks of Atty. Arcilla during our TV interview.

With these words coming from this young but very experienced auto industry top executive, you can expect a lot more about Volvo vehicles hereabouts. By the way, you can already check them out in Volvo showrooms.

Ford Philippines led by no less than its Managing Director, Lance Mosley took some members of the motoring media to what was described as a very challenging off-roading adventure in Mount Balagbag, Rodriguez, Rizal aboard the 3.2-liter Ranger Wildtrak and the 3.2-liter Everest Titanium.

"Well, we brought you here because we wanted you to have a first-hand experience of the capabilities of the Ford Ranger and the Ford Everest. These are the units that we took right off the boat, really just come in. They're brand new units equipped with the factory standards and we've driven them under some of the most growling off-road conditions, so you guys too can experience the capabilities of the vehicle and just see what fantastic performing capable vehicles they are," remarked the "all- American" Ford Philippines top-honcho just before reportedly taking the wheel of one of the 4x4s himself and leading the journalists unto the muddy terrain.

Coming from their starting point, which was a Ford dealership in Libis, Quezon City, the convoys of Ford vehicles went through metro traffic along paved roads before starting the 14-kilometer trek to the summit. The destination was a campsite atop one of Mount Balagbag's peaks with an elevation of 600 meters above sea level where a host of very challenging off-roading exercises have been lined up.

After the very challenging off-roading experience, the journalists were all reported to be flashing the thumps up signs.

Here are the websites for motoring and automobile enthusiasts.

www.motoringtoday.ph www.autofocus.com.ph

Happy Motoring!!!

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