Motoring Journalist gets beten up

GreatBop

kahapon sa dyaryo there was an article.. ( i think it was in bulletin) where top gear's editor got beaten up during a laucnhing of some vehicle...

and the only name hinted was nexxus. anybdy have an idea what this is? i tried googling, nothing came up.
lol

i thought it was mitsubishi, pero wala.

m_ke2

That big, ugly incident
BUSINESS & LEISURE By Ray Butch Gamboa
The Philippine Star 03/04/2006

All motoring journalists are up in arms about the mayhem that took place a few days ago involving a couple of young motoring journalists.

Though invited to the event, I could not go because of previous commitments, but several colleagues from the print media, and even my own television crew were there. Following is the sequence of events, as I could piece them from accounts of those who were actually there, and related herewith as factually as I can best ascertain, and with no personal color to taint the viewers’ opinions.

Vernon Sarne, editor-in-chief of well-known Top Gear Magazine and newspaper motoring columnist, wrote a long article on the about to be launched Nexus in his column Hard Top in the Manila Times on Feb. 28, 2006. Nexus is the brand name of the light commercial vehicles from China to be distributed by Auto Prominence Corp. Incidentally, the launch of the Nexus was scheduled for that same day, Feb. 28, at the company’s showroom in Makati.

Vernon wrote lengthily about the Nexus. Some of the concerns he raised included "sport designs which are hardly original."Vernon wrote "The Hover SUV, for instance, bears a striking resemblance to Isuzu’s Axiom…. The Deer looks like the last generation Toyota Hilux, the Sailor looks like the Nissan Frontier, and the Cocool looks like the Isuzu D-Max with the grille of the Mitsubishi Strada. That’s what you call ‘inspirational engineering’".

Vernon went on to say that, with our "Filipino roads", the Nexus may be a "dubious concoction that may not pass the test of durability." Vernon also singled out the distributor’s two-year/50,000 kilometer warranty, "at a time when three-year/100,000 kilometer warranty deals are already the norm" making the new vehicles’ reliability and durability suspect. But he does concede that the "extremely low price tags" of the Nexus could spell the difference for them, considering that Filipino consumers are known to be extremely price-conscious.

After enumerating the three sport utility vehicles available at the launch that day, and even mentioning the contact numbers that the public may call in case they were interested in the brand, Vernon signed off the column with this: "Would I consider buying a Chinese vehicle? Let’s just say I still have to completely shed my bias against Korean brands – to think that they are already nearly comparable to the Japanese."

Those who have read Vernon’s column can readily ascertain that the above comprise the essence of what Vernon wrote about the Chinese brand Nexus.

That evening, having been invited to the launch, Vernon, together with Aris Ilagan of Manila Bulletin, Ira Panganiban of Metroaction Magazine, Dong Magsajo of Philippine Star, and other colleagues from media attended the event. At the showroom, Aris and Vernon were discussing the features of the vehicles. When Aris asked Vernon which company assembles the Nexus vehicles, Vernon replied that it was the Great Wall Motor Co. of China, at which juncture a man, believed to be an officer of Auto Prominence Corp., challenged Vernon’s reply. According to witnesses, the guy, asked by Vernon for his calling card, said "why? Is it because you are going to misquote me also? Is this really your job to destroy people and companies?"

At this juncture, Aris, Dong, Vernon and Ira headed toward the door at the behest of Aris who said "let’s get out of here because we are not welcome here."

Before leaving, however, at the invitation of the PR consultant for the event and out of due respect for the host, Vernon went to see Mr. Paul Rodriquez, president of Auto Prominence Corp. to say goodbye. In the course of the conversation, Vernon informed us that Mr. Rodriquez demanded that Vernon take back his comments about the APC and the Nexus vehicles and that Vernon refused. It was at this point that a young man butted in and called Vernon "bobo". Vernon told him to watch his language. Apparently, Vernon did not know that the young man was Paul’s son Paulo.

