8 TOP GEAR PHILIPPINES WWW.topgear.com.ph
ritish invasion. What
does the hashtag
on our cover mean?
Obviously, it refers to
the influx of British car
brands in our market.
Before this year, we already had the likes
of Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini—as well
as Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Morgan, three
automotive marques from the UK that all
arrived in 2013. And this year, the three-
brand haul two years ago sees a repeat as
Aston Martin, Lotus and MG are launched.
All in all, we now have an impressive total
of nine English car brands in our market!
That tally easily beats the Germans
(Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche
and Volkswagen), the Italians (Ferrari,
Lamborghini and Maserati), the Koreans
(Hyundai and Kia), the Americans
(Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford and
Jeep), the Indians (Mahindra and Tata),
and the other Europeans (Peugeot and
Volvo). Sorry, not counting the Chinese
anymore (we, too, are confused).
Only the Japanese have as many
representatives in the Philippines (Honda,
Isuzu, Lexus, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan,
Vernon B. Sarne Editor in Chief
There are a lot of
things they didn’t
tell me when they
were interviewing
me for this job.
I didn’t know I’d be up in the wee
hours editing layouts and checking
proofs. I wasn’t informed I’d spend
a good deal of time under the sun
attending to shoots. I was also not
aware I’d have to go to so many
motoring events with so much
food. Clearly, I didn’t know what I
was getting myself into.
But they also didn’t tell me I’d
get to coordinate shoots for the
most beautiful cars. I wasn’t briefed
that I’d do a lot of traveling to
amazing places. I didn’t imagine I’d
meet the most astonishing car nuts
and motoring execs. I also didn’t
know I’d have to be more receptive
to new ideas and challenges until I
became part of this team.
Take, for example, this month’s
issue. Putting together a British
Issue seemed like an impossible
feat in a country like ours. Yes,
it would be cool to have these
awesome cars in the magazine,
but we’d be hard-pressed to find
vehicles for each section. It hardly
seemed feasible—given our tight
production sked—to pull off an all-
British car lineup. Or so I thought.
But here I am now, waiting for
the EC130 T2 chopper to take
off so we can get our money shot
featuring kick-ass Lotus sports cars.
Meanwhile, other members of our
team are in Taiwan taking on the
twisties and enjoying the drive in
the mind-blowing Aston Martin
Vanquish and Rapide S. Not bad
for our first British Issue, right?
These are just some of the
things I would have missed out on
if I had already known everything.
For sure, the unknown still scares
me, but if it makes way for surprises
like the ones I just mentioned,
ignorance may be a blessing.
InsIde
Track
The view from a staffer’s desk
Stephanie aSi-De CaStRO
ManaGinG eDitOR
‘all in all, we now
have an impressive
total of nine British
car brands in our
market. That’s a lot!’
SParK PLUG
Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota). Ours remains
to be a predominantly Japanese car market.
So if you had told us five years ago there
would soon be as many British car makes in
our market as Japanese ones, we would have
dismissed you as a joke (you, not just the
assertion). Of course, we’re talking of vastly
different sales volumes between the Brits
and the Nippons, but just to have as many
choices available to us is pretty astounding.
To celebrate this incredible industry
phenomenon, we present to you our first
(and possibly only) British Issue. I really
hope you’ll appreciate this month’s edition,
as our whole team went to great lengths
producing it. It’s not easy filling every single
one of our pages with a UK-brand vehicle.
But we pulled it off, apparently.
How successful are the British marques
going to be in the Philippines? Not entirely
sure, although I hope they’ll stick long
enough to provide me with a smorgasbord of
choices for when I finally hit the lottery.
I had my first taste of British invasion
when I was small. Those four lads to the left
of this paragraph got me hooked on their
music. They haven’t eased up on the spell.
I wish all the British carmakers the same
kind of longevity in our market.
B
this iconic abbey
Road photo of the
Beatles is what
comes to mind
when you mention
‘British invasion’