The people’s choice: 30 years of bestselling cars

WHO CANNOT remember Toyota’s Revo?

IN THE Philippines alone, there are several Car of the Year awards being given out under the auspices of different publications.

The most prominent of these is the Car of the Year Philippines, which is awarded by voting and instrument-testing by a multitude of Philippine media outfits.

Yet, the most important voting is done by the consumers themselves, using their checkbooks to select the most popular vehicle in the Philippines.

Let’s take a look at the past 30 years of bestselling vehicles in the Philippines, to see how consumer preferences have evolved.

Towards the end of the Marcos dictatorship years, carmakers pulled out or reduced their presence in the Philippines. New models were scarce, and those that were introduced were stripped-down, poorly-specified cars.

Testing the market

After the change in leadership in 1986, carmakers began to test the Philippine market once more.

One of the first carmakers to return in force to was Nissan Motors. Nissan introduced three new sedans to the market: Sentra, Maxima, and Cefiro, catering to the entry-level to the near-luxury segment.

The return of Nissan was like the restoration of oxygen to a suffocating person. The Sentra and its siblings were the latest global models, in contrast to the aging “box-type” Mitsubishi Lancer that was the only other brand new passenger car offering.

The Nissan Sentra was the only new compact sedan in the Philippines circa 1988.

Nissan’s near monopoly of the passenger car market was short-lived, as Toyota Motor Philippines, a joint venture among GT Capital Holdings (aka the Metrobank group), Toyota Motor Corp. and Mitsui & Co. of Japan, was incorporated in August 1988.

Soon, Toyota launched a formidable competitor: the 16-valve Corolla sedan and its 12-valve base model counterpart.

By 1995, the Corolla had taken over the top slot in the passenger car market. Toyota’s utility vehicle, the Tamaraw FX, became the best-selling commercial vehicle. The Nissan Sentra slotted into third place.

Another Japanese company was launched in 1990: Honda Cars Philippines. Its main passenger car offering, the Civic, soon became a popular alternative to the Corolla. The two cars were neck-and-neck with the Corolla and Civic taking the top two slots in 1998.

That would be one of the last years in a long while that a passenger car, and not a commercial vehicle, was the most popular car in the Philippines.

Plunging sales

The year 1998 also marked the start of the Asian financial crisis, as car sales plunged 45 percent, from more than 144,000 unit sales to the 80,000th mark.

HANDS DOWN FAVORITE The Toyota Vios of 2015

Mitsubishi’s Adventure Asian utility vehicle took third spot, as the Toyota Tamaraw FX was being wound down in favor of a newer model.

That new car, the Toyota Revo, rocketed up the sales charts by the following year, taking the No. 1 slot. The Revo was in effect the new Tamaraw model, with a more refined exterior and much-improved cabin. The Civic overtook the Corolla to take the No. 2 position.

The Asian utility vehicle exerted its dominance in the following years, with the Toyota Revo, Mitsubishi Adventure and Isuzu Hi-lander taking the top three positions by 2001.

The new Toyota Corolla, by this time dubbed the Corolla Altis, overtook its perennial rival the Honda Civic to take fourth place.

The Isuzu AUV, by now named Crosswind, climbed as high as the No. 2 slot in 2002. In 2003, Honda’s second-generation CR-V, taking advantage of a tax loophole, somehow fit ten seats within the compact cabin, allowing it to be sold at a much cheaper price. The CR-V took second place behind the Revo, with the Isuzu Crosswind in third place.

By 2004, Toyota introduced a new subcompact model, the Vios. This smaller sedan trailed the Corolla Altis closely to become the No. 3 vehicle. The Revo retained a solid first place, despite its being phased out in favor of an all-new model.

Toyota took the bold step of retiring its number one nameplate, the Tamaraw/Revo, in favor of an all-new model, the Innova MPV. Looking and feeling like a huge advancement over the Revo, the Innova easily took the number slot in 2005.

The Vios, by then a fleet car and taxi favorite, was a firm number two, while the long-lived Adventure still hung on to number three. This marked the start of a preference toward the subcompact models, as the Vios and City became more popular its larger siblings the Corolla and Civic, respectively.

MPV trio

The Innova was merely one of a trio of Toyota’s innovative multipurpose vehicle family. The next juggernaut was the Fortuner, a true SUV built on a platform shared with the Innova and the Hilux pickup. The Fortuner, despite being priced at a higher level than the Innova, took the number three position behind the Toyota Vios.

The Civic still had its cachet, taking the No. 3 slot in 2007, ranking just behind the Innova and Vios. It perennial rival Corolla dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since the early 1990s.

In 2008, Toyota sold the top 3 vehicles on the best-seller chart, with the Vios taking number one ahead of the Innova and Fortuner. Another Toyota MPV, the subcompact Avanza, followed in the number four slot.

Honda made a comeback to the top 3 in 2009, as the City climbed to the number three position, behind the perennial Vios-Innova duo. The Mitsubishi Montero Sport overtook the Fortuner to take fourth slot.

The top players remained the same but merely in a different order in 2010. The Vios remained on top, with the Innova second, Montero Sport third, Honda City fourth and the Fortuner fifth.

In 2013, Toyota was able to retain the No. 1 slot with the Vios, with the Innova as its second best-selling vehicle.

Toyota achieved a company record for 2014, with 106,100 unit sales, making it the first Philippine car company to break the 100,000th mark. The Vios was still the best-selling passenger car model, the Innova the best-selling MPV and the Fortuner the top commercial vehicle in the market.

For the first half of 2015, Toyota still exercised its market dominance, with the Vios at number one. The Fortuner, even as it is about to be replaced with a new model, is at a firm No. 2, while the Innova, also an outgoing model, retained the No. 3 slot. The perceived advantages of the Toyota nameplate—reliability, easy serviceability and high resale value—allowed the company to keep a stranglehold on the top three positions.