The long wait is over as Volkswagen Philippines officially launched the 2024 Volkswagen Tharu on Sept. 29, 2023 in Alabang. The new model comes after a two-year wait, as the last new vehicle that the company launched locally was the Volkswagen T-Cross in 2021. While the German brand did debut the Volkswagen Cross Santana on February 2023, it was essentially a kitted-out version of the regular Santana GTS wagon. What started as several teaser images has finally solidified into the real thing, wit

Disclosure: The Covenant Car Company, Inc., the official importer and distributor of Chevrolet in the Philippines, kindly lent me a 2024 Chevrolet Trax Redline for seven days. It arrived with a full tank of fuel and loaded RFID cards. AutoFun Philippines paid for a carwash. When we watch a movie, we generally view it on its own. We soak in a new storyline, discover more about the characters, and (perhaps subconsciously) absorb the power of the scoring and cinematography. But things get a bit tri

Let’s turn the clock back some five years ago. In 2018, I was 40 pounds lighter and working part-time as a motoring contributor to help me through graduate school. This was also the year that I started my racing career. 2018 was also when the cars in this list were showroom fresh. Even without the “new car smell,” which is actually a combination of chemicals from the manufacturing process, these models still have plenty of life left in them. Indeed, five years is typically the time when most com

Ahead of the launch of the Empow and all-new GS8 on Jan. 18, 2023, GAC Motor Philippines announced the appointment of its new brand head. Astara Philippines, which is the new local distributor of the Chinese brand, said in a January 2023 press statement that Redentor “Jun” Cajayon will be taking the post. Cajayon has over 30 years of experience in sales, marketing and network development in the automotive industry. He had served as general manager of another Chinese car marque, Maxus Philippines

Reliability, durability, and longevity have long defined the Toyota Hilux pick-up truck. Whether you own a farm and need a super-tough hauler or a city slicker who wants to take on inhospitable urban streets without fear, the Hilux can handle whatever you throw at it. But Toyota’s tough truck had one potentially deadly flaw until five years ago – it could tip over when avoiding obstacles at speed. Avoiding the moose The test that had long flummoxed Toyota’s best-selling pick-up is the “moose tes

Earlier this year, UMW Toyota Motor launched the new 2020 Toyota Hilux, which now comes with a more powerful 204 PS/500 Nm 2.8-litre common rail turbodiesel engine, plus an expanded set of safety features which now include Toyota Safety Sense, packing autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane departure alert, blind spot monitor, rear cross-traffic alert (RCTA) as well as adaptive cruise control. There’s also a 150 PS/400 Nm 2.4-litre engine for the lower variants – same power output as before but