AT about this same time last year the top 3 best-selling models from Toyota Motor Philippines are Vios (17,022 units), Fortuner (11,561) and HiAce (10,247). For Mitsubishi, it’s Mirage (9,978), L300 (5,430) and Adventure (3,972). Isuzu had its Mu-X selling 6,297, Crosswind 2,361 and D-Max 1,897.
By yearend, Toyota, expectedly, romped away with its 13th straight Triple Crown feat: No. 1 in passenger cars, No. 1 in commercial vehicles and No. 1 in overall sales.
As the “ber” months are just around the corner, so to speak, Toyota has become the frontrunner again, establishing whopping sales margins over its closest pursuers.
Now, if only for the record, as July sales stats have come pouring in, it is Toyota again pacing the pack, with Mitsubishi not far behind, of course.
Vios and Mirage have maintained their No. 1 and 2 ranking in passenger-car sales from January to July, but Innova, after the smashingly successful launch of its new model early this year, has magnificently retained its lofty billing as No. 1 in the MPV segment—MPV being multipurpose vehicle to differentiate it from the SUV (sport-utility vehicle), which Fortuner has continued to lord it over.
I do not have the exact figures yet, but I gathered that Toyota’s lawyer Rommel Gutierrez, the dapper Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines President, would come up with the latest data shortly.
Please don’t forget to provide me with a copy of it, compañero?
Nlex east toll road
I read in the papers that the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) east toll road will begin construction before the year ends.
The project by Ausphil Tollways Corp., which was shelved during former President Benigno S. Aquino III’s unlamented administration, is a 90-kilometers expressway from Quezon City to Cabanatuan City.
Once it is completed, the P15-billion road will cut travel time by at least one hour, according to Ausphil CEO Ricardo L. Penson as quoted by the Inquirer’s Miguel R. Camus.
The project’s first phase from Commonwealth Avenue (I live there) in Quezon City to Norzagaray, Bulacan, will cost P7.8 billion.
“We expect groundbreaking in a couple of months,” Penson said.
He said that in April. It’s been almost three months. But I have yet to hear about groundbreaking ceremonies happening in Commonwealth Avenue (my home for 23 years).
What’s going on now at Commonwealth Avenue is construction in full blast of the Metro Rail Transit 7 (MRT 7), the train system from North Avenue Quezon City, to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. Not surprising because the project is under the command of Ramon S. Ang a.k.a. RSA, who is noted for working hands-on on every project that he undertakes.
“The first phase would take two years to complete,” Penson also told Camus.
But how can that be when the project’s supposed groundbreaking had yet to happen? Correct me if I am wrong, please? Thank you.
Penson said, “I always believed my project can stand on its own merits, it should not be politicized.” Practically approved in principle under former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the project was shot down when Aquino took over in 2010.
Penson is now telling us that President Duterte, who he described as his classmate at San Beda, has recognized the potential of his toll road. Ausphil, according to Penson, has San Miguel Corp. as a stockholder (15 percent). If true, then Penson is solid.
He also said his toll road, which, he claimed, could serve 75,000 vehicles a day when completed, has water and power components through the La Mesa Dam. How he’d do it, though, is another story.
TPLEx magic
THE new Nlex east toll road interests me because just last week, I motored to Muñoz City, which is just a stone’s throw away from Cabanatuan City.
As a passenger of my panyero Pete Ferrer, an astute lawyer from Cotabato City and Quezon City, who traces his roots in Lingayen, Pangasinan, our pilot JR drove panyero Pete’s Prado from Quezon City to Muñoz via Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPlex).
To my pleasant surprise, the route was flawlessly traffic-free after JR had driven past SCTEx, exiting in Pura, Tarlac.
After a whistle-stop lunch of kalderetang kambing, kare-kare, pinaputok na tilapia and sinigang na hipon in Guimba, Nueva Ecija, JR brought panyerong Pete and I to Baloc and then finally to Muñoz City.
Stunningly enough, the ride took only about a little over two hours from Quezon City to the rice granary of Central Luzon.
Indeed, with infrastructure put in place, even if only done little by little, travel time is tremendously cut, finally triggering growth impeded by past corruption laden administrations for the longest time.
Don’t you know that by 2019, the RSA-inspired MRT 7 would be in operation? If RSA had done wonders with his TPLEx, trust and believe.
PEE STOP Late is never late, and so, birthday greetings to both Lexus’s Danny “Sir John” Isla and Malaya Sol M. Sadiwa (both July 21ners) remain relevant. Also, happy birthday to Ayapot (July 9), Malaya Sol’s nanay. Ayapot drives a Wigo, and her hubby, Ricky, an Avanza. Talk about loyalty.