Philippine Automotive History Book Project

[donbuggy]

All those company history / milestones are fine, but I'm sure that auto enthusiasts would also like to read about the cars and the trucks that were once manufactured in the Philippines (how they were developed, specs, photos, sales, magazine articles / test drives, etc.).

[Autohistorian]

[SIZE=3]Columbian Motors Corporation[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]International Private company[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Paranaque, PH-1700 Philippines[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]63 02 823 2331, 63 02 823 6376 fax [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Company Description: Manufacturing: Assembly and distribution of buses, trucks and cars[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Asian Carmakers Corporation/Columbian Motors Corporation/Columbian Autocar Corporation[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Asian Carmakers Corporation, Columbian Motors Corporation, and Columbian Autocar Corporation are under the Columbian Motor Group of companies which assembles multi-brand vehicles. The Columbian Motor Group is owned by the Alvarez family. Asian Carmakers and Columbian Autocar Corporation were among the participants allowed by the BOI to assemble the people’s car. The two companies entered the industry in 1990. Asian Carmakers was registered as an assembler of the Japanese car Daihatsu charade. Asian Carmakers is also a registered assembler of European car, Mazda under the CDP main category.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Columbian Motors Corporation assembles trucks and buses. It is 62.85 percent Filipino owned and has an existing joint venture arrangement with Nissan diesel Motor Co., Ltd with equity of 1.55 percent and Nichimen Corporation with equity of 35.6 percent.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Company name: Columbian Autocar Corporation [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Address: Km. 16, West Service Rd, South Superhighway, Paranque City [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Tel: +63-2-823-6368 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Fax: +63-2-823-1535 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Intro: Part of the Columbian Motors Group, Columbian Autocar started assembling Mazda passenger cars in 1993. Hit by the Asian economy crisis this activity ended in 2000, however a few thousand units of the Kia Pride were still being assembled. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]By 2006 assembly operation came to an end.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]

[Autohistorian]

this i what we found on GM so far. Not much...

[SIZE=3]GM establishes a jointly owned vehicle and transmission manufacturing operation in the Philippines with two Philippine companies. In 1979, Isuzu Motors invests in the venture, GM Philipinas, Inc. The assembly and transmission plants cease operation in 1985. [/SIZE]

