Delta Motors Corporation

Delta Motors Corporation
Former type Private
Industry Manufacturing, automotive industry
Fate Political disfavor[1]
Successor Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP)
Defunct 1984
Headquarters Manila, Philippines
Area served Philippines
Key people Ricardo Silverio
Products Automobiles, engines

Delta Motors Corporation is a now defunct automobile company from the Philippines, formed by Ricardo Silverio. It operated under a technical tie-up with Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan,[2] but also produced its own range of small off-roaders called the "Delta Mini Cruiser".

History

In addition to assembling Toyota's for the local market, Delta also used their own name to market the "Mini Cruiser", a little off-roader appearing a lot like a scaled-down 40-series Toyota Land Cruiser and using Toyota engines and other technology. It was developed in the mid-seventies especially for the Philippine Army as the M-1777, but was also sold commercially. The Mini Cruiser (sometimes called the Explorer) was even exported, to Colombia, Papua New Guinea, the Middle East and to Italy.[3] In Italy it was sold by Gandin Auto from 1980.[4] About 500 units were sold in Italy until supplies dried up in 1986, following Delta's untimely bankruptcy in 1984.[5] An interesting development was one of the first "Asian Utility Vehicles" (AUV), the Toyota Tamaraw. This little utilitarian car was based on the Indonesian Kijang, and the "Tamaraw" name continues to be used in the Philippine market today, also becoming a colloquial term for any AUV.

Delta also built Toyota's 12R engine, the tools and die-sets for which were acquired through the Philippine National Bank (PNB) as part of Japan's war reparations to the Philippines.

The politically powerful Silverio fell out of favor with Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos during the Philippine economic downturn in the early eighties, and in 1984 the company was declared bankrupt.[1] The company was dissolved in 1988, with 35% going to Toyota and Mitsui and the remaining 65% going to the Philippine National Bank.[2] Philippine market Toyotas are now assembled and sold there by a wholly owned subsidiary called Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP).

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Doner, Richard F. (1991), Driving a Bargain: Automobile Industrialization and Japanese Firms in Southeast Asia, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Oxford: University of California, p. 81, ISBN 0-520-06938-2 
  2. ^ a b Doner, p. 43
  3. ^ Doner, p. 316
  4. ^ Anselmi, Gian Piero (July–September 1984). Marin, Gianni. ed. "A Torino passerella delle nostre passioni [Our passions, on parade in Turin]" (in Italian). Auto in Fuoristrada (Milan: Rusconi Editore) 3 (7): 43, 46. 
    Imported by Plan Motor Italia of Turin, the car was marketed by Gandin Auto in Treviso. The engines originally offered were a Philippine-built Toyota 1,587 cc four-cylinder (12R) with 69 PS, or the Isuzu C190 1,951 cc diesel engine with 63 PS. After a reintroduction and some changes first presented at the 1984 Expofuoristrada in Turin, the diesel was replaced by VM Motori's 2,393 cc "HR492" turbodiesel (100 PS) which was installed by the importer. 1984 prices ranged from 15,024,000 for 4AG-engined version to 19,972,000 lira for the turbodiesel (p. 163).
  5. ^ "Delta Mini Cruiser". http://sites.google.com/site/deltaminicruiser/. Retrieved 2011-12-22.