Forever young
(First of a series)
For generations of Filipinos, the Toyota badge has been more than just a name on the grille of a car. It has been part of the family driveway, the first car driven to school, the vehicle used to start a business, the dependable companion on a long provincial journey, and, for many, the car that simply kept going long after newer models had come and gone.
Few automotive brands have become as deeply embedded in the Filipino mobility landscape as Toyota.
That legacy is reflected in the numbers. TMP achieved its first Triple Crown, leading the passenger car, commercial vehicle and overall vehicle markets back in 1994. It has gone on to maintain a remarkable run of market leadership, capturing its 24th consecutive Triple Crown in 2025. In August 2026, as Toyota Motor Philippines marked its 38th anniversary, the company was also targeting three million cumulative vehicle sales in the country.
But statistics only tell part of the story.
The more revealing story is found in the people who have lived with these cars. From business leaders, entrepreneurs, collectors and families whose own mobility journeys have unfolded alongside Toyota’s evolution in the Philippines.
Among them is businessman Wellington “Willy” Soong, a veteran of the Philippine luxury automotive industry whose career spans more than three decades. Soong became one of the country’s pioneers in the multi-brand luxury automotive business during the 1990s, navigating an industry that included some of the world’s most prestigious Italian and British marques through periods of economic upheaval and transformation.
Yet despite spending much of his professional life surrounded by exotic and luxury automobiles, Soong’s personal connection with Toyota is rooted in something far more fundamental: a car that simply works.
Soong’s relationship with Toyota goes back much further than his career in the luxury automobile business. “I started owning Toyotas from the ‘60s. My first was a Toyopet,” he recalls. Today, even after decades of exposure to some of the world’s most desirable automobiles, one of the Toyotas that remains with him is a 1996 Toyota RAV4 three-door, which he has owned since 1997.
His explanation for keeping it is remarkably uncomplicated. “A very simple, no-frills car to own and drive,” he says.
That description may sound almost understated coming from someone whose professional life has involved representing and dealing with luxury and performance automobiles. But perhaps that is precisely the point. The appeal of Toyota, for Soong, is not necessarily about the excitement of a new model or the prestige of a particular badge. It is about the confidence that comes from knowing a vehicle will do its job without demanding much in return.
His current Toyota ownership also reflects that philosophy. Soong just recently acquired a new Toyota Land Cruiser, which now serves as his daily driver, bringing his relationship with the brand full circle, from the Toyopet he remembers owning in the 1960s to a modern Land Cruiser more than half a century later.
For his everyday mobility, the qualities he values remain remarkably consistent: reliability and comfort.
The Toyota is not merely transportation in this context. It is the kind of vehicle that can quietly disappear into one’s routine precisely because it does what is expected of it. It gets driven, maintained and trusted, whether the destination is a business meeting, a family engagement or simply the day’s ordinary errands.
And that, perhaps, is one of the most enduring elements of Toyota’s appeal in the Philippines. “Ownership is hassle-free; reliability; comfort; durable and can last for decades,” Soong says.
There is an important distinction in those words. For someone who has spent decades in the automotive business, Toyota’s value is not necessarily measured by how dramatic the car is, but by how little drama ownership brings.
The 1996 RAV4 that Soong has kept since 1997 is itself a testament to that philosophy. Nearly three decades after he acquired it, the vehicle remains part of his automotive life. In an industry where models come and go and technology changes at an increasingly rapid pace, longevity becomes its own measure of quality.
Soong’s Toyota story also illustrates why the brand’s Philippine legacy cannot be explained solely through sales charts. Toyota has succeeded because it has repeatedly occupied that rare space between aspiration and practicality: a brand that can be a first car, a family car, a business tool, a workhorse, a collector’s piece—or, in Soong’s case, a trusted daily driver even after a lifetime spent around some of the world’s most prestigious automobiles.
His journey with Toyota stretches from the Toyopet of the 1960s to the RAV4 he has owned since 1997, and now to a new Land Cruiser. More than simply a history of cars, it is a reflection of how mobility itself changes with age, circumstance and success, while the fundamental desire for a vehicle that is dependable, comfortable and built to last remains remarkably constant.