[Autohistorian]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Philippines, Inc.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]1991 Honda Cars Makati, the first Honda dealership of Honda Cars Makati, Inc. (HCMI), started as a one-unit showroom at Bicutan, Parañaque. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]1992 HCMI moved to its new dealership office at Magallanes, Makati - the 1st Honda car dealership in the country. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]1993 Honda Cars Cebu, Inc. (HCCI) was founded. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]1994 Honda Cars Pasig was established.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]HCM Insurance Agency, Inc., a subsidiary of HCMI, was founded.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Pasig won the championship title in Honda Cars Philippines, Inc.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3](HCPI)'s 1st National Technician Contest[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]1995 Honda Cars Iloilo was established.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Makati bagged the TOPS (The Outstanding Professional in Sales) [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Award - Automotive Category.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Makati won the championship title in the 2nd Honda National [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Technician Contest.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Pasig was also awarded second runner-up in the same contest.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]1996 Honda Cars Alabang was established.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Cagayan de Oro was established.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda assumed leadership in the passenger car market.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Makati bagged the TOPS (The Outstanding Professional in Sales) [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Award - Automotive Category.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Pasig and Honda Cars Makati placed first and second runners-up [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]in the 3rd Honda National Technician Contest.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]1997 Honda Cars Negros Occidental was established.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda remains No.1 in passenger car sales.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Alabang won the championship tile in the 4th Honda National [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Technician Contest.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Pasig was also awarded second runner-up in the same contest.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]1998 Honda Cars Shaw was established.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]HCMI received Best Quality Silver Award from Honda Motor Co., Ltd (Japan).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Alabang and Honda Cars Pasig won the championship and first runner-up awards in the 5th Honda National Technician Contest[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Alabang placed first runner-up in the 5th Asia-Oceania Technician Contest held in Thailand.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]HCM Insurance Agency, Inc. was turned over to MZM Holdings and was renamed MZM Insurance Agency, Inc.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]1999 The HCMI Body and Paint Shop opened.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]HCCI became a fully-owned subsidiary of HCMI.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Makati won the TOPS (The Outstanding Professional in Sales) [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Award - Automotive Category.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Pasig and Honda Cars Shaw received gold, silver and bronze awards in the Honda Asia-Oceania Sales Volume Contest held in Japan. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]2000 HCMI launched its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in March 2000.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Makati won the TOPS (The Outstanding Professional in Sales) [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Award - Automotive Category[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]2001 HCMI launched the "HCMI Plus" sales promo and "HCMI Mileage Plus" service loyalty program.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Shaw and Honda Cars Pasig bagged gold and bronze, respectively, in the 8th Honda National Technician Contest.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]2002 Honda Cars Makati received the Honda Automobile Lifetime Sales Record Award (HALSRA).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Shaw won the championship title in the 7th Asia & Oceania [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Technician Contest held in Tokyo, Japan.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]HCMI sells its 60,000th Honda vehicle.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]2003 Honda Cars Mandaue was established.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]HCMI introduced HondaTXT.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Shaw represented the Philippines in the 24th Honda Automobile Technician Contest in Saitama, Japan.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Makati captured the championship title in the 9th Honda National Technician Contest. Honda Cars Pasig also won second runner-up in the same contest.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]2004 Honda Cars Shaw was awarded with a Gold Best Quality Award by Honda Motor Co., Ltd for the H-SMART (Honda Service Management Action Renovation Training) program in the Philippines.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]HCMI was awarded 'Most Promising Quality Circle' in the 24th Annual Quality Circle Regional Convention of the Quality Circle Practitioners Association, Inc.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Alabang won the championship in the Service Advisor category in 2nd National Body and Paint Technician Contest. Honda Cars Pasig was also awarded First Runner Up in the Service Technician-Tinsmith category in the same contest.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Makati conquered the 8th Asia & Oceania Technician Contest in Bangkok, Thailand.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]2005 Honda Cars Cebu and Honda Cars Mandaue received bronze awards for the provincial Service Advisor's Incentive Program (SAIP) - group category in the Honda Dealer Convention.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Makati and Honda Cars Pasig received the Honda Automobile Lifetime Sales Award (HALSRA).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]HCMI's Q'Data won the Gold Award under the Non-Production category of the 25th Annual Quality Circle Regional Convention (QCRC) of the Quality Circle Practitioners Association, Inc., held on May 25-27, 2005.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]HCMI’s Q'Data won the Gold Award in the 2005 Productivity Improvement Circles National Convention (PICNC) and became the first car dealership to win the highest award in the Non-Production category of the competition organized by the Productivity Improvement Circles Association of the Philippines (PICAP) on September 28-30, 2005.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Pasig and Honda Cars Alabang captured back-to-back championship titles in the conventional category of Technicians and Service Advisors, respectively, in the 10th National Technician Contest sponsored by Honda Cars Philippines, Inc.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]2006 HCMI opened its first mall car park auto service thru the Honda Service Greenbelt 1 Carpark on May 2006[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]HCMI’s D'Intensity captured the Production Category Gold Award in the 26th Quality Circles Regional Convention (QCRC) held at the El Centro in Subic on June 7-9, 2006. This group also bagged the Silver award during their first foray into the Productivity Improvement Circles National Convention held in Davao. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Iloilo relocated to Mandurriao, Iloilo in September.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Honda Cars Pasig captured the first runner-up title in the 9th Asia & Oceania Technician Contest in Thailand.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Source: [/SIZE][SIZE=3]http://www.hondamakati.com.ph/[/SIZE]

[dprox]

In a history book, it's important to know not just events, but the people behind them -- the pioneers, the movers and shakers. Who were they? Where are they now? What did they do? What cars did they build and/or sell?

Don't forget the market side of the story. How did the Filipino consumers react to the various makes and models? What are the top ten choices of Pinoys pre and post-WW2?

Don't forget the aficionados, the collectors, the vintage car enthusiasts and the restoration hobbyists. A good source of trivia and insights would be the motoring journalists, especially those who are senior citizens na.

