What better way…than to drive it

The opening day cocktails for this year’s staging of the 2015 Auto Focus Pre Christmas Test Drive Festival saw another gathering of the top executives of the major players of the local automotive industry, all of which have their top selling models lined up for the country’s biggest public test drive event.

There was Honda Cars Philippines president, Mr. Toshio Kuwahara, Volkswagen Philippines president, Mr. John Philip “JP” Orbeta, present too was Isuzu Philippines president, Mr. Hajime Koso who arrived with evp, Mr. Takashi Tomita and senior vice president, Mr. Art Balmadrid, also there was Mazda Philippines top honcho, Mr. Steven Tan and Suzuki Philippines general manager for automobile, Shuzo Hoshikura all engaging in friendly banter.

Other executives from these competing auto companies seen bonding and displaying enviable camaraderie during the well-attended industry get-together included, Franz Decloedt and Arnel Doria with Timmy de Leon from Volkswagen Philippines, Dave Macasadia and Japheth Castillo of Mazda Philippines, SJ Huh of Nissan Philippines, Dong Magsajo of Peugeot Philippines, Joseph Bautista of Isuzu Philippines and Arlan Reyes of Mitsubishi Philippines, who made sure to say hello despite a full day of producing and directing a “shoot” for a TV ad.

There were no talks on which car brand or model is better than the other or has more technical features than the rest, etc., but instead they were one in saying that a multi-brand test drive event can indeed bring people who are in the market for their first or next car or automobile enthusiasts together. Every one agreed that the concept made it most convenient for car buyers to decide on what model to buy as almost all are gathered in one very accessible place instead of having to travel from one auto dealership to another. And what better way to make a more educated judgment on what to buy than to test drive in one place all the models that belong to one’s list of choices.      

The 4-day “Test Drive ‘Til You Drop” event registered a total of 2,525 test drives broken down to 485 on Thursday, the first day increasing to 568 on Friday, 603 on Saturday and a whooping 869 on Sunday, the last day.

All the 13 participants of the event had more or less an equitable hefty share of the test drives with Toyota Motor Philippines, Honda Cars Philippines, Nissan Philippines, Hyundai Philippines, Isuzu Philippines getting a little more than the rest. 

The 5 most test driven models were the Nissan Juke with 141, Isuzu mu-X had 132, Toyota HiLux with 106, Toyota 86 with 104 and Honda City with 98.

Actual sales reservations made after the test drives can more than justify the expected phenomenal growth rate of the local auto industry by the end of the year.

The event was a smashing success and for this we want to thank our partner, SM Prime Holdings for their unwavering and continuing support.

With the pre Christmas edition of this always eagerly awaited industry event, the next one to watch out for is its summer edition coming up in April next year. We’ll see you for our next “test drive ‘til you drop” event.

Turbozone turns 5

Congratulations to Jiggy and Marnie Manicad!

How time flies. Turbozone, the car show on free TV that airs on Saturday mornings is now 5 years old and it has gone a long way.

When the show first aired, friends and media peers were asking me how I felt about competition on television growing. I could only answer that I didn’t consider any motoring or automotive show as competition. On the contrary, I told them that I felt less burdened in helping the local industry rise from what it was when I first started.   

It was in 1987 when I started with the TV show Motoring Today and 11 years after when there was a worldwide financial crisis with our auto industry being one of the hardest hit, I decided to produce Auto Focus to help it in whatever little way the show could.

With the industry growing as fast as it is now, it needs all the help it can get to get its growth, at the very least sustained. But then it would be much better if it would be spurred further. 

Turbozone, Motoring Today and Auto Focus do not compete; we help each other help the local automobile industry.

Great to see you on your 5^th, Turbozone!

Happy Motoring!!!

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