Dong narrates that at that point, he and Ira were waiting for Vernon outside the showroom, and when they saw Vernon being pushed by Paul, and saw other people joining in on the altercation, they both approached the group – Ira to pacify the guys who were about to accost Vernon, and Dong to talk to Paul to cool him down. However, blows started raining on the three, and it was Ira Panganiban who took the brunt of the blows. Ira sustained a cut on his upper lip and bruises on his face and body. Vernon also fearfully narrated to us that when the melee died down Paul told him, "You don’t know us. I can put a bullet in your head right now. You should be glad you only sustained those injuries."

The three journalists proceeded to the Southern Police district at Fort Bonifacio to file a complaint against Rodriguez and his men.

That is as factual as anyone can get out of the combined witnesses accounts and police report and I have doubts if anyone can challenge these. There have been attempts to have a personal account about the incident from Mr. Rodriguez himself for a balanced view, but as it turned out he was reported to have gone on a trip to Europe the next day after the incident.

Journalism has become such a powerful tool. It is the consumers’ sounding board, and any respectable journalist worth his salt calls a spade a spade, whether this sits well with his subjects or not. We who take our job seriously also take the responsibility that goes with it just as seriously. It is our duty to consumers to give the big picture as we see it.

As this goes to print, motoring journalists’ groups have been meeting to discuss the repercussions of the incidents I have just related here. Some consensus will have been reached before this comes out. I guess you guys will just have to wait till the next column to find out. One thing is certain though, they’re not going to let it pass like just another day.

And I always thought motoring journalists do not face such violent risks.

From: Philippine Star - http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200603040707.htm

GreatBop

LoLoL!!!!!!

well i guess that just shows the class that Rodriguez brings to the table.

I thought it was the next Mitsu AUV and Pickup... yun pala made in china lang.. pfft.

altec chancing

Any website regarding the vehicle mentioned? I'd like to check out the specs.

I feel its unfair for anyone to write anything and assume without testing it for a reasonable time. Though it's made in china, FYI, almost every product are manufactured in China - Nike, adidas, computer components, keyboards, speakers, parts, etc.

But, "No to Violence".

ichi

What he wrote are obervations of the products APC was selling.

antonlc

big mistake, to do that to journalists. with behavior like that, makes me think that it's right for them to lose the Audi marque.

altec chancing

I think the journalist ought to hire a professional driver and then comment based on professional test results. This way, walang bias.

Professional testings are where the fun really is. The car is driven by a professional driver and have the car subjected to torture test. Skid it, step on the brakes hard, a fast corner, run it on pot holes, off road it, redline it, whatever and then you can conclude.

NeonBlade

http://www.gwm.com.cn/eng/index.asp

The Nexus units are made by these guys.

Mikoid

My two cents:

1) I don't agree with Vernon's writing an article without doing a road test. That's the kind of speculation you'd expect from people like us in a forum, but not from a well-respected and potentially influential motoring journalist.

2) However, what Mr. Rodriguez did by having this guy beat up and threatening to put a bullet in his head was just utterly WRONG.

If these rumors are true, then I hope he doesn't sell a single vehicle.

What these business folks (and the present government) don't realize is that information is so utterly democratized nowadays. By brutally trying to quash one voice this Mr. Rodriguez has opened the floodgates of negative commentary in his direction.

Positive PR is the cheapest way to try and sell a car. With the motoring journalists angry at him, how's he going to get good PR for his efforts?

shun_sakurai

Both hotheads need some time in solitary, that's what I think.

Methinks there's more to this than what the newspapers and rumors are saying.

altec chancing

I like the design of the CUV hover. Not bad. It looks like a cross between a Montero and Lexus SUVs.

How much is this anyway? Any price list?

If this is cheap, it's worth it naman.

NeonBlade

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/mar/07/yehey/business/20060307bus16.html

Vernon's article today

altec chancing

Reality is, too many journalist today get killed. I still don't get it why you need to get beat up or take a bullet for a "made in china" car.

Just be safe and turn the other cheek nalang.

heightdeprived

to my surprise, the cars made by great wall have striking resemblance ot the vehicles mentioned by vernon, saka on the other hand, it's just an opinion, a feedback on the first look at the vehicle, judging it by looks, one does not necessarily need to test drive the unit, all that was told in the article is about the way how their cars look and I don't think the performance of the vehicles were misjudged, IMHO lang

kireigonjin

I read Mr. Sarne's article and I don't find anything wrong with it because it's his column, therefore should be taken with a grain of salt. In a column, a writer states his personal opinion, as well as fact.

