When I was filing my motoring website’s monthly industry sales report last week, I couldn’t help but think that the automotive business is indeed a product-driven one. The brands that presently have the best vehicles tend to perform well sales-wise. But these best-sellers come and go. It’s a cycle.

In the Corolla, Toyota Motor Corp. has the best-selling car of all time. The problem is the people who bought the model when it...

WITH the launch of the production models of its new Ionex electric scooter line, it is clear that Taiwanese motorcycle manufacturer Kwang Yang Motoring Co. (KYMCO) is gunning for a spot alongside the leaders of the global electric vehicle (EV) movement.

BESIDES presenting the prototype version of its SkyActiv-X gasoline engine (along with other systems being developed related to this) Mazda Motor Corp. on May 27, at its proving ground in Mine, Japan, also discussed launch schedules of what it said are its “next-generation technologies.”

TRUE pragmatists must rue sports cars -- which primarily leverage the passion of people who crave increased speed, whistle-bait looks, and race car qualities -- because, well, sports cars aren’t really much help when you need do the groceries, take Junior and his friends to an activity, or the wife and the kids to a movie. Besides, what’s the fun in, well, not getting to share the fun with more people?

THE Porsche Center Philippines showroom on EDSA is hosting a festival celebrating Porsche’s 70^th anniversary.

When Ford Philippines announced in 2012 its decision to stop assembling vehicles in the country, you just knew it was game over for our automotive manufacturing industry. Sure, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Isuzu are still making a few models here, but their production is only for local consumption, so the volumes involved will never be huge. Ford used to export locally assembled vehicles to other ASEAN markets, but even those were small in numbers.

THAT automakers’ proving grounds are located in remote spots makes sense; this allows such places to sit on vast tracts of land, not to mention keeping them away from prying lenses. These are venues, after all, on which new models and technologies are tested before any of them get to showrooms.

THE innovative Auto Gear Shift (AGS) technology of the new Suzuki Dzire was put through its paces on June 4 at the Batangas Racing Circuit in Rosario, Batangas, during a track day organized by Suzuki Philippines. The activity was meant to showcase the new exterior and interior features of the Japanese car maker’s B-segment sedan, along with the highlighted AGS transmission.

AS car companies anticipate deliveries to pick up pace in the second half of the year -- domestic vehicle sales have dropped 9.3% in 2018’s first four months as consumers appeared to have made their purchases earlier in an effort to beat the higher taxes imposed on automobiles beginning in January -- a leading bank could play a role in the segment’s recovery as it started to offer more accessible financing packages for vehicle (and house) purchases.

We need to sit down and talk about an ugly truth in the automotive business: Many Filipinos who “buy” cars have no business doing so. And that’s because these “buyers” really can’t afford one. They just get enticed by insanely low down payments and the moronic desire to impress or keep up with the neighbors.

In the latest episode of the BusinessWorld Discussions podcast, Antonio E. Inton, Jr. founder of Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection said that his...