Words by Carl Trocio | Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz
Every run-of-the-mill family usually has a designated enforcer, commonly known as “the bad ass.” For the Mercedes-Benz family tree, laymen have bestowed such title to the G-Class - unarguably a tough looking specimen that was built to do hard work and dirty jobs. With the body aerodynamics similar to that of a Lego® brick, the land speed record is far from its life’s mission. Instead, the G-Wagon enjoys crawling on mud, dirt, and rocks in hostile environments and is a regular mainstay in the military (of some countries, not ours). Yes, in the family of vehicles that caters to the privileged, this brute of a sibling does count as the resident bad ass.Enter the Mercedes-Benz Unimog. Imagine if the G-Wagon had an ugly bigger brother that just came out of prison. Better yet, if Mercedes-Benz opened a can of whoop-ass, the Unimog would come out of the can. The Unimog represents the company’s heavy-duty line of commercial vehicles built to go anywhere and take on the toughest conditions. The name “Unimog” is an acronym for “universal motor device” in Germanese.
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Newly Launched
Words by Jose Carlo R. Sapera
It was only a month ago when the Alto 800 and Swift Dzire made a surprise appearance at the 2013 Manila International Auto Show (MIAS). Back then, we were told that these Indian-built subcompacts will be launched by the end of April. And true enough, just days before Labor day, Suzuki Philippines Incorporated (SPI) made both cars officially official.
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Newly Launched
This is IT! The Manila Speed Show is set to start in less than 24 hours. Just imagine, for the first time in Philippine history, three, yes three, Lotus Formula 1 cars will be screaming down the roads of Manila. And the main star of the show will be none other than our very own, and current Lotus F1 Junior Team driver, Marlon Stockinger.
Scheduled on May 4 to 5, 2013 at the Quirino Grandstand and SM Mall of Asia, here's everything you need to know to watch the Manila Speed Show. Well, almost everything we could get our hands on at least.
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Motorsports
Eurobrands Distributor Inc. (EDI), the official importer and distributor of Peugeot vehicles in the Philippines, has a very unique way of celebrating Mother's Day. They've set up a two-week mall display to bring the Peugeot experience closer to their customers, which includes mothers, sisters, wives, aunts, and what not, even if the special occasion is still weeks away. Why? Well, because we're pretty darn sure that they'd love to drive, or be driven around, in one of these very pretty French cars.
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Upcoming Events
Words by Jose Carlo R. Sapera | Photos courtesy of the Ford Motor Company
Long before the Laser, Lynx, and Focus, there was the Ford Escort. Its life started in the late 60's as a great family car and proved to be a equally-great rally car as well. But after 32 years in production and six generations, Ford decided to pull the plug and replaced it with the Focus that we have today.However, a lot has changed since Ford last built an Escort. More specifically, China's boom has transformed it into an economic giant. It's so big that they're now the world's largest producer of motor vehicles and account for almost 1/3 of the annual global car sales. With this, it's a no-brainer for automobile manufacturers to take advantage of their fast-growing car market by tailoring specific models just for them. And Ford's solution is to revive the Escort as a concept that's intended solely for China.
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Concept
As it stands, Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) currently has 28 dealerships spread around Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. But recently, they did the groundbreaking for two new dealerships which will bring the total up to 29 when they open later this year. No, we're not bad at math. It's just that only one of them is totally new, while the other one is transferring to a bigger and better facility.
Honda Cars Greenhills will soon rise at Ortigas Avenue cor. Columbia St., Mandaluyong City, right across the La Salle Greenhills campus. This new dealership sits on a 2,500 sq. meter land area and offer Honda's full product line-up, as well as full after-sales service, general repair, and body-and-paint services.
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Industry Update
01 May 2013
GT3 Race Manila postpones race to 2014
Words by Christopher Kho
Bummer. We just received an announcement from the organizers of the GT3 Race Manila, which was scheduled on June 2013, that the race has been postponed to 2014. It was expected to bring around 15 GT3 race cars such as Aston Martin DBRS9s, Porsche 911s, Ferrari 458s, McLaren MP4-12Cs, and Lamborghini Gallardos to race around a 2.7 km street circuit in Luneta Park. But as it stands now, we'll have to wait another year to see these glorious machines race in the Philippines.
The official press release from GT Race Global Inc. (GTRGI) reads:
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Motorsports
Words by Christopher Kho | Photos courtesy of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.
Let it be known that the world's fastest production car is the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. It achieved a top speed of 431.072 km/h at the Volkswagen Group's proving grounds in Ehra-Lessien back in 2010 - a record which still stands today and leaves all other supercars trailing in its wake. But instead of playing catch up, there is one other speed record that has yet to be set: the world's fastest production open-top roadster.
So what’s an engineer to do? Hack the roof off of the world's fastest production car, of course! The 2013 Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse World Record Car (WRC) was meant just for this purpose.
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Newly Launched