However, in his article concerning what transpired, Mr. Sarne kept refering to the "truth". This "truth" thing in media, IMHO, is abused. While he was being honest about his opinion, I don't think that judging the car without driving it first can be called "truth". I don't know about the others, but I certainly can't say that a car will perform badly in our roads just because it's made in China or because it has shorter warranty. I have to drive it first. I can say it as an opinion, but I can't refer to it as truth.

I think the readers are smart enough to dissect the opinion of the writer from what is perceived as true.

Having said that, people like Mr. Paul Rodriguez should be put in his place. His acts are despicable. He just buried Nexus to the grave.

Papichulo168

I can just imagine a person buying one of their cars then coming back in a few months later to claim warranty for repairs only to be told....

"You don’t know us. I can put a bullet in your head right now."

rational

I think we're giving too much to the viewpoint that he should not have written a negative review without driving the car. But, if you look at what he commented on, he commented on styling and the short warranty. You don't really need to drive a car to comment on those.

The Rodriguezes must really be stupid. I, for one, would never have heard about the negative review if it hadn't been for this incident. Now, everyone will hear about it. The best they could have done was reply and point out something like, "No car is perfect but inspite of the negatives you pointed out (styling is subjective anyway), it is still a good car because..... (insert positives here)."

Hay naku.... Such immature people.

kireigonjin

Actually, Mr. Sarne questioned Nexus' quality and durability, so yeah, I think he needs to test drive the thing before he says anything about quality at least:

According to APC, Nexus or GWM vehicles were developed with an “Asian fusion” concept, featuring Japanese engines, Korean chassis, Malaysian electronics, and Chinese body, parts and components. Wow. Combine these with “Filipino roads” and you have a dubious concoction that may not pass the test of durability.

It is thus safe to say that APC faces the daunting task of building a credible image for this brand—something I can’t fully trust it to accomplish. I mean, seriously, this distributor has had a formidable stable of much stronger brands in its storied past. If it couldn’t succeed selling the likes of Alfa Romeo, Audi, Volkswagen or even Proton, I can’t imagine how it hopes to make a Chinese brand take off.

But then again, Nexus vehicles naturally come with extremely low price tags, considering that they’re Chinese. Filipino consumers being price-conscious, expect this brand to get lots of serious inquiries. The one thing immediately going against Nexus, however, is its two-year/50,000-kilometer warranty. At a time when three-year/100,000-kilometer warranty deals are already the norm, Nexus’ warranty offer casts a big question mark on its quality.

As for Mr. Rodriguez, he should have offered a test drive to Mr. Sarne to shut him up. That is, if he's that confident about the Nexus.

BOOGIECAT

By the way hindi lahat ng Nexus cars ay Great Wall,yung Hover CUV lang the rest ay galing sa Gonow Automobiles:

http://www.gonowauto.com/english/

At Fuqi Automobiles ng China:

http://www.hxfqmotor.com/english/index.htm

Si Sarne talagaa hindi nagresearch ng mabuti at banat ng banat kaya binantan!

altec chancing

Thanks for the link. So 3 companies are distributing these vehicles.

I think these vehicles are more of a "clone pc" brand, so to speak. You ask a manufacturer to assemble the car for you, and you slap your logo on the car. The interesting thing here is, all the parts comes from different companies - the transmission, the engine, the brakes, radiator, chasis, seats, axles, etc., and delivered to one location, the assembly factory. The assembly factory has the option to order parts which is made in Japan, made in Germany, or made in China.

And, I'm not surprised, the body really resembles 90% Isuzu Axiom. lolz.

Take a look:





Well, I do hope they can also assemle a clone BMW or a Porsche Boxter. Wow.. imagine... the price.... I've read somewhere that these vehicles cost 40% less than the Japanese cars.

slamm

Can't help but look at the opinion of Vernon Sarne since Korean cars just started making their mark in quality a short time ago... and this still doesnt speak for all Korean car manufacturers. What the more with a China-made vehicle? Two years and 50,000kms is indeed passe already in this time and age.

The Rodriguezes used to be the distributors for Audi in the Phils BTW... they too have cases running now with that.