This writer just recently arrived from Makuhari Messe, site of the 37th Tokyo Motor Show, where a total of 268 exhibitors strutted their stuff and flexed their muscles in shows of automotive strength and engineering ingenuity the likes of which have yet to be seen in Philippine shores. The sheer number of exhibitors — moreso actual cars and motorcycles — that made their presence felt in the still ongoing show (which opens its doors to the public all the way until the 5th of November) is an indication of just how important and influential the Japanese market is for the Asia-Pacific automotive scene. What’s more impressive is that these exhibitors went all out despite the fact that the 37th Tokyo Motor Show comes at the heels of the Frankfurt Motor Show, which is Europe’s venue for such shows of automotive muscle.
In the next few issues of The Philippine STAR’s Business Motoring section, we’ll be featuring stories that are of significance to Philippine motorists as all three Philippine-based manufacturers who regularly send delegates to the Tokyo Motor Show had at least one representative from this broadsheet (this writer was with the Toyota group, our columnist Butch Gamboa was with the Honda Cars group, as was regular contributor Brian Afuang, while regular contributor Manny delos Reyes went with the Mitsubishi group and regular contributor Lester Dizon spent his time in Tokyo with the Honda Motorcycles group). But first, a little teaser — a slight taste of the Tokyo Motor Show experience from the eyes of a first-time visitor to the highly-anticipated event.
En route to Narita International Airport via Northwest Airways, our pals Ariel de Jesus from our event host Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation (TMPC) and Vernon Sarne of the Manila Times told us to prepare for a whirlwind experience as the event venue was a sprawling facility which was big enough to house all the major automobile manufacturers in the world and their more than adequate space for various displays, with room for accessory and parts suppliers to boot. When this writer finally set foot on the Makuhari Messe convention center, we realized that neither of the two was exaggerating. Two hundred sixty eight exhibitors from 14 countries, with their latest and most impressive models screaming for attention greeted motoring journalists from all over the world in what seemed like a circus devoted to the glory of the automobile industry.
The Philippine delegation hosted by TMPC was given a whole day to scrimmage through the Makuhari Messe grounds to gather all the information we could — which quite simply wasn’t enough. The information overload was so overwhelming that we were relegated to exchanging business cards for press kits, often skipping such potentially juicy stories such as a heartfelt speech from charismatic Nissan Motors Co. Ltd. Japan president and CEO Carlos Ghosn and a surprise appearance from hometown hero Takuma Sato, who outdrove Michael Schumacher in the recently concluded Japanese Grand Prix while driving for local favorite BAR-Honda. Still, our hosts made sure that we would be able to acquire enough information from our localized experience (Toyota Motor Company had lined up a number of activities which focused strictly on the direction that the Japanese automotive giant is taking) that we had very little time to worry about the details of the other automobile manufacturers’ activities.
Taking the cake at the 37th Tokyo Motor Show were 12 clean energy vehicles, all of which underscored the show’s slogan, "The Challenge: Driving Toward a Better Future". Toyota Motor Company led the way in this segment with a total of 31 cars all featuring different levels of environment-friendliness (three of which were among the 12 clean energy vehicles). Other manufacturers, mostly Japanese-based, also featured hybrid cars and earth-friendly vehicles — an indication of Asia’s (particularly Japan’s) growing concern over automobile manufacturers’ environmental responsibility. It was also concept car heaven with a slew of concept cars (46 in all) making their world premieres.
First time visitors to the Tokyo Motor Show like this writer, Auto Review’s Ardie Lopez and Business World’s Nandy Lucero ended up groping for form in trying to gather our materials. Both Lucero and Lopez chose to head back to Makuhari Messe the next day while this writer was forced to give tired, old legs a break and simply send whatever materials we had obtained back to Manila through e-mail — a futile exercise as we later chose to hand-carry our materials to the office for filing.
All in all, the 37th Tokyo Motor Show was a physically exhausting experience made bearable by the thrill of being in close proximity to so many beautiful masterpieces of automotive engineering, the excitement of experiencing Japanese engineering at its best during the Toyota test drives at the TMC proving grounds and some great company provided by companions, compatriots and childhood idols. It was a chance for many of us to see and feel just how far the worldwide automotive industry has gone, and how much the Philippine automotive industry can grow in the future. They say there’s always a first time for everything. Well, the anticipation of seeing the Philippine automotive industry catch up with the rest of the world is enough to keep this writer pumped up for the many firsts that will come our way soon (Next week, watch out for our story on Toyota’s newest "lifestyle vehicle" releases, which will come to Philippine shores sooner than you think).