New car models, shiny cars to drool over at the Manila Intl. Auto Show 2012

If you’re heading to Roxas Boulevard this weekend, don’t be surprised at the traffic building up near the World Trade Center on Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue Extension. It’s the last two days of the Manila International Auto Show (MIAS), an annual event every car enthusiast in the metro looks forward to.

 

This year’s MIAS is the 8th time it’s being done, and organizers have boasted of making it the biggest MIAS ever.

 

Total exhibit area this year is 30,000 square meters since not only the World Trade Center has been used; exhibits have spilled over to the adjacent Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC). And with 110 companies joining this year’s show, organizer Worldbex Services International is confident they can wow the over 85,000 attendees expected over the four-day event which started Thursday.

 

This year’s theme is “Motorsports” and MIAS focuses on “Life in the Fast Lane” and the new sports cars in town.

 

A number of car dealers and manufacturers have launched their new models at this year’s MIAS last Thursday.

 

One of them is Ford, which unveiled its All-New Ford Ranger, a muscular pickup truck that’s “21st century tough.” Passengers will experience comfort inside as they do in a car, but will not doubt the vehicle’s carrying, fording, and climbing capability. Its engine is 2.2 liters, and the payload capacity can handle more than 1400 kg. It can even wade in 800 millimeters of water, perfect for any flash flood in the city.

 

What’s cool about it is it’s pretty smart, and comes with Bluetooth with Voice Control. I tried it and “commanded the car” to call my Globe mobile phone. Pretty cool.

 

Vinay Piparsania, vice president for marketing and sales of Ford Group Philippines, said the All-New Ford Ranger is “a truck with no compromise, a truck that provides customers around the world with quality, fuel efficiency, safety and smart technology in one complete package.”

Asian Carmakers Corp., the official importer and distributor of BMW cars in the country, on the other hand, launched its BMW M5, the fifth generation of the saloon, which has an “all-new engine that’s more powerful, more efficient, and has better technology,” says Pauline D. Gonzales, corporate communications manager of Asian Carmakers.

It’s a high-performance sports car with a high-revving 4.4-liter V8 engine.

 

Subaru, Hyundai, Mini, Chrysler also launched their new car models.

 

But aside from the new car models to ogle at, there are some other activities to check out.

 

Guinness World Record holder Russ Swift is again part of this year’s MIAS, conducting three shows a day wherein the audience can watch him do doughnuts, do parallel parking in an extremely tight space (just 33 centimeters longer than the car) in two seconds—just that kind of thing normal drivers can only dream about. Swift is driving a Subaru and will no doubt burn a lot more tires this weekend.

 

Car lovers should not fail to check out the Segway booth at the PTTC and get a chance to maneuver the two-wheeled device around a little track. Neither should they miss the Classic and Custom Car exhibit at the PTTC area, although one wishes there were more cars for this category.

 

The country’s “fastest” car, the Ford GT, is also on display, which clocked 330.7 kph speed on the runway of the Subic International Airport in the past. Whoa.

 

And lest you think it’s all cars here, see up close the big amphibian truck of the Philippine Army and the Philippine Marines right out front, which was modified and improved by the private sector for this year’s MIAS. — TJD, GMA News

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The Manila International Auto Show is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the World Trade Center until April 1, 2012. Photos courtesy of BMW and Ford