The month in motoring

MANILA, Philippines - For more than half a decade, we at The Philippine STAR, through our motoring month-ender Wheels Monthly, have been giving you, our readers, the lowdown on car launches and new and relevant releases in all things automotive. The other week, we decided to further embrace and consequently institutionalize this practice by coming up with a comprehensive breakdown of all the motoring related happenings over the past month, and use that as a jump off point for our section. Thus, from here on, we’ll be kicking off Wheels Monthly with a sub-section we’ll generically (yet fittingly) entitle “the month in motoring”. As your round-up source of motoring news, we deem it our responsibility to do so. And so we happily oblige. Over the month of September 2009, we had quite an active industry, with car launches and activities galore. Here’s a short rundown of the said activities…

Born to be Wild

Coming off a successful campaign in August where they were able to record a 17 percent increase in retail sales compared to the same period last year, Ford Group Philippines upped the ante further by releasing – just as the month started – the Ford Wildtrak. The Wildtrak is a new Ranger variant that is an offshoot of the overwhelmingly popular Ranger Max Concept, which debuted at the Bangkok Motor Show last December. The new Ranger Wildtrak, which comes with a 4x2 drivetrain but boasts a high-riding 4x4-like stance, is positioned as the urban lifestyle truck for customers who want a tough truck that compliments their active and urban lifestyle.

The Wildtrak features many exclusives like its body-colored tailgate cladding with embossed Ranger branding, box rails and roof rails with aluminum bar accents, a frame mounted aluminum gray side step with titanium-colored end caps, a sleek sports bar mounted on the pickup bed behind the cab and distinctive Wildtrak decals on the front doors and tailgate. Also unique to the Wildtrak is an under-rail bedliner, body side cladding, illuminated scuff plates with Wildtrak logo, and front bumper overrider. The exclusive 16-inch Wildtrak alloy wheels complete the overall design package.

The new Ford Ranger Wildtrak is available in a 4x2 Double Cab High Rider body style configuration and in 5-speed manual and 5-speed automatic transmissions. The new Ranger Wildtrak, which comes in three distinctive colors (Black Mica, Winning Blue and Cool White) retails for P1,080,000 for the stickshift model and P1,135,000 for the automatic.

Mean and Green

Making its Asian debut in style, meanwhile, is the new Porsche 911 GT3. While there wasn’t really a dedicated Philippine launch for it in Manila, the ultra-high end flagship Porsche made enough noise in Singapore to make ripples all the way here. We at The Philippine STAR were fortunate enough to have been tagged as exclusive local partners to the event. Early this month, the new 911 GT3 was unveiled to journalists from the Asia-Pacific region at Terminal 3 of Singapore’s sprawling Changi Airport. Shortly after its unveiling, the new 911 GT3 was featured in a 1.7-kilometer drag race against a Boeing 747 – a race it won by 0.4 seconds!

The new Porsche 911 GT3 is equipped with a 3.8-liter six-cylinder naturally-aspirated power unit that develops a maximum output of 435 bhp. The new 911 GT3 out-performs its predecessor with an increase of 200cc and 20 bhp. With this upgraded power and performance, the boxer engine also offers a significant increase in torque at medium engine speeds, a benefit of particular significance when the 911 GT3 is used for everyday motoring. The new 911 GT3 accelerates from a standstill to 100 km/h in a mere 4.1 seconds and reaches 160 km/h in 8.2 seconds. The top speed of the new 911 GT3 road car is 312 km/h. Apparently, all this power is enough to beat a plane in its own home court! Yes, the new Porsche 911 GT3 is one mean machine. The people peddling it at PGA Cars can tell you all about it, too. Go. Pay them a visit.

From the brute force of a charging Porsche to the finesse of an environmentally friendly Mercedes Benz we go. Towards the middle of the month, CATS Motors, exclusive distributors of the Mercedes Benz brand in the country, launched the most politically correct luxury car in the country yet – the Mercedes Benz S 400 Hybrid.

The Mercedes Benz S 400 Hybrid is based on the S 350, and features an extensively modified drive train. This encompasses a further development of the car’s 3.5 liter V6 petrol engine, an additional magneto-electric motor, the 7G-TRONIC seven-speed automatic transmission specially configured for the hybrid module, the necessary operating and control electronics, the transformer and a high-voltage lithium-ion battery. The combination of the modified V6 petrol engine and the compact hybrid module makes the S 400 Hybrid the world’s most fuel-efficient luxury saloon with a petrol engine. Though not exactly cheap at P10.2 million, it is perhaps the most politically correct luxury car out in the market today as it helps in keeping Mother Earth healthy along the way.

An Impressive Challenge

From launches we go to events. At its second staging, the Subaru Impreza Challenge gave many of us car fans a lot of firsts. It was the first time that the Subaru Club of the Philippines actively participated in this particular Subaru brand marketing effort, proving once again that they are indeed their chosen car brand’s best ambassadors. During the event, the club held the first ever Subaru Fest in the country, with over 50 different Subaru models showcased by their owners during the Concours d’ Elegance that showed people what can be done to Scoobys.

More importantly, however, this year’s Subaru Impreza Challenge gave us the endurance challenge’s first female winner ever as 28 year-old Apple Joy Lee Balibado overcame the physical hardship and harsh weather conditions to win P15,000 in cash, a trip to Singapore and the chance to win a brand new Subaru Impreza WRX sedan in the grand finals to be held there in October. She will be joined in Singapore by the nine other finalists who outlasted a tough field of 70 participants. “We are very happy with the turnout this year and we hope that we can come up with the first Filipino winner for the regional finals in Singapore,” Motor Image Pilipinas general manager, Nicky Mariano said, after the event.

Rough and Tough

In a commendable effort to promote both their products and the country’s local driving talent, LRPhils Motors, Inc., the country’s exclusive distributor of Land Rover vehicles, supported Team Land Rover Philippines by sponsoring a Defender 90 to participate in the China-Sanya International Off-Road Challenge early this month. The highly capable Defender 90 will be piloted by Larry Mendiola. He will be assisted by Sergio Jamila. Mendiola is no stranger in the off-roading world, having won the Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP)’s Driver of the Year – 4x4 Category four times (1996, 1999, 2001 and 2004). Jamila is equally experienced, having the distinction of the most seasoned Filipino to participate in the RFC, competing in 2000, 2005 and 2006.

The week-long race started last September 18. As of press time, Team Land Rover Philippines was still in the thick of things, fighting tooth and nail against a quickly dwindling field of participants. LRPhils Motors, Inc.’s Marc Soong says he is confident that the team can improve on its best finish a couple of years back – which was a very respectable fifth. In the meantime, we’re all keeping our fingers crossed. Go Team Land Rover Philippines!