hi to all,

perhaps a "modular design" won't work to the car's advantage. i guess the filipino car for (let's say) 2009 or 2010 would need to marry a lot of foreign concepts with some down-home identity markers. a vehicle which transforms into too many variants won't make the Filipino car/vehicle strong by way of capturing a single niche market. Nissan had tried this early 90s or late 80s in the US for a certain model, and it failed to even make a dent. it was some kind of a sporty miata that transforms into a family van or pickup.

Filipinos may simply desire a Filipino-made vehicle with a strong world-class identity. The Innova is the nearest example of this. We know that the latter is no longer the Tamaraw of the 80s, but to us martial-law babies, we trace the ancestry of this vehicle's development to our very own strong ideals way back when we were dreaming of a Filipino car. Yes, The Innova belongs to a larger Southeast Asian market now (and maybe larger), but it carries in its genes the Filipino ideal for an AUV type of vehicle.

The Filipino car will definitely be used in most urban settings (anyways most provinces have transformed themselves into urbanite settings already). It's definitely a family car, not a luxury or sports car. It can't be a sedan as yet, because this needs to project some refinement and polish. This only means that Filipinos currently accept with some credibility foreign sedans & estates as functional & credible. (these are current realities, if the filipino car has to sell - and, of course, it has no choice but to sell.)

So yes, it will be an AUV type of vehicle. But I must say that it needs to set itself apart from one that Thailand, Malaysia or Korea would build. Or even Japan, as Honda has been studying the market lately.

For starters, why not explore redefining the interior. The jeepney redefined interior seating. It doesn't have to be confined to the western concept of seating 7. Maybe there will be some design that maximizes seating (as an option) without selling out on comfort and safety.