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October 6, 2014

2014 Chevrolet Motorama Slated from October 9-12 at SM Mall of Asia

The elegant and lustrous Bowtie insignia, which has captured a significant number of motoring enthusiasts in the country, is ready to rock the SM Mall of Asia for the 5th time in the upcoming 2014 Chevrolet Motorama - the grandest and largest gathering of anything and everything Chevy. Admission is free so make your way to the coolest Chevy event happening from October 9 to 12, 2014 and revel in the upbeat music and vibrantly designed Motorama display, enjoy the treats and Chevy booths at the Ice skating rink of the SM Mall of Asia.

Mazda Philippines registered its best sales month on record under Berjaya Auto Philippines Inc, and best sales quarter ever for Mazda in the Philippines.

Aside from the new monthly record, this achievement also sets a new best for Mazda vehicle sales in the Philippines as sales from January to September this year have already surpassed 2013’s full year total. Moreover, the sales figures from each of the months of May to September 2014 reveal that these are also the best consecutive five-month performance by far for the Mazda brand.

Ask any dog owner and they will tell you that their four-legged companions are more than just a pet. They have gone past just being animals and are now more often seen as a loyal friend or even an integral member of the family.

Iconic Dealership, Inc. formally opened its second showroom right at the heart of the Queen City of the South: Volkswagen Cebu. The simple ceremonial inauguration was led by Volkswagen official distributor Automobile Central Enterprise, Inc. (ACEI) President & CEO, Mr. John Philip S. Orbeta and IDI General Manager, Mr. Nemesio Solomon, Jr.

Chevrolet’s most talented service technicians from dealerships in seven countries competed in Chiang Mai for top honors at the company’s third-annual “ASEAN BEST of the BESTs” competition. Ricky Manaois from Chevrolet Philippines won, with Aekkaluck Prasitdechakul from Auto Technic Thailand (Chevrolet New Petchaburi) second. The third place went to Jose Custodio, also from Chevrolet Philippines.

Ford Philippines Gives Back in Annual Ford Global Week of Caring

Over 100 employees of Ford Philippines and volunteers from various Ford dealerships came together for various community service projects to commemorate Ford Motor Company’s Global Week of Caring.

Motor Image Pilipinas (MIP), the authorized distributor of Subaru in the Philippines has completed its three-leg 2014 Subaru Palm Challenge Philippine Face-off with the last leg held at Bonifacio High Street in Bonifacio Global City last September 27, 2014. With this last leg, MIPI has selected the country’s 10 representatives that will be sent to Singapore for the MediaCorp Subaru Challenge Asian Face-Off.

Eurobrands Distributor Inc. (EDI), official importer of Peugeot vehicles in the country, together with the Autocirculo Group, formally opened last September 17, 2014 the doors of Peugeot Alabang. Peugeot Alabang joins Peugeot Las Piñas, Peugeot Pasay and Peugeot Quirino dealership under the wing of the Autocirculo Group. Also open are Peugeot Cagayan de Oro, Peugeot Cebu, Peugeot Nueva Ecija, Peugeot Lipa, Peugeot Pasig and Peugeot Negros Isle. Like all the previous Peugeot dealerships before it, Peugeot Alabang aims to provide the full Peugeot ownership experience to its customers while ascribing fully to Peugeot international standards.

Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) officially announced the availability of the All-New City VX MUGEN Special Edition.

The All-New City VX MUGEN Special Edition enhances the ownership experience by being equipped with factory-installed genuine MUGEN accessories. It comes with a unique front sports grille, front and rear under spoiler, side under spoilers, 17” alloy wheels with nut and lock set that are exclusively designed for car enthusiasts who will appreciate the premium and dynamic styling of the All-New City. The MUGEN emblem completes its sporty look and makes the City VX MUGEN stand out on the road.

Despite a setback from Tropical Storm Mario, the 5th Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS) held last Thursday to Sunday, September 18 to September 21, at the World Trade Center was its most successful yet, nearly doubling its foot traffic from the previous PIMS in 2012.

Review: 2014 Honda Civic 2.0 EL MUGEN

Photos by Ulysses Ang

Editor’s Note: Click here for our review of the 2012 Honda Civic EL.

The Honda Civic is in a very peculiar situation. Next to its other stable mates: City, Jazz, and Accord, it’s quite pedestrian in every sense of the word. Designed during the 2008 economic downturn, Honda banked that buyers would opt for a simple compact sedan with solid but unremarkable virtues: spacious, frugal, and reliable. Instead, all of its competitors moved in a completely different direction, offering cars with features a class or two higher. The initial supply problems (Thai floods) didn’t help things either. And though the Civic is still selling pretty well, it’s not anymore as lauded as its predecessor (at least for critics). Knowing very well that the compact segment is shrinking and the battle getting all the more competitive, Honda rushed in to refresh the Civic this year. The question is: is it enough?

