The Honda Civic passed the testwith flying colors
Yet Honda Cars Philippines decided not to take the gamble and went on to invite quite a number of motoring journalists and other members of the media to test drive the all-new Civic and make them have a first-hand, hands-on experience of the vehicle’s features and amenities and most especially its power performance.
My good friend Arnel Doria, HCPI deputy head for marketing, for good measure, also decided to keep within the standards by making sure the media would have a fine time resting at their leisure right after the test drive by way of a "do what you like" leisure period at the now world-famous Dos Palmas Resort (what great help from the Abu Sayyaf).
As a big bonus, no less than the president of Honda Cars Philippines Takasahi Sekiguchi made him self-available to join the motoring media despite a very tight schedule and a quick trip to Japan right after.
Who can beat the "living legend"?
A group of six teams are out to try to surpass the record set by the country’s "racing living legend" Pocolo Ramirez of having traveled the longest distance in a tank-full of Petron Xtra Unleaded established last year.
My co-host for nearly a decade on the TV show Motoring Today (Sunday, 4 pm, Sports Plus Channel) ran a total of 1,114 kilometers on one full tank driving a Honda Jazz.
The six teams that have been pre-qualified and chosen as the official entries to the Petron Xtra Mile Challenge consist of:
Team de Perio — a young married couple working in Makati, Mark Jim and Romina de Perio practice fuel-efficient driving techniques daily to keep within their budget. The de Perios will be representing Metro Manila.
Team R (2) — good friends Raymond Young and Randolph Mencias are eco-run enthusiasts, having participated in a number of these events. Raymond is an IT professional while Randolph is a dental technician/student. They will also be representing Metro Manila.
The 37th Team — also representing Northern Luzon, married couple Michael and Mary Grace Asuncion achieved 37.14 kms/li in an eco-run challenged they joined earlier this year. Based in Aliaga, Nueva Ecija, the Asuncions have made fuel efficiency driving a part of their lifestyle.
Team AR — well-known TV host (Autoreview) and sportscaster Ron delos Reyes and his co-host Julienne Cruz also want to be part of the challenge. This time, they want to be part of the news, not just cover it. Ron has his roots in Pangasinan while Julienne is from Zambales. The team will represent Northern Luzon.
Team Eco Run — Joanna Antonio and Randy Ravena both work for Honda car dealerships. Joanna is an HR officer with Honda Cars Makati while Randy is a sales executive at Honda Cars Shaw. Joanna hails from Bacoor, Cavite, so the team will be running for Southern Luzon.
Zayco Hermanos — brothers Emilio and Emmanuel Zayco are from Kabankalan, Negros Occidental and will be carrying the torch for the Visayas. Both brothers run their own businesses and are 4x4 enthusiasts.
The Petron Xtra Mile Challenge is designed to show how far a well-maintained and skillfully-driven vehicle can travel on one full tank of Petron Xtra Unleaded gasoline, in varying conditions over a representative selection of Philippine roads, specifically in Luzon. The run will start at Pagudpud (Pasuquin), Ilocos Norte, and ends when all the competition vehicles run out of full tank of fuel, possibly in the Bicol region. The 1,000+kilometer run will challenge the six teams’ fuel-efficient driving techniques but also their stamina and endurance.
I wonder who can beat the record of the "living legend", that is, if it could really be broken. The saga continues.
Honda Motorcycle’s 4-way celebration
Honda Philippines, the country’s biggest motorcycle manufacturer had four reasons to celebrate during their Awards Night — Dealer Convention held last week at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel. In his speech, Honda Philippines president Kazuhiko Ikezoe said, "Tonight, we have many reasons to celebrate. We celebrate the opening of our new Plant in Batangas. We celebrate the introduction of a better and enhanced XRM model. We also celebrate our dealers’ achievements for the last fiscal year. And most especially, we celebrate another milestone of new record sales of 301,368 units for the last fiscal year."
The newly set up motorcycle plant in Batangas has been geared to met the growing market demand with an initial annual production capacity of 500,000 and expandable to 1 million units.
Sales figures show that for the first 4 months of the year Honda has captured 60 percent of the total market selling 94,362 units out of the 157,759 total units sold during the period — making it unquestionably the number 1 selling motorcycle in the Philippines.
The Chairman of the Board of Honda Philippines, Ambassador Benjamin Sanvictores was also present in the well-attended affair where the Top Dealers for Motorcycles, Spare Parts and Power Products were recognized and given tribute to.
MMPI finally got their "People’s Choice" Trophies
It was at the Le Souffle at the Fort where I was finally able to hand over the trophies won by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines in the recently concluded Petron 2006 Auto Focus Automobile of the Year — People’s Choice Awards.
After a full-course dinner permeated with light, fun-filled banter interspersed with some serious intriguing talk about industry matters, we presented the three awards won by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines to their top marketing executives led by Yoshiaki Ichimura, senior executive vice president; Mel Dizon, senior vp; Froy Dytianquin, avp for marketing services and senior manager Arlan Reyes.
The full-size SUV Pajero, the AUV Adventure and the mid-size van Grandis garnered votes that were so close to that of the winning models that actually made the organizers decide to come up with "Runner-up Awards".
Due to prior commitments to almost parallel-scheduled motor shows, Mitsubishi Motors failed to participate in the Grand Display, yet their major market offerings were voted upon by the motoring public to deserve their awards.
Pit Lane Notes
I can almost hear the howls of protest of the fans of Micheal Schumacher upon hearing of the decision of the Formula One stewards to yank him out of the pole position in the grid and put him as the last starting car.
In the same token, the non-Schumy racing buffs, especially those rooting against him may have taken the final conclusion of the investigating group as bible truth — that is Schumacher deliberately stopped his F1 car in the circuit while time trials were still going on to prevent other racers from topping his time and ensure his pole position in the grid and increase is chances of winning the Monaco Grand Priz, described by many as the tightest circuit and most difficult to make a pass.
Well Renault’s Fernando Alonso is keeping a tight grip on his title by winning the very prestigious leg of the Series and we’ll just have to wait for Silverstone to find out if Ferrari would come back with a vengeance.
If you fail to catch the reason why there was none of the usual frolicking champagne shower after the awarding, this is in deference to the untimely death of Michelin’s top man, Eduardo Michelin in a bating accident that happened just a few days before the race.
Happy Motoring!
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