In the Philippines, the moment a car model catches the fancy of the Pinoy, it’ll sell like nothing ’til people find something new to go gaga about. In the 80s, the car that carried this crown was the box-type Mitsubishi Lancer, in the early 90s it was the very sporty Honda Civic, nowadays it’s practically anything that has a Toyota badge on it. Not that there’s anything really wrong with these cars. They are all, in fact, very deserving of any motorist’s hard-earned peso. But for me, it’s just tiring to have to drive around town with half the cars on your right looking like half the cars on your left. It’s all just too Pleasantville for me.
Which is why I was perhaps one of the happiest people in the country when Mazda finally found its way back to Philippine shores two years ago. I had already seen the new Mazda3 before it made its smashing debut in the Philippines so I was understandably ecstatic and I indeed welcomed the brand with open arms. The revitalized brand had a philosophy that was refreshing, to say the least. Its products were obviously sculpted to deviate from the norm and strike at its intended market’s desire for something different. I thought that the brand and its stable of products had successfully nurtured that individual stand out image quite well — that is until I saw the Mazda RX8 of Mazda Philippines managing director Dave Macasadia. After seeing the RX8, you see, I thought there was nothing more remarkable than bringing in a car that spoke of a company’s entire philosophy just by being. If I thought Mr. Mac and his people were doing a good job of building the brand’s image at first, seeing the RX8 made me realize that Pinoys are capable of the occasional stroke of genius.
I first rode Mr. Mac’s RX8 two years ago, when he took me for a spin as a passenger while inside the confines of a golf course in Cavite. Last month, he leant me the car for a week. The time between both drives may have been quite lengthy, but the car remains special in that it is still the only RX8 to have made it to Philippine shores (at least officially). That’s right, the one and only RX8 that’s roving around now in the hands of other, just as fortunate motoring journalists is the same one that I drove. And I’m pretty sure it’s rocking their senses even as you read this.
"That car was brought here for a number of reasons," explains Mr. Mac. "First, we used it for engineering testing. We also brought it in for the local team to understand the essence of the Mazda brand, and finally, it’s eventual role would be to serve as the centerpiece of a brand building effort during Mazda brand launch." Apparently, we are at that stage where the brand building effort is going full force — with Mazda Philippines lending the unit to just about every motoring journalist hungry for a fat story on a one-of-a-kind car. And while we at The STAR might not exactly have gotten first dibs, at least now we’ve learned what all the hype is about, first hand.
It would be an understatement to say that the Mazda RX8 is a unique vehicle for it is special in several ways. First of all, it does not in any way look like anything out in the market today. Despite its unique sheetmetal, however, what makes this car really stand out is what purrs beneath its hood. Powered by an award-winning rotary engine called Renesis, the RX8 accelerates, consumes fuel, vibrates and even sounds different. In a traditional piston engine, the same volume of space (the cylinder) does four different jobs alternately — intake, compression, combustion and exhaust. The rotary engine that powers the RX8 is able to do all four jobs in separate areas in the engine’s housing. It’s almost akin to having four distinct cylinders to handle each of the four jobs. Needless to say, it achieves all the jobs with better efficiency.
Comparatively, the rotary engine is faster, lighter, quieter and more fuel-efficient than the traditional piston engine — and it shows. Instead of a heavy growl, for example, the RX8 has a steady purr. The lightweight engine also adds to the car’s surefootedness and frugality. Unfortunately, all these features also make the rotary engine more expensive, but I digress. The point here is that the Mazda RX8 is living proof that the future is right around the corner.
Speaking of the future, while at the ongoing Tokyo Motorshow recently, we made it a point to attend the Mazda press conference where the next step in the RX8’s evolutionary ladder was introduced. The RX8 Hydrogen RE is the first in its lineage with a dual system that uses onboard hydrogen and gasoline. This makes the next level RX8 less dependent on fossil fuels — and how! With an enlarged fuel tank and fuel-economy enhancing technologies, the RX8 Hydrogen RE realizes a hydrogen driving mode range of up to 100 kilometers. The best thing about the RX8 Hydrogen RE is the car’s ability to shift from gasoline to hydrogen mode on the fly, making it convenient and efficient (not to mention extremely pretty) at the same time. If anything, the introduction of the RX8 Hydrogen RE in Tokyo assured us of one thing — that the Mazda brand is not just here to stay, but is actually here to make a difference.
If defying convention means ushering in the future, then you can trust Mazda to be at the forefront of the car industry in the coming years. Here’s the best part of it all, though. While other car brands scoff at the Philippines as a bit player in the global scheme of things, Mazda is quite certain that our country is among those markets their unique brand of styling and engineering is looking to conquer. As Mr. Mac himself assured, "Mazda has big plans in the Philippines, so we will continue to expand our business here."