Tag: Brian M. Afuang

IT made its world debut in September 2017 as a 2018 model, and now, this fourth version of the Audi RS 4 Avant is available in the Philippines. Avant is Audi-speak for its wagon variants while RS designates the high-performance renditions of Audi models. The RS 4 identifies the model generations of the Audi A4 -- including a sedan and a cabriolet -- which were given the high-performance treatment.

SAIC Motor’S tally of 7.05 million vehicle deliveries in 2018 tells only a part of the auto conglomerate’s success story; while this annual sales volume is substantial, it is spread across several brands and segments, making it difficult to appreciate from sheer numbers alone the improvements the company has made to some of its car models. These gains, of course, may also be indicative of the level of quality the company’s commercial vehicles presently have.

IN 2018 SAIC Motor’s sales rose 1.75% from 2017, according to a recent company announcement. Though marginal, the increase came against the China auto industry’s 6% dip -- the first in 28 years -- as the number of vehicles sold in the country last year reached only 22.7 million, or some 1.5 million units less than the tally in 2017, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed. Still, SAIC Motor said its domestic market share is expected to remain at around a fourth of the industry’s total volume, courtesy of the 7.05 million vehicles the company’s various brands delivered last year.

OF the eight members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that submit data to the region’s vehicle industry group, three have recorded less deliveries in the first nine months of 2018 when compared to the same period of the previous year.

THERE have been just a handful of “cellar masters” who have created Remy Martin’s Louis XIII, the liquor Paul-Emile Remy Martin began to make in 1874, and which was named to honor French king. Cellar masters are tasked to choose the best eaux-de-vie, or “water of life,” the selection of blends from which to create a Louis XIII. To do this, they must sift through an extensive range of choices, sampling the various eaux-de-vie produced by winegrowers and distillers around Grande Champagne in Cognac each year, and setting aside those which they deem as having the best potential for aging.

RACE DRIVER Hiroshi Masuoka, who counts 21 Dakar Rally starts to his name (plus a back-to-back title in 2002 and 2003), in his present capacity as a “senior expert” in Mitsubishi Motors Corporation’s (MMC) public relations department was again wheeled out by the car maker so he could demonstrate the enhanced off-road capabilities of the revised Mitsubishi Strada pickup. Besides receiving refreshed bodywork, the Strada -- also known as the L200 or Triton -- now has an improved four-wheel drive system.

THE eighth-generation Toyota Camry, premiered at the North American International Auto Show in 2017 and sold in Japan, the US and other markets later that year, is now available in the Philippines.

Text and photos by Aries B. Espinosa THE Mitsubishi Xpander MPV was launched in the Philippines early last March, and the ensuing eight months was...

CHEVROLET’S current flagship sports model has arrived in the Philippines, and will be available in local showrooms in early 2019.

HONG KONG is the top destination for Swiss watches, surpassing in the last three years the value of those taken in by the US, China, Japan, and the UK (in that order, latest figures from the Federation of Swiss Watch Industry show). Notably as well, Hong Kong is the second-biggest exporter of watches, next to Switzerland in terms of value, and coming after China in number of units, according to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. It was no surprise, then, for Tudor to debut a new timepiece not in its home country of Switzerland, but in Hong Kong.

SOUTHEAST Asia remains the single biggest destination for Mitsubishi Motors Corporation’s (MMC) global vehicle deliveries as the region took in 152,000 units during the first half of the 2018 fiscal year, according to an official company report released on Nov. 6. The figure makes up 25.6% of the car maker’s 594,000-unit global sales volume during the same six-month stretch.

FOR Mitsubishi Motors, the future rests on electric mobility, artificial intelligence and the development of SUVs. And capturing these areas in one halo model is the car maker’s e-Evolution Concept, which it unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 2017. At PIMS, this concept model continues to highlight what Mitsubishi calls its “new brand strategy” in which the strengths of an electric-powered SUV is fused with new connected mobility systems.

“Welcome to the Nissan Motor Show, er, Philippine International Motor Show,” jested Nissan Philippines, Inc. president Ramesh Narasimhan as he stood in the middle of the brand’s exhibit floor -- the most expansive at the event.

MINI Philippines at the Mini Festival 2018 held last weekend displayed a Mini Cooper S Monte Carlo Edition, which the local distributor said will be sold through online store Lazada.

BY 2025 Porsche intends to have half of its global sales be composed of electric-powered cars, in turn divided equally between full EVs and plug-in hybrids. The company aims to lead all other German automakers in this shift toward electromobility. Porsche says its future rests on electric power.

FUSING together sport and opulence, speed and long-distance coziness, has been the Bentley Continental GT’s brief from Day One -- or since 2003, when the original model debuted. Three generations later, the car faithfully keeps to its reason for being, all while packing the latest in car-making technologies. The all-new Continental GT, launched in September last year at the Frankfurt Motor Show, is a rolling-sculpture proof of this. And, now, it has arrived in the Philippines (it’s now available at the newly refurbished Bentley Manila showroom in Bonifacio Global City).

THE local introduction on Sept. 21 of the first Raptor version of the Ford Ranger expands Ford Philippines’ pickup truck lineup to nine choices, eight of which are Ranger variants, and the other being the new high-performance Ranger Raptor. All the previously available versions of the pickup have been upgraded with new equipment and styling. The updated variants were introduced along with the Ranger Raptor.

Porsche Panamera, in Sport Turismo shooting-brake form, is made for road trips.

Talking about the Lexus LC 500. WORDS BRIAN M. AFUANG Intersect by Lexus sits on a quiet corner of Tokyo’s Aoyama district. Lexus’s first boutique store is...

Probing the culture of Rolex and Tudor—plus their latest releases—at The Rolex Experience in Shanghai. WORDS  BRIAN M. AFUANG Rolex has been making timepieces for a...

Bringing back old watch favorites from the archive. WORDS  BRIAN M. AFUANG Most watch guys know the story by now. The founder of watch-interest web-site Hodinkee,...

Channeling Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty. Distance measured by perception, travel defined by high style. WORDS BY BRIAN M. AFUANG Just as obvious as Jack Kerouac’s carefree...