Spoiled for choices

That’s how we are now when it comes to the veritable buffet of automobiles we have for every checkbook.

But this happy state of affairs wasn’t always so. I was 13 years old when I made my first overseas trip. It was three years before I would learn how to drive, but I was already very much a car buff with subscriptions to Road & Track, Car and Driver, and the locally published Auto International.

The year was 1979, and at that time we only had a handful of car brands you could actually buy off a local showroom. If memory serves me right, there were only Opel, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, Colt (before we started to refer to it as Mitsubishi), and Datsun (now Nissan). The mid to late 80’s was probably the worst time in the history of local car industry. For almost half a decade, our car choices were practically down to a couple of Fords (Laser and Telstar), the immortal box-type Lancer, and the Nissan Stanza.

Which was why my then-13-year-old self was floored when I walked out of Kowloon-based Kai Tak airport (the predecessor of today’s ultra-modern Chek Lap Kok airport on the Hong Kong side) and saw a Ferrari 308 GTB casually drive by the arrival area. (The 308 is the same Ferrari that would be immortalized in Tom Selleck’s Magnum P.I. detective series.)

Riding the coaster minibus towards our hotel along Nathan Road, I saw Alfa Romeos, BMWs, Audis, Maseratis, Ferraris, and the odd Lamborghini jostling side by side with Hong Kong’s ubiquitous red-and-white Toyota Crown taxicabs.

Needless to say, I was agog with the seemingly innumerable number of exotic European cars, most of which I would only drool over in my car magazines.

And now that time has come back again.

It started when three major Japanese car companies—Mitsubishi Motors Philippines, which formed from PAMCOR; Nissan Motor Philippines, which came from Pilipinas Nissan Inc.; and Toyota Motor Corporation, which began as Delta Motors—began reinvesting locally in the late 80s/early 90s. That sparked the renaissance of the Philippine car industry. The entry of Honda Cars Philippines shortly after further snowballed this growth.

Today we have no less than 39 distinct car brands available locally. It’s a cosmopolitan mix of Japanese, Korean, German, American, Swedish, Chinese, British, and French makes. Couple that with easy car financing loans and you’ve got a buyer’s market that’s nothing less than a car enthusiast’s wildest fantasy come true. It’s simply amazing that, considering our local car market is but a fraction of that of our ASEAN neighbors, we have way more choices than they do. But I’m not complaining. And neither should you.

Why should we when we have a complete gamut of cars ranging from ultra-affordable Chinese makes (I hold blanket comments about them until I’ve tested several models; suffice to say that the Foton Thunder pickup and the JAC Orion SUV I recently tested were surprisingly impressive) to the ever-improving Korean marques to the ever-reliable Japanese brands to the characterful American makes to the plush-riding European brands.

On the luxury side, we already have Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volvo, Lexus, Mini, Land Rover, and Jaguar. And now we’re enjoying quite a few exotics in Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Porsche.

Now as they say on home TV shopping, but wait, there’s more! Bentley (via PGA Cars) will soon be available locally as is Rolls-Royce (via Mini). As if Filipinos are clamoring to get their hands on 35 million-peso cars…  

We had French car maker Peugeot make a reentry into our market last year with no less than four models; and soon we’ll be having Volkswagen (courtesy of no less than the Ayala Group) purveying—hopefully—the New Beetle, the Golf hot hatch, the superb Passat sedan, and any number of crossovers, people movers, and SUVs (the Touareg seems likely).

Yet another good omen is the imminent passage of the Electric, Hybrid, and Other Alternative Fuels Act, which should make cars that run on alternative sources of energy about as affordable as their gasoline and diesel-powered counterparts.

That’s great news for those wanting to buy a Toyota Prius or any of the superb Lexus hybrid sedans and SUV’s but are discouraged due to the prohibitive prices. I’ve tested three different Prius units over the last four years and have never ceased to be amazed at the car’s stunning 700-kms-on-a-tankful fuel efficiency. I also got to drive the Prius C hatchback and the almost-BMW 1-series-like Lexus CT 200h five-door hybrid on a Manila-Baguio-Manila run and have come away convinced that these cars are rock solid in reliability, performance, and needless to say, fuel economy.

And Honda’s just waiting in the wings for a piece of the hybrid action. It has a Prius-like Insight 5-door hybrid sedan. I was fortunate enough to close 2012 and welcome 2013 with nothing less than the Honda CR-Z hybrid sports car. Driving that diminutive manual transmission-equipped 2-door sports car was all the fireworks I needed. It handled like a proper sports car—albeit with front-wheel-drive. The CR-Z would be a giant killer on the slalom circuit. Now if I could convince Honda to let me put one through its paces…

We just celebrated Chinese New Year, but you don’t need to be in the good graces of the Water Snake to enjoy the many, many delights you will find in our burgeoning number of showrooms.

We truly are spoiled for choice.