Through the years | What makes a good car design in the Philippines

If you’re ever around Facebook, every now and then you will come across a throwback picture on how Manila looked like in the 70s and 80s. Maybe you’ll find a comment or two about how traffic was so much better back then.

Some boomers might chime in on the clean air, and how people were so much more disciplined and then the odd political nut or two will bring up the never-ending battle of Marcos and Aquino 2 Electric Boogaloo. I’ll stop you right there because I don’t give a flying banana about your politics.

Remember when all the people had been potato cameras? Me Neither [Photograph by Jack Birns]

I always notice how people still pretty much dress and look like the same way, but more importantly how different the cars looked like. Is that a Yenko Camaro in our streets? Oh wow, I see Isuzu Geminis as taxi cabs, and I remember those Ford Fieras as my schoolbuses!

Whatever you will notice first one thing is for sure, cars sure looked different back then than how they are today. They looked awfully boxy and are relatively huge when compared to today’s cars.

The market’s tastes sure have changed over the years from the boxy look of 70s cars and then slowly shifting to more curvy and aerodynamic designs. What happened? Did people just unilaterally decide to ditch the old designs for new ones?

Every time I see a picture like this, I expect Paquito Diaz to come out of the cab driven by Dolphy

Car design is a subjective matter. One car model might be on a poster on a kid’s wall or on their phone somewhere, while another kid might think it is total trash. The same idea comes to car design.

A generation of cars typically lasts 5 to 7 years, and between those generations, advancements in manufacturing technology and even fuel crises have literally shaped the design of how cars looked over the years.

The memories these cars bring back are priceless

We’re going to take a look at the history of car design in the Philippines all the way from the roaring 70s to the current status quo. So take a ride with me as we open this time capsule on the evolution of car design in the Philippines and what makes a good car design.

The Funky 70s

The 1970s were a very interesting time in Philippine history, the Philippine economy was booming and there were a plethora of car brands in the country. The government initiative to build more roads to the provinces and improve city infrastructure pushed people to buy cars and companies were more than willing to provide us with the best they had to offer.

It was just in time too as the early 70s saw the need for curvier, more streamlined and smaller cars to help fuel economy. The 60s were dominated with large-bodied cars with heavy V8 engines but the Philippines really ate up smaller displacement cars.

The Dodge Colt proved that the Americans can make small cars, outside the US

With the likes of the Mitsubishi Lancer “L-Type” and the Dodge Colt leading the way, it offered families the ability to buy a good quality car with Euro Design but Japanese Quality.

American car brands still held a lot of clout with the local market so the Ford Escort was making its rounds in the boy-racer scene while the Australian Holden Torana executive coupe held the fort for Chevrolet.

Ford in its Hey Day Featured really desirable cars

These cars had curvy designs for aerodynamics, this was necessary to achieve stellar fuel economy. The world was still reeling from the 1973 OPEC crisis and we lapped these designs right up.

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Do the 80s Shuffle

The 80s were a tumultuous time for the Philippines but that did not stop our car-nut forebears to fall in love with a whole new generation of cars. Oil was so much cheaper now so car companies had the opportunity to make their car designs more aggressive and angular.

Inspired by American car brands and tv shows like Knight Rider, Starsky, Hutch, and Miami Vice, Filipino car enthusiasts were on the hunt for boxy cars to go with their shoulder pads and Seona Dancing hair.

To this day, the Lancer 2000 Turbo is a highly coveted machine

Leading the pack was the classic Box-type Mitsubishi Lancer and the smaller Mitsubishi Mirage. The Corolla DX and Corona Macho also got facelifts ditching their round headlight for boxy ones.

The Nissan Stanza also makes an appearance as well as the ubiquitous Isuzu Gemini. You really couldn’t go wrong with these cars as they all featured awesome body lines and sharp edges. Shot-clock cheesing was the Honda Civic making a brief appearance in 1989.

More than the AE86, the fastback Toyota DX was all 80s, all the time

There weren’t that many brands in the 1980s due to the conflict in the Philippines but it just proves that nothing can stop Filipinos from loving their cars.

