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They say money can’t buy class. Well, for luxury carmaker Bentley, a little effort goes a long way as they aim to teach their customers how to live the “Bentley Life” — how to use and where to take their luxury cruisers so they won’t be spotted in places which might degrade the image of the “Flying B”.

When you buy into a company like Bentley you’re buying into a little more exclusivity than you get from many marques. Where one manufacturer might offer cheap branded merchandise alongside its vehicles, Bentley is going one better and offering customers and driving enthusiasts alike a series of ‘Grand Touring with Bentley’ holiday packages, traveling bespoke routes around the world on Bentley-themed luxury breaks. These routes take in some of the great drives in countries like the U.S, Great Britain, Italy and France, and others will be added in due course.

‘Secret Britain’ is the first of these tours, beginning with fine dining and hospitality in London before heading into the picturesque Cotswolds and on to Bentley’s facility at Crewe, with a private lunch afterward at Bentley Mews. ‘Guest of Chanel’ takes on a French route, aiming showcase the best of French culture, fashion, cuisine and hospitality inspired by the famous French fashion house. Vineyard tours and a trip into Paris, including a look at Coco Chanel’s private apartment, conclude the tour.

‘Italian Legend’ takes its inspiration from the Mille Miglia road race in Italy, and in particular, Stirling Moss’s famous victory at the race in 1955. The Bentley-devised route carefully follows that of the original road race with stop-overs in fine hotels and guided tours around some of Italy’s most famous monuments, including the Coliseum and the Sistene Chapel. The ‘Luxury of Spontaneity’ driving series is a more freeform take on the luxury break theme, with routes including a 130-mile tour around the Mediterranean island of Mallorca and a 745-mile trip from San Francisco to Las Vegas. Other drives in Oman, Australia, Malaysia, Scotland and Canada will join the roster soon.

The tours aren’t cheap–listed in U.K. prices, the Italian Legend tour will set you back over $7,400 per person based on two people sharing a room and ‘Guest of Chanel’ is over $16,000 for a couple.

And now we wonder — will PGA Cars, the local distributor of Bentley, follow the same route?

The government seems really bent on changing the landscape of the Philippine roads.

After announcing a series of construction including that of Skyway, a report surfaced that the new license plates will be implemented. If this story sounds familiar, you are not mistaken – it was already announced previously but was delayed due to technical problems.

But now, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) said the new series of license plates will be issued starting June or July this year. To refresh everyone’s memory, this is not only for aesthetic purposes, but to impose safety features to benefit motorists, motorcyclists and public utility vehicle drivers.

License plates for motor vehicles will now have three control letters and four digits such as LTO-1234, while motorcycle plates will have two control letters and five digits such as AA-12345. Plates for public utility vehicles will have three control letters and four digits plus their routes.

The new plates will also have safety features such as a laser-engraved logo at the back of the plate, and a bar code to check if the plates match vehicles they are assigned to. LTO head Virginia Torres said one major security feature is a plate lock that renders the license plate unusable if one tries to forcibly remove it.

As to the reality of having this implemented (finally), LTO said it has started the process of sending invitations to bid to prospective manufacturers. If this will reach the June/July deadline – barely two or three months from now – that’s what we’ll find out soon.

Covered by the new series of license plates are some 7.7 million registered vehicles in the country. Fifty three percent of these are motorcycles.

Do you think changing the license plates is timely, considering the ongoing developments on the road? Share with us your thoughts, mga Kapuso. – with reports from GMA News

 

Known for its commitment to precision, accuracy and form, Volvo has launched the Perfect Drive in 2013, a series of tournament participation in various golf events across the country.

To kick off this year’s activities, the car company partnered with Mizuno for the Mizuno Scramble Golf Classic for the back-to-back golf events held last February 15 and 16, 2014 at Valley Golf and Country Club, Antipolo and the Orchard Golf and Country Club at Cavite. Winners for the Perfect Drive hole went home with the latest Premium Mizuno Yoro Craft Golf Bag.

In addition to showcasing the most accurate drive in each tournament, the Volvo Perfect Drive is also the company’s way of thanking current Volvo owners through providing complimentary Valet Service every tournament as well as providing reserved parking slots for those who would bring their Volvos to the event.

Volvo’s Perfect Drive simply reinforces the attributes of power, precision and perfect form both in the fairway and the highway. These same attributes are what you’ll appreciate whenever you get behind the wheel of any of the new breed of Volvo vehicles.

To know more about exclusive ownership options, visit Volvo Makati, Volvo Alabang, Volvo North EDSA or Volvo Cebu dealerships.

 

While every car manufacturer is going for market share, Ferrari is doing the exact opposite – they limit their global sales output to only 7,000 units per year. To put into local perspective, that’s less than the average monthly – repeat, monthly – sales of Toyota in the Philippines.

After reaching ‘Peak Ferrari’ in 2012 with a record 7,318 sales, the Italian brand decided to limit sales in order to boost exclusivity and in the process help protect margins and residual values for customers.

Ferrari has now revealed that it sold 6,922 cars in 2013, which was down 5.4 percent on 2012’s figure. Despite the decrease in sales, revenue actually rose 5 percent on the previous year at around $3.16 billion. The company also ended 2013 with $1.87 billion in the bank, its highest net cash position ever.

No wonder British research firm Brand Finance named Ferrari the world’s most powerful brand for the second year in a row, putting it ahead of much larger firms such as Apple and Google. The brand rating not only takes into account financial metrics, such as average revenue per customer and investment, but also a complex array of other parameters, including brand affection and loyalty, client management and human resources.

Going for quality sales instead of quantity ain’t a bad thing, it seems. And this is why the most expensive vehicle in the planet right now is a 1964 Ferrari 250 GTO which sold at $52M in a recent auction.

While they already have presence in the Philippine roads, Chinese car brands still endure the stigma of low quality among motorists. However, in the recent turn of events in the global arena, perhaps it is time to stop underestimating the Chinese carmakers.

This week, PSA Peugeot Citroen and China’s Dongfeng have agreed a capital tie-up amounting to more than $4 billion that brings the troubled French carmaker new leadership, more time to turn its business around and an end to two centuries of family control.

Peugeot, Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd and the French government have signed a non-binding outline agreement, China’s second biggest carmaker. Under the memorandum of understanding, Dongfeng and the French state will each pay about $1.10 billion for a 14 percent stake in a reserved share sale and a rights issue, Dongfeng said in a statement published on the Hong Kong stock exchange website.

The rescue deal and an expected new lending partnership with Banco Santander will help Peugeot survive the expiry next year of 7 billion euros in state guarantees keeping its lending arm afloat.

Dongfeng is not the first Chinese carmaker to end up the hero. Zhejiang Geely Holding bought Sweden’s Volvo Car in 2010 and SAIC Group acquired South Korea’s SSangyong.

Peugeot has limited market penetration in Southeast Asia. Last year it sold about 6,500 cars in Malaysia, its biggest regional market, accounting for just one percent of that country’s car sales, according to research firm LMC Automotive.

Will this deal trickle down to our market and see Eurobrands, Peugeot’s distributor in the Philippines, merge with Dong Feng? There are several dealerships of the Chinese brand here already. Let’s see what happens.