Disclosure: GWM Philippines lent us the GWM Cannon SLux for a week with a full tank of diesel and access to its two RFID cards. Japanese and American offerings dominate the pick-up truck market in the Philippines. It is a challenging segment to crack, especially for budding Chinese carmakers who want a piece of that lucrative pie. Filipinos want a durable, reliable car that can handle harsh conditions, especially with our roads. Enter the GWM Cannon, a new pick-up truck that wants to stake its c

At some point or another, during your elementary and high school days, there was one student who always got a big chunk of the achievement awards. In a similar vein (albeit in the Philippine auto industry setting), that student is Toyota Motor Philippines. According to information gleaned from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI), which is the largest automotive group in the country, Toyota once again dominated in 2022 by having eight of the top 10 models and nine o

Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) may not have four hummingbirds, three French hens, and two turtle doves, but it has enough deals to fill your 12 days of Christmas with cars. In a December 2022 press statement, the carmaker announced that it is offering three promos for 12 Toyota models until Dec. 31, 2022. These include: Pay Low – 15-percent downpayment, 60 months to pay, includes free insurance, three-year LTO registration with no chattel mortgage Pay Light – 50-percent downpayment, 60 months to

More and more local carmakers are jumping onto the smartphone-integration bandwagon after Ford Philippines recently unveiled its FordPass app. This time, Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) announced in a November 2022 press statement that it is rolling out its myTOYOTA Connect app, initially for the GL Grandia, Grandia Tourer, and Super Grandia variants of the Toyota Hiace van. The app lets Toyota owners instantly get information on their vehicles, such as driving information, trip summaries, and ma

The debut of the first Ford Ranger Raptor in September 2018 represented the interesting return of a trend that many local carmakers have long rendered extinct. It helped bring back the "factory special," which are regular models that have been souped up straight out of the assembly line or showroom. The Raptor revived the spirit of cars like the old Honda Civic SIR, which offered sensational performance that made it truly distinct from its more hum-drum siblings. Ford's top-of-the-line pick-up t

Once upon a time, vehicles like the Toyota Hiace which is the most economically-sound decision to make when deciding to buy a can either for personal or for commercial purposes. Now, is it still the same or has the rising price of diesel enough to make the Hiace on the bad side of the fence? To begin with, vehicles like the Hiace has many variants, and most if not all of them are now diesel. It is an economically-sound decision as diesel before is always cheaper than petrol. Besides, a huge vehi