>>> Also read: The Cellulose Nanofiber Concept car: A very modern car made out of wood

Getting Jiggy in the 90s

People pride themselves in calling themselves, all-out 90s kids. It was a decade of great technological advancement and unlimited promise as the cars back then were a mirror of things to come for the future. Many cars during this era ditched the boxy look and sought inspiration from the 70s.

Many people argue that the 90s was the era were the best car designs can be found. That is a major reach but I tend to agree with that statement as this was the time companies were free to experiment with their cars.

The Honda Civic epitomized the 90s for many car enthusiasts

>>> We feature a 90s Subaru Legacy BG5 "Project Baru"

Mitsubishi continued on with its dominance of the market with its Lancer. This generation saw 3 generations of Lancers embracing its Rally roots escalating to the more Gundam-esque Lancer Evolution.

Toyota had its Big Body and Love Life Corollas at this time, experimenting with combining curves and edges with the use of more malleable fiberglass and crash mitigation pressure points.

The Civic also showed everyone how it was done with the EG and EK generations, forever inspiring boy-racers to dress up their cars. The Sentra had its golden age in the 90s with the B13 and B14 filled to the brim with different technology.

Every 90s Boy Racer's Dream in one picture

Okay so I love 90s cars, I think their designs age well like fine wine. There are many examples of 90s style cars but these 4 car brands just showed everyone how it's done in the Philippines and we just lapped them all up.

Weird 2000s

At the dawn of the new millennium, many factors affected car design. A new set of oil price hikes spiked a barrel of oil worth $200. Older cars suddenly felt like clunkers and gas guzzlers.

Car companies also had to contend with all new regulations regarding collision safety for both occupants and pedestrians. They had to add rollover protection and interior space so the design was greatly affected.

Cars in the 00s grew in size exponentially

There may have been a negative effect in car design but this era still saw an evolution of sorts from the previous decade. The general design of the 90s was still retained but with noticeably larger a and c pillars. The Honda Civic dimension measured exactly the same as the EK civic but had more room.

Toyota added the word ALTIS next to the Corolla badge to herald its bigger and more luxurious dimensions. We also saw the dawn of smaller cars. While 90s cars had small cars too, companies brought them to the forefront to combat the high oil prices.

They gave more attention to the design of the Kia Picanto and Hyundai Getz giving them more Euro hot hatch flair and practicality.

>>> Get the best deals of cars in the 2000s right here!

Companies gave small cars the attention it deserves giving them proper design

The 2000s had an identity crisis of sorts when it came to car design but this means companies had more room to experiment with given the tools and restrictions they had at the time. There were more misses than hits, but those hits really sent the ball all the way out of the park.

Resurgent 2010s

With companies becoming more comfortable in their own creative and manufacturing skins, there were no limits to what they achieved in the 2010s. It was a mix of impeccable attention to detail and intricate designs.

We start to see sweeping lines across the bodywork, application of Daytime Running Lights and Projector style headlamps became the norm. Design details found only in the most expensive and best luxury cars in the past few decades trickled down to the lower-tiered cars and it was beautiful.

>>> Very informative: So Fancy! Top Luxury car brands in the Philippines

Show the Xpander to a guy in the 90s and watch them drool

Mitsubishi Introduced the Dynamic Shield Design, Hyundai-made waves with their fluidic sculpture while Mazda is dominating the design awards with their Kodo philosophy. Cars are sportier down from the angry looking Kia Picanto all the way to the futuristic Mitsubishi Montero Sport.

Even Chinese car brands are in on the game, Geely CoolRay, MG ZS, GAC GS8 and many more are all into the action. This is also the time we see the shift of the market away from small and low sedans to high riding Crossovers.

It makes sense as people give more regard to high riding cars and SUVs rather than sedans. I believe we live in the Golden age of designs.

Fluid and Funky Hyundai Leads the charge in the design

As the new decade dawns upon us, what design is in store for us? Tesla sure looks interesting but people seem to be putting their nose upon it. Then again, what do we know? 10 years from now most of our cars might look just like CyberTruck, we just don't know it yet.

>>> However, check out for 5 reasons why the Tesla Cybertruck is a NO-GO for us!

Would this be the design language of this decade?

What designs would you want to see prevail in the coming decade? Leave a comment down below and make sure that you follow Philkotse.com. Keep yourself posted for news, reviews, and insights on the local car industry and so much more.