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THEY
call it the City of
Temples.
With more than 200 Buddhist temples scattered in and
around the city, Bangkok is surely an ironic location to
announce a futuristic dream of an automobile
manufacturer. But then again, General Motors (GM) has
never been quite your run-of-the-mill thinker.
Last
week GM whisked off five Filipino motoring journalists
to Bangkok to attend the acclaimed 29th Bangkok
International Motor Show—quite a regular thing for GM or
other automobile manufacturers.
But the
auto show was quite special in the fact that GM
announced the beginning of their Centennial Celebration.
Yes, GM is already 100 years old this year. But unlike
most organizations that look back at what they have done
in the past, GM has chosen to look forward, see what is
up ahead and get there before the others do.
For
starters, GM unveiled Chevrolet’s newest alternative
fuel vehicle, the Colorado CNG, a pickup truck that runs
on compressed natural gas (CNG). This vehicle runs on
both CNG and diesel and can switch from one to the other
when necessary.
The
Colorado was developed in response to increasing demands
for an alternatively fueled vehicle in the light of
skyrocketing gas prices. It runs on 65-percent CNG and
35-percent diesel. “Throughout the history of our
organization it has been a leading pioneer in the
automotive industry and we continue to push the
boundaries when it comes to meeting the demands of the
next hundred years,” said Steve Carlisle, president of
GM Southeast Asia Operations Ltd. and Chevrolet
Thailand, about the Colorado.
Carlisle
also mentioned they intend to bring the Chevy Colorado
to the Philippines when the country is ready for CNG
fuel, much as they have done during the days when LPG
was the fad among fuel-conservation movements.
Of
course, after the
Colorado, GM turns around and announces the production and sales of
200 special units of the Chevrolet Captiva Centennial
White Edition finished in a coat of Metallic Pearl and
fitted with a matched side step bar to facilitate easier
vehicle entry. The Captiva will be available in the LT
version of 2.4- or 2-liter engine.
Chevrolet also displayed 18 other vehicles in the
Bangkok International Motor Show, including the Aveo,
Optra, Optra CNG, Optra Estate CNG and the original
Colorado.
What
strikes us most is that Chevrolet decided that the past
is one place to learn, but the company is now looking to
the future of mobility and how they can be of help not
only to the motoring public, but to the environment as
well.
“Chevrolet envisions a future where fossil fuel and
pollutants from automobiles will be a thing of the
past,”
Carlisle stressed.
Filipino
journalists, notably Aris Ilagan of the Manila Bulletin,
Charles Buban of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Lester
Dizon of the Philippine Star, Tito Hermoso of C!
Magazine and this writer were intensely interested in
the potential of the CNG engines considering that the
Philippines has the development of the Malampaya plant,
which could be a main source of CNG.
Carlisle
says they are ready to bring in the Colorado and Optra
CNGs to the country once the market has enough equipment
to support the vehicle in the Philippines. To date, we
only have one CNG station compared with the 200-plus
stations already in place in Bangkok.
Carlisle
also said GM and Chevrolet have plans to heavily invest
in the region, talking about bigger plants and assembly
lines to complement what they said is the continuous
growth in demand for their vehicle in the Asia-Pacific
region.
During
the auto show, the group was treated to a bevy of GM and
Chevy cars and their full potentials and taken on a true
test-drive around Bangkok, which has one of the most
notorious streets in Southeast Asia. But that is for
another story. |
