Nissan, Honda unveil new models

Demand for cars has actually gone up during the first three months of the year based on registration figures from the Land Transportation Office (LTO), but according to Arnel Doria, senior vice president for marketing of Honda Cars Philippines Inc., most of the new registrations are for used cars, while sales of new motor vehicles have remained flat.

While local car companies are appealing to the government to stop used car imports, they are still forging ahead with brand new models that cater to the needs of the Filipino consumer.

Nissan Motor Philippines (NMPI) and Honda Cars Philippines unveiled their latest 10-seater vehicles over the past two days in their respective bids to finally capture the fancy of Filipinos.

On Tuesday evening, Nissan unveiled its 10-seater mini-van, the Serena Q-RV, while Honda formally launched its redesigned 10-seater CR-V yesterday.

Jack Wu, NMPI president, admitted that the government’s inconsistent policy on used cars is "frustrating to local car companies which are forced to operate their assembly plants at below capacity."

"Nissan is operating its Laguna assembly plant at less than 50 percent capacity," Wu disclosed.

Doria, for his part, said that Honda is able to assemble only about 60 units a day of its three models–the Civic-City, Accord and CR-V.

From a seating capacity of only five, the new CR-V can now accommodate 10 passengers. Its front row, which used to accommodate only two passengers in comfortable captain seats has now been expanded to three, losing the foldable console with cup holders in the original CR-V.

The third row now basically occupies the old trunk space of the original CR-V.

The new CR-V has a price tag of P899,000 while the automatic transmission is priced at P959,000.

The Nissan Serena, on the other hand, is a spacious, 10 seater mini-van whose main competitor, according to Wu, will be the Chevrolet Venture.

The Serena Q-RV is equipped with audio and video entertainment facilities. It provides easy access with twin sliding doors and flexible seating arrangements to accommodate passengers and cargo.

The Serena manual transmission carries a price tag of P960,000 while the automatic transmission is priced at P1.16 million.