Don't forget the offroaders and their rescue operations. And their originally fabricated rigs. Some of those 4x4s can certainly qualify as OPVs.

[Autohistorian]

[SIZE=3]Sarao Motors Inc.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Leonardo Sarao was an enterprising cochero (calesa driver) who found work in an automotive bodybuilding and repair shop. The first Sarao Motors jeepney rolled out in 1953. Anastacio Francisco was a calesa painter who was later employed by Sarao, and who struck out on his own to found Francisco Motors. The earliest passenger jeepney is said to have been conceived, built, and driven in 1945 by Clodualdo Delfino, a musician-entertainer who needed to make a living immediately after liberation. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]"Last October [2000], when Leonardo Sarao broke the news to his staff of almost 300 that Sarao Motors – once the biggest jeepney-makers in the Philippines – was ceasing production, most broke down in tears. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]"It is probably the hardest speech 78-year-old Sarao has ever had to make. But he had no other viable choice as the 47-year-old transportation company had been bleeding since 1995, mainly, he says, due to changed government regulations. "Our sales of jeepney units plunged because the Land Transportation Office (LTO) cancelled the issuance of franchises to jeepney lines, but let other public transportation vehicles such as taxicabs continue to get theirs," says the hoarse-voiced founder of Sarao Motors." [/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Sarao Motors[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]This business is one of a kind so far. Sarao has made history together with the progress of Las Piñas being a producer of the primary form of transportation, jeepneys. This company is one of the large contributors to the high economy that we are experiencing. They contributed so much because of the unique and eye catcher designs that draws everyone's attention. If a Las Piñero is asked about jeepneys he would probably mention Sarao: major producer of jeepneys in Las Piñas.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]The business is known in the whole world for its competency rate and their progress rate. It also has a big role to the introduction of urbanization, specially in transportation, to our city. It also served as a start of the business in Las Piñas and inspired the uprising shops to excel in their shops and stores.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]The company also uses top certified, quality Filipino products and materials having a 100% pinoy product and by doing this it supports the other businesses together in improving his vehicles. In this we can see the give and take relationship between the competing businesses in Las Piñas. Certainly, Sarao motors identified Las Piñas as a industrialized and progressive city.[/SIZE]

[jpdm]

Bakit every time we talk about the Pinoy auto assemblers/manufacturers....

parang eulogy...

lungkot ako.....

kaya khit pagtawanan at asarin nila ang pagiging nationalist ko....

i always believe, at the end of the day....

historically.......

nations like the philippines....

will live an die with nationalism.

[jpdm]

Autohistorian,

may idea ka ba kung mayroon ng gumawa ng Thesis/dissertation recently about the local auto industry? I mean local ha? Hindi yung mga company history ng mga Japanese, Korean, German or American auto companies in the Philippines.

Kasi, after reading the posts of these CAMPI members, wala naman talagang na-contribute yan mga yan para ma-develop ang local car industry e. Yung mitsubishi, pintura lang,imported pa ang technology.

Imean we should highlight the attempts of Pinoys to produce innovations sa auto industry even at the domestic/ local (market) level.

Sabi lolo ko, nag-attempt na raw si Pres. Marcos at ang crony daw nya na may ari ng Delta Motors (Toyota) to produce a
filipino vehicle. mayroon nang prototype. Kaya lang naudlot kasi ng People power daw at tumakas Toyota dito. Natira ata Nissan at UMC. Kaya lumakas ang local auto manufacturers nun.

Ngayon, as usual, the monopolists are back. Umaarangkada na naman ang oligopolistic tendencies ng mga CAMPI members. Hostage tayo nila. Mula sa presyo ng sasakyan hanggang sa piyesa pati warranty......

[RafRaf]

Just recent... I think Norkis deserves some respectable attention...

