The Toyota Tamaraw: A truly Pinoy beast of burden
Although the carabao has long been renowned as a vital companion in the country’s sadly underdeveloped agricultural sector, its close relative hasn’t been so fortunate.
Decades of habitat loss, hunting and disease have sent the tamaraw population plummeting to critically endangered levels, thus leading to considerable conservation efforts for this Philippine-endemic creature.
However, the Tamaraw is a much-beloved beast of burden of the four-wheeled variety – the latest iteration of this iconic Toyota model was launched in the Philippines last December 2024, continuing a decades-long tradition of tireless service to the Filipino people.
This is a refreshing change to the bad reputation that cars (particularly high-end ones) have gained recently, largely from disgraced public officials who plundered our money for their endless greed and to flaunt their impunity. Indeed, Tamaraw owners like Jayson Mallari prove that being honest and hardworking still reaps rewards.
From 3 to 1
Armed with sheer determination, Mallari scrimped and saved to buy his brand-new Tamaraw Utility Van for his delivery business from the Toyota San Jose Del Monte dealership in Bulacan.
“I deliver frozen chickens to markets,” he told Inquirer Mobility in an exclusive interview.
“Ever since I got it, I have been using it almost every day,” Mallari added. “My Tamaraw has been a huge help because I only need to go back to the chicken plant once instead of three times with my old car. I save so much time and I’m not so tired when doing my job.”
History of uplifting Filipinos
Mallari’s story is the latest in the Tamaraw’s mission to help Filipinos, particularly small-to-medium entrepreneurs.
The first Tamaraws appeared on Philippine roads in the 1990s as the localized version of the Toyota Kijang Asian Utility Vehicle. Many of us who grew up in that era remember these tough, boxy vehicles serving as high-capacity taxis (also known as the “FX taxi,” the predecessor of the modern-day UV Express), school buses, police cars and light commercial haulers.
The latest-generation Tamaraw that was launched last year is based on the Toyota IMV-0 platform and aims to fill largely the same roles. Buyers can choose from a bevy of customizable models, ranging from short-wheelbase (SWB) dropside trucks to long-wheelbase (LWB) food trucks and mobile stores.
All SWB models are powered by a 2.0-liter, twin-cam, 16-valve, inline-4 gasoline engine producing 137 horsepower and 183 Newton-meters of torque, which are coursed through a 5-speed manual transmission.
Meanwhile, the LWB variants pack a 2.4-liter, twin-cam, 16-valve, inline-4 turbodiesel engine that is mated to either a 5-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic gearbox. It pumps out 148 horsepower and 343 Newton-meters of torque (400 Newton-meters for the automatic).
Proudly Pinoy-made
And now, the Tamaraw is expected to not only help Filipino businesses, but also to uplift the Philippine economy.
This comes after Toyota Motor Company invested P5.5 billion last year to build the Tamaraw at the Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) manufacturing plant in Santa Rosa, Laguna. This is on top of the ongoing local production of the best-selling Vios subcompact sedan, courtesy of the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy Program that kicked off in 2015.
“Now, we have the new Tamaraw which has again been redesigned for the modern environment,” said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in October 2024 following a meeting with TMP officials in Malacanang.
“And with all of the new technologies that Toyota has developed, incorporated into a design that is specifically made for the Philippine condition,” he added. “The Tamaraw has been synonymous with reliability. It is a vehicle that has transported many of our people from home to their destinations, to school, to work.”
TMP is also doing more than just reviving a name – it is supporting the Tamaraw Conservation Program that was set up by the government in 1979 to remove the tamaraw from the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s critically endangered species list.
Even with all the great things that the Toyota Tamaraw has brought forth to our country, it’s the experience of honest entrepreneurs like Jayson Mallari that show that the Tamaraw’s “Abante, Posible” tagline goes beyond just catchy advertising.
“Thank you to Toyota for putting your trust in me so that I could buy my Tamaraw,” he said. “I would especially like to thank Ms. Mary Jane of Toyota San Jose del Monte for helping me find a partner for my business.”
