Toyota’s biggest car sale also unforgettable family event

TOYOTA officials led by president Michinobu Sugata (center) formally opening this year’s Caravan

By end-October expect the number of vehicles sold in the country to reach dramatic figures. Credit should go to what Toyota Motor Philippines is spearheading this week—from October 5 to 12—that will surely convince buyers not to hold back any longer and bring home their dream Toyota right away.

“This is the perfect time to buy a Toyota. The 2012 Toyota Caravan—which is now in its fourth year—is our way of saying thank you to all the support that the market has given us,” announced TMP president Michinobu Sugata as he formally opened the weeklong event happening at the corner of 34th Street and 9th Avenue in Bonifacio Global City (right beside the Mercato Centrale weekend food market and near the Lexus Manila showroom).

The 2012 Toyota Caravan will enable new-car buyers enjoy discounts of as much as P280,000 on top of the ongoing monthly sales promos.

“This sales event will be a one-stop shop that will provide customers a more convenient and more enjoyable purchasing experience. Moreover, TMP will be giving away the biggest discounts in its history during this event. Just walking into the venue, visitors will already get an automatic P5,000 discount off their new-car purchase while test-driving any of the Toyota vehicles on site gives them an additional discount of up to P100,000,” said TMP first vice president for marketing Raymond Rodriguez.

Even those trading in their old vehicles are eligible for discounts of up to P50,000, while current Toyota owners may be able to avail themselves of up to P25,000 off when they buy a brand-new Toyota.

There’s also the P100,000 discount that customers can get through the daily reservation raffle. In addition, by simply reserving a brand-new Toyota at the event, customers will get raffle coupons for a chance to win one of the five brand-new Innovas or one of the five brand-new Vios units under the Toyota Best Sellers raffle promo.

New Vios variants

ONE OF the stars of the show is the Toyota FT 86.

The 2012 Toyota Caravan is set to make car shopping more exciting as TMP will showcase its latest variants including that of its bestseller, the Vios compact sedan. There will be three latest variants of the Vios, namely, the sleek-looking 1.5-liter TRD edition (which sports 17-inch alloy wheels, a muffler cutter, a rear lip spoiler, side skirts and a special “TRD” badge); the manual 1.3-liter G variant that is equipped with fog lamps and the 15-inch alloy wheels; and the 1.3-liter J variant, which has been upgraded with fog lamps, 15-inch alloy wheels, and a special “Limited” badge.

The Toyota Vios currently remains the bestselling vehicle in the car market, with an average of close to 1,300 units sold monthly (a total of 10,267 units already sold year to date).

Much-improved

There’s also the more powerful variants of the Fortuner SUV and Hilux pickup. These latest additions now have diesel engines featuring Toyota’s new and advanced Variable Nozzle Turbo-charger Technology with Intercooler that not only improve fuel efficiency but also provide additional 40-percent engine power (161 horsepower) as well as additional 30 percent torque (343 Newton meters).

The VNT equipped 3-liter variants include the 4-speed automatic 4×4 V Fortuner; the 4-speed automatic 4×2 G Fortuner; the 5-speed manual 4×2 G Fortuner; the 4-speed automatic 4×4 G Hilux; and 5-speed manual 4×4 G Hilux.

Buyers should also be attracted to the updated Innova and Avanza, two of TMP’s best value brands. The 2012 Innova now sow sports a new grille design, more aggressive fascia, new head and tail lamps, side mirrors, new rocker panels and new 15-inch alloy wheels. The 2012 Avanza, on the other hand, already has an improved interior design and the body’s weight has been reduced to give it better fuel efficiency (12 km per liter mileage).

High-net-worth individuals should be glad to know that the Toyota Caravan will also offer the all-new Camry in either 3.5-liter (273-horsepower) or 2.5-liter (176-horsepower) variant. Both are equipped with a 6-speed sequential automatic transmission.

Toyota 86 merchandise

TMP also informs that visitors of the Toyota Caravan will be able to win exclusive Toyota 86 merchandise just by joining the Tamiya 86 remote-control racing competition.

“I would like to commend Tamiya Philippines Inc. and Lil’s Hobby Center, the country’s authorized distributor of Tamiya products for the cooperation they have provided and making sure the Tamiya RC Competition would be a huge crowd drawer. It should be noted that in 1994, Tamiya Japan established its manufacturing hub in Mactan export processing zone of Cebu where their plastic and radio-controlled models as well as other products are produced and exported to various countries including Japan,” Sugata said.

Sugata added that there are also other activities to be held at the venue to ensure that the whole family will have a wonderful experience during the weeklong event.

TMP informed that those far from Metro Manila can also enjoy the Toyota Caravan by visiting any of Toyota’s 15 provincial dealerships nationwide. Here they can also get up to P280,000 worth of discounts.

Several milestones

“This year has been filled with several milestones in corporate social responsibility, production and sales,” acknowledged Sugata, who promised to make this year’s biggest Toyota car sale one unforgettable family event.

Sugata is confident that this biggest TMP sales event will ensure TMP’s solid grip on the market. As of August 2012, TMP continues to dominate the industry with a 40.9-percent share of the market. TMP is optimistic that it will be able to sell a total of 62,000 units this year, a 13.6-percent increase from last year’s figure of 54,593 units.

With TMP selling the most number of units in each vehicle class, it would no longer be surprising if the Japanese brand will again capture the Triple Crown (11th), that is, for being No. 1 in overall sales, No. 1 in passenger cars and No. 1 in commercial vehicles.