KNOCKED down, but never knocked out. That’s the car industry eight months into Covid-19.
Rolling with the so-called punches, our autoworld simply refuses to yield to the pandemic’s destructive ways, crafting ways to stay afloat amid the health crisis.
Easily the quickest, most effective way to survive is for the players to come up with promos too enticing for customers to ignore.
Not just discounts but huge discounts.
Not just fleeting freebies but long-haul packages.
Honda is one car brand that has been coming up with more-than-your-usual slash-cash platforms.
Notable is its P5,000 giveaway to every referral that leads to a purchase of the BR-V and All-New City.
The bonus, part of Honda’s 30th anniversary celebration, is up to December 31.
“We would like to express our gratitude to our dear customers for their continuous patronage of the Honda brand throughout the years,” said Honda president Masahiko Nakamura. “We hope to be of service to them for many more years to come.”
Toyota school pitch, CSR
THE Toyota Motor Philippines School of Technology (TMP Tech) recently received a P5-million scholarship fund from GT Foundation Inc. (GTFI) to assist marginalized but deserving students from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
This will boost the school’s program of developing Toyota’s automotive professionals due for eventual employment not only in local Toyota dealerships but overseas Toyota networks as well.
The fund also augmented TMP Tech’s “Study Now, Pay Later” plan for families affected by the pandemic amid the carmaker’s call for would-be students to have their entrance exams done online free of charge.
In-house learning is at 50 percent capacity in keeping with government guidelines as TMP Tech strictly implements Covid-19 health and safety protocols at its campus in Santa Rosa City, Laguna.
Aside from its TMP Tech, Toyota, through its Toyota Motor Philippines Foundation (TMPF), also continues to support its adopted school, Pulong Sta. Cruz Elementary School in its shift from face-to-face classes to online and modular learning.
Toyota has donated 46 brand-new laptops for the individual use of teachers, and 4,000 printed learning modules for use of students in the kindergarten, Grades 1 and 2 levels. The modules cover subjects in Mathematics, Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health (MAPEH), Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (ESP), and Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE).
The printouts are distributed to parents of students every week and the accomplished sheets are submitted regularly for teachers’ evaluation.
Toyota also distributed thermal scanners, face shields, alcohol, antibacterial/germicidal soaps, disinfectant sprays, bleach solutions, disposable gloves, foot baths, spray tanks, and cleaning mops in TMP’s continuing observance of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) advocacy.
Lunch I will miss
And, speaking of Toyota, I will miss, sadly, the lunch to be hosted by Alfred Ty, the dapper, affable and super-warm TMP chairman, on Monday.
Irresistible almost are the email invites from TMP’s Red Ladies—sweetly worded all—that I feel guilty turning them all down. Thank you Elijah(won) Marcial, Nadinne B. Capistrano and Jeane Sangalang for your love.
Oh, yeah, it also breaks my heart to disappoint Sir VSS’s (Vince S. Socco) kindly offer to chauffeur me to the affair.
“Di ka makakadalo sa pa-lunch ni Alfred sa 16?” came Sir Vince’s viber. “Una kong balita nag-confirm ka raw? Puwede kita pasundo.”
I told him what I also told the Red Ladies: “My doctor won’t allow me, citing my being from the vulnerable sector. KJ.”
My P.S. “Finally, I can believe: Age does matter.”
But VSS was undaunted.
“Naisip ko ilagay kita sa VSS bubble—kaya pasundo sana kita.”
I had hardly started answering him when VSS’s next viber butted in: “Tapos may antigen testing naman pagdating sa lunch. Hehe.”
And before I could respond, Sir Vince again: “But I fully understand…hinay-hinay…better safe always!”
That’s how much we love each other.
But to cap our exchange, here’s me: “My Doc is ultra-conservative! Republican yata? Hehe.”
VSS: “Haha! Immovable!”
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