Maserati Celebrates Centennial Gathering

The unique Maserati Centennial International Gathering marked the culmination of the company’s official Centenary celebrations last week.

Philippine Car Price Guide: September 2014

We know you’ve been eagerly awaiting the September 2014 edition of the Philippine Car Price Guide. Since there were a lot of cars that made their debuts at the recently concluded Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS) last week, we decided to delay this update until we could get information on the new and upcoming models that were shown then. And now that we have the info that we need, here’s the September edition of the 2014:

BMW X3
BMW X4
BYD F0
Chevrolet Captiva
Chevrolet Trailblazer LTX
Ford EcoSport (update)
Ford Focus (update)
Ford Ranger Trekker
Honda Brio
Honda Brio Amaze
Isuzu D-Max X-Series
Isuzu mu-X
Lexus NX 300h
Mazda3 Speed
Mazda6 (update)
Mercedes-Benz C-Class
Mitsubishi ASX
Nissan Urvan (update)
Nissan X-Trail
Peugeot 508 (update)
Peugeot 3008 (update)
Peugeot 5008 (update)
Subaru WRX
Subaru WRX STI
Toyota 86 (update)
Toyota Fortuner
Toyota Hilux
Volkswagen Jetta

Petron Value Card, dubbed as the ultimate motorist loyalty card, now has over 2-million cardholders nationwide. The lucky 2-millionth member, Charlie Toh of Davao City, was recognized in simple ceremonies at the Petron Bajada station last August 15, during Davao’s Kadayawan Festival.

Review: 2014 Volkswagen Beetle 1.4 TSI Comfortline

Ask a kid to draw a car and chances are he’ll trace a curvy line, using three semi-circles interconnected together. Without meaning to, he would have subconsciously penned the all-too-familiar silhouette of the Volkswagen Beetle. In the Philippine context, there’s no car out there that’s more memorable as the Beetle. Loving called ‘The Bug’, the Beetle was the quintessential symbol of mobility. In the 1960’s, the Beetle stood for freedom of movement for the everyday man. As a result, everyone had one or at least knew someone who did. Although the decades that followed saw the rise of the Japanese economy car, ask anyone old enough about the Beetle, and they’ll regard it only with fond memories.

Ferrari Posts Record First Half 2014 Sales

The Ferrari S.p.A. Board of Directors met under the chairmanship of Luca di Montezemolo (before stepping down) to examine the financial results for the first half of 2014.

The figures show growth in all indicators despite the planned reduction in car deliveries.

Title Race for Philippine GT Championship Heats Up in Clark on September 27

Now halfway through the 2014 season, the Yokohama Philippine GT Championship returns to the Clark International Speedway this September 27 and 28 for Round 4.

PIMS 2014: Toyota Updates Fortuner, Hilux; Shows Unique Fun Vii Concept

The largest automaker in the Philippines showed off its latest motor show brand identity display, Wave Design at the Philippine International Motor Show. Opening the waku-doki themed display was concert queen Sarah Geronimo. After her mini concert, it was down to business where Mr. Michinobu Sugata reiterated Toyota’s commitment to bring motorsports to the people by bringing the third round of the Toyota Vios Cup to Manila. The race, which will be held on October 18 to 19 will be at a specially designed circuit in McKinley, Taguig.

Asian Carmakers Corporation, the official importer and distributor of BMW in the Philippines, made waves at the Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS) by showing the complete line-up of its X Series line. The BMW X Series Pavilion provided guests with a chance to experience endless explorations with the complete range of BMW X Series composed of the X1, X3, X4, X5, and X6.

Volkswagen showed off its sporty side by unveiling two new additions to its line-up. The first is the Jetta Sport Edition, a new variant of Volkswagen’s globally best-selling compact sedan that now offers a more stylish exterior. The second is the Philippine sneak peek of the much-anticipated all-new Golf GTI Mark 7, a car that Volkswagen Philippines will launch in 2015.

Peugeot, through its official Philippine distributor Eurobrands Distributor, Inc. (EDI), showed off a bit of French high fashion at its pavilion in the Philippine International Motor Show. With a full model line-up display: 3008 crossover, 5008 MPV, 508 executive sedan, Expert Tepee family van, and RCZ sports car, Peugeot held a mini fashion show to welcome special guests on the opening day.

