It's an all-woman-driven Dakar 2024 Astara campaign as the Spanish mobility company is set to field two entries in the treacherous desert race this coming January 5 to 19, 2024. Set to drive the Astara 02 Concept, Laia Sanz and Patricia Pita will have co-drivers Maurizio Gerini and Paolo Boggioni, respectively, to guide them through the 12 stages crossing the Saudi Arabian desert. Astara, for those who do not know yet, is the distributor of Peugeot and GAC in the Philippines. It also operates in

Resurgence is the word that perhaps best characterizes how GAC Motor Philippines is doing nowadays. Ever since multinational automotive distributor Astara took over local operations on December 2022, the Chinese car brand’s image and vehicle lineup have gotten a huge boost amid the surge of new cars from the People’s Republic. GAC Motor Philippines’ improved fortunes are also being helped by the recent appointment of highly respected industry veterans Franz Decloedt and Timmy De Leon, who serve

“In this business, you gotta have a tough skin.” This is what Visor.Ph Editor-in-Chief Vernon Sarne told me at last week's BMW M2 launch event. Chief, as I fondly call him to this day (he got me to join Top Gear Philippines magazine as a cover photographer and writer back in 2010), has seen it all and has been through wars ordinary people would have waived the white flag early on. The mental and physical stress this job entails can be too much for someone who cares about his craft. So when we he

Disclaimer, GAC Philippines lent us the GAC Emkoo GE with a full gas tank for 15 days with access to its two RFID cards. The GAC Philippines debuted the 2023 GAC Emkoo at the 2023 Manila International Auto Show. It's part of the brand’s growing crossover portfolio in the Philippines as it seeks to take a bigger piece out of the local market with Astara Philippines backing it up. The new Emkoo brought futuristic styling to the motor show, turbocharged power, and many new features to attract the c

Have you ever wanted to have your brand-new Toyota Wigo, but you can’t handle heavy monthly payments? Toyota Motor Philippines said in a January 2023 press statement that you can bring home the Wigo 1.0 E M/T at just ₱6,256 a month through its Pay Light option, which requires a 50-percent downpayment and 60 months amortization. The same financing plan means you can also have a Toyota Veloz 1.5 G CVT at ₱13,210 a month or a Toyota Rush E 1.5 M/T at ₱10,724 a month. The Pay Light option is availab

Much more impeccably stylish than your average-looking bear, er, workhorse, the Isuzu Traviz has more than good looks to offer but on a previous article which pitted the brawnier Traviz against the much compact but top-caliber hauler, Mitsubishi L-300, performance results were somewhat troubling for the former as it was being hailed as a light-duty truck destined for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) much like the latter, hence, the unlikely but amiable rivalry between these two indefat