Along Came a Spider
By Lester Dizon
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Norkis Trading Company has a knack for showcasing Filipino ingenuity in the automotive industry. The Cebu-based company has pioneered the “4R” process – recycling, reengineering, reconditioning and rebuilding – and applied this process initially on motorcycles with the Norkis Wonderbikes and then later on the successful and highly popular Multicab models. Company patriarch Norberto Quisumbing, who’s credited with introducing the tricycle as a commercial model in 1962, is a known innovator and the hundreds of “Norkisans” under him are encouraged to be innovative for their personal improvement as well as for the country’s.

Recently, Porta Coeli Industrial Co., Inc., Norkis’ four-wheel vehicle division came out with the Legacy and the Maverick, which are re-worked micro cars that passed through the 4R process and offered affordable motoring to the average Filipino. Instead of resting on their achievements, the “Norkisans” worked on another innovation based on the Japanese micro cars and focused their design on affordability and utility. The MTT Spider is the result of their innovation.

Multi Tasking Truck

Unlike the Maverick, which is basically a reconditioned Japanese micro car and the Legacy, which is a micro car reengineered to function as a mini pick-up, the MTT Spider has fully utilized the 4R process and invents a new category in the multi-purpose vehicle market. The kei-car sedan chassis and engine of the Spider places it in the subcompact sedan category while the high roof, eight-seat arrangement, open sides and bar-type doors of the Spider places it in a class of its own.

According to Manuel Gaspar Albos, Jr., the managing head of Norkis four wheel vehicle division, the MTT Spider came about with the demand for affordable passenger vehicles that can be used for transporting people and goods quickly and economically. He added that the design of the MTT Spider makes it an ideal vehicle for resort hotels, tourist spots, industrial parks, aircraft hangars, massive warehouses, golf courses, private villages and even for law enforcement. The tall roof and unobstructed 360-degree view would indeed make it ideal for viewing sceneries and patrolling vast areas.

Econocar Base

The MTT Spider is powered by a 660cc 12-valve three cylinder gasoline-fed Suzuki engine. Reengineering and reconditioning allowed the micro car engine to perform with added zip and retained economy, returning a factory claimed 18 to 21 kilometers per liter during their test runs which included a run of the North Luzon Loop that passes from Bulacan-Nueva Ecija-Nueva Vizcaya-Isabela-Tuguegarao-Aparri to Ilocos-La-Union-Pangasinan-Pampanga-Bulacan and back to Manila. Norkis engineers also claim that the Spider can run at 120kph with uncanny stability and they cited their test runs on the North Luzon Tollways as the basis for their claims.

Curiously, the automatic transmission-equipped MTT Spider at P172,000 is priced lower than the variant equipped with a manual transmission, which is priced at P182,000. We speculated that the company is promoting the automatic MTT Spider for added safety so the driver can concentrate on driving and enjoying the scenery instead of shifting and becoming distracted with the clutch. However, we later found out that they have more automatic versions than manual transmission-equipped ones in stock, thus the price difference.

With gasoline prices escalating at an alarming rate and heavy traffic choking our streets, perhaps Norkis may have again created an innovation that would alleviate the transportation woes of the average Filipino. As they did with the Multicab, the Legacy and the Maverick, the company has given the car buyers another alternative on how best to stretch their peso when investing in transportation.

[jpdm]

Along Came a Spider
By Lester Dizon
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Norkis Trading Company has a knack for showcasing Filipino ingenuity in the automotive industry. The Cebu-based company has pioneered the “4R” process – recycling, reengineering, reconditioning and rebuilding – and applied this process initially on motorcycles with the Norkis Wonderbikes and then later on the successful and highly popular Multicab models. Company patriarch Norberto Quisumbing, who’s credited with introducing the tricycle as a commercial model in 1962, is a known innovator and the hundreds of “Norkisans” under him are encouraged to be innovative for their personal improvement as well as for the country’s.

Recently, Porta Coeli Industrial Co., Inc., Norkis’ four-wheel vehicle division came out with the Legacy and the Maverick, which are re-worked micro cars that passed through the 4R process and offered affordable motoring to the average Filipino. Instead of resting on their achievements, the “Norkisans” worked on another innovation based on the Japanese micro cars and focused their design on affordability and utility. The MTT Spider is the result of their innovation.

Great, great news sir especially for Local auto firms fanatic like me....

Go Norkis!!!