Known for its “zoom-zoom” driving fun, Mazda Philippines is adding yet another reason for buyers to consider getting a Mazda: Bose sound system. At The Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS), Berjaya Auto Philippines has announced that more local Mazda units will feature the Bose sound system as standard equipment. During the same event, the company also unveiled its new range-topping variant for the Mazda3: the Mazda3 Speed.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines (MMPC) is using the Philippine International Motor Show to showcase a robust line-up of vehicles including concept cars that have debuted in other international motor show such as the Geneva Motor Show and Tokyo Motor Show. MMPC flew in these concepts along with the Pajero Dakar Rally car to showcase the brand’s heritage as well as future product direction. Aside from these concept cars, MMPC’s pavilion also has a sneak preview of the all-new Outlander as well as the recently soft-launched ASX crossover.

In a page seemingly lifted from their 43rd Tokyo Motor Show 2013 exhibit, Honda Cars Philippines decided to show off the brand’s racing heritage by bringing over not one but two motorsports inspired exhibits: the NSX Concept and the Japan Super Formula open-wheeled race car. Of course, they decided to use the Philippine International Motor Show to finally unveil their all-new Brio and Brio Amaze B-segment car.

Nissan Philippines is aiming to increase excitement in its local line-up as the unified company launches the all-new X-Trail at the Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS). Perhaps the model with the strongest consumer recall locally, the third-generation X-Trail is Nissan’s global compact crossover offering that is slated to be sold in over 190 countries worldwide. The Philippines is one of the first countries in the ASEAN market to receive the X-Trail which is built at Nissan’s Kyushu, Japan plant.

PIMS 2014 Events Schedule and Highlights

Ask and you shall receive. This is the CAMPI Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS) official schedule of events and activities from Thursday, September 18 to Sunday, September 21. See you at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. Gates open at 10 AM and don’t close until 9 PM.

Photos by Ulysses and Honda Press (Jam Ramos)

For our full review of the Honda City 1.5 VX Aero Sport Modulo, click here.

Honda has always prided itself with producing environmentally-friendly cars. From creating CVCC in the 1970s to bringing VTEC in the 1980s to developing gasoline-electric hybrids in the 1990s, Honda has successfully broken the barrier between what’s possible and impossible. The Japanese company’s relentless pursuit of engineering excellence as well as its unconventional approach has put them in high regard when it comes to drivetrain design. Locally, their approach is no different. Apart from introducing variable valve timing to its products, Honda is the first car company in the country to be Euro-4 compliant across its entire line, a feat it has done as early as 2004.

Ford Philippines today announced an all-time record monthly performance with overall retail sales in August soaring 138 percent year-over-year to 1,967 units.

The record month was led by the Ranger’s all-time best monthly performance in the Philippines, continuation of the all-new Ecosport’s early success and continuing demand for the Fiesta and Everest nameplates.

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October 6, 2014

2014 Chevrolet Motorama Slated from October 9-12 at SM Mall of Asia

Mazda Philippines Registers Highest Sales Quarter

Drive Comfortably with Your Dog

Volkswagen is Now in Cebu

Chevrolet Philippines's Technician Receives Top Honors in Regional Competition

October 5, 2014

Ford Philippines Gives Back in Annual Ford Global Week of Caring

2014 Subaru Palm Challenge Philippine Team is Now Complete

Peugeot Alabang is Now Open

Honda City VX MUGEN Special Edition Now Available

90,000 Visitors Troop to 5th Philippine International Motor Show

September 30, 2014

Review: 2014 Honda Civic 2.0 EL MUGEN

September 26, 2014

Maserati Celebrates Centennial Gathering

September 24, 2014

Philippine Car Price Guide: September 2014

Petron Value Card Holders Now 2-Million Strong

September 23, 2014

Review: 2014 Volkswagen Beetle 1.4 TSI Comfortline

September 22, 2014

Ferrari Posts Record First Half 2014 Sales

September 21, 2014

Title Race for Philippine GT Championship Heats Up in Clark on September 27

September 19, 2014

PIMS 2014: Toyota Updates Fortuner, Hilux; Shows Unique Fun Vii Concept

PIMS 2014: BMW Shows Off First-Ever X4 and Refreshed X3

PIMS 2014: Volkswagen Previews Golf GTI (w/ Complete Specs)

PIMS 2014: French High Fashion at Peugeot

PIMS 2014: Mazda Launches New 3 Speed Model and Equips Bose on Most of Line-Up

PIMS 2014: Mitsubishi Shows Off Its Heritage and Future

PIMS 2014: Honda Reveals Brio and Brio Amaze Pricing (and Its Racing Heritage)

PIMS 2014: Nissan Launches All-New X-Trail (w/ Complete Brochure)

September 17, 2014

PIMS 2014 Events Schedule and Highlights

Challenge Accepted: Honda takes the All-New City on a Fuel Economy Run

Ford Philippine August Sales Soar 138 Percent