Delta Motors Corporation

{{Short description|Automobile company from the Philippines}} {{About|the defunct Philippine car company|the defunct South African car company|Delta Motor Corporation}} {{Infobox company |name = Delta Motors Corporation |logo = |type = Private |fate = Dissolved following political disfavor<ref name="Doner">{{citation | title = Driving a Bargain: Automobile Industrialization and Japanese Firms in Southeast Asia | last = Doner | first = Richard F. | publisher = University of California | location = Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Oxford | page = [https://archive.org/details/drivingbargainau0000done/page/81 81] | year = 1991 | isbn = 0-520-06938-2 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/drivingbargainau0000done/page/81 }}</ref> |defunct = 1984 (dissolved in 1988) |founded = 1962 |hq_location_city = Manila |hq_location_country = Philippines |num_locations =  |key_people = Ricardo C. Silverio Sr. |area_served = Philippines |industry = Manufacturing, automotive industry |products = Automobiles, engines |successor = Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation (TMP) |parent = |footnotes = }}

'''Delta Motors Corporation''' was an automobile company established by Ricardo C. Silverio Sr. in the Philippines.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/853705/silverio-delta-motors-founder-ex-bulacan-lawmaker-dies-87 |title=Silverio – Delta Motors founder, ex-Bulacan lawmaker – dies, 87 |first=Carmela |last=Reyes-Estrope |work=Inquirer |location=Philippines |date=2016-12-14 |access-date=2023-09-30}}</ref> It operated under a technical tie-up with Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan,<ref name="D43">Doner, p. 43</ref> but also produced its own range of small off-roaders called the "Delta Mini Cruiser". Delta was founded in 1962 and continued to be Toyota's local assembler and distributor until 1984.<ref name=Toy75>{{cite web | url = http://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/75years/data/automotive_business/production/production/overseas/advancement/index.html | publisher = Toyota Motor Corporation | title = Activities by region: Asia: Philippines | work = 75 Years of Toyota | accessdate = 2014-10-04 }}</ref>

==History== In addition to assembling Toyotas 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/12-off-roaders-at-land-cruiser-heritage-museum/ |title=12 offbeat off-roaders at the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum |first=Ronan |last=Glon |work=Hagerty |location=US |date=2020-02-14 |access-date=2023-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124070336/https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/12-off-roaders-at-land-cruiser-heritage-museum/ |archive-date=2020-11-24}}</ref> It was developed in the mid-seventies especially for the Philippine Army as the M-1777, but was also sold commercially.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://bringatrailer.com/listing/delta-mini-cruiser/ |title=Delta Mini Cruiser |website=Bring a trailer |location=US |access-date=2022-12-31 |quote=Vehicle is customised but has an image of the id plate showing the chassis code as RJ2B, engine as 12RM and gearbox as GMC 4 SPD 5-38}}</ref>

The Mini Cruiser (sometimes called the Explorer) was even exported, to Colombia, Papua New Guinea, the Middle East and to Italy.<ref>Doner, p. 316</ref> In Italy, it was sold by Gandin Auto from 1980.<ref>{{Cite journal | editor = Marin, Gianni | title = A Torino passerella delle nostre passioni | trans-title = Our passions, on parade in Turin | author = Anselmi, Gian Piero | date = July–September 1984 | journal = Auto in Fuoristrada | volume = 3 | issue = 7 | pages = 43, 46 | publisher = Rusconi Editore | location = Milan | language = Italian }} <br>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 1587 cc four-cylinder (12R) with 69 PS, or the Isuzu C190 1951 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 2393 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).</ref> About 500 units were sold in Italy until supplies dried up in 1986, following Delta's untimely bankruptcy in 1984.<ref name="DMCsite">{{cite web | title = Delta Mini Cruiser | url = http://sites.google.com/site/deltaminicruiser/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131110174353/https://sites.google.com/site/deltaminicruiser/ | archive-date = 2013-11-10 | language = it }}</ref> The now rare Delta Mini Cruiser also became available as a two-seater pickup truck, estate, van, and as a five-seater jeep during the 1980s.

An interesting development was one of the first "Asian Utility Vehicles" (AUV), the Toyota Tamaraw.<ref name="TG">{{cite web |url=https://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/75years/text/entering_the_automotive_business/chapter2/section5/item6.html |title=Section 5. Production and Sales Systems Reinforced – Item 6. Reinforcement of Local Assembly Systems |publisher=Toyota |year=2012 |access-date=2023-08-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://malaya.com.ph/news_special_feature/toyota-motor-ph-celebrates-selling-over-2m-vehicles/ |title=Toyota Motor PH celebrates selling over 2M vehicles |first=Gregory E. |last=Bautista |work=Malaya Business Insight |location=Malaysia |date=2022-03-15 |access-date=2023-08-11}}</ref> 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. Toyota themselves refer to this car as a BUV, for "Basic Utility Vehicle". The BUV was intended to be a general-purpose vehicle for developing countries, designed to meet local needs and facilitate technology transfers in order to respond to the domestic production policies of various Asian countries. Philippine assembly began in December 1976.<ref name=Toy75/>

Delta also built Toyota's 12R engine from 1973,<ref name="TG"/> 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. [[File:Delta Mini Cruiser (Philippine Army).jpg|thumb|right|Long wheelbase Delta Mini Cruiser belonging to the Philippine Army]]

===The end=== Silverio fell out of favor with then Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos during the Philippine economic downturn in the early eighties.<ref name="Doner"/> Operations came to a halt in December 1983 and by March 1984, Toyota cancelled their tie-up. The company was dissolved in 1988, with 35% of its assets going to Toyota and Mitsui and the remaining 65% going to the Philippine National Bank.<ref name="D43"/> Toyota formally entered the Philippine market in August 1988 through its subsidiary Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation (TMPC).<ref name=Toy75/>

===Potential revival=== In meetings with Toyota representatives from Japan in February 2023, President Marcos Jr. suggested that the Mini Cruiser could be revived.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1194972 |title=PBBM eyes purchase of Japan-made vehicles for military use |first=Ruth Abbey |last=Gita-Carlos |work=Philippine News Agency |date=2023-02-11 |access-date=2023-08-11}}</ref>

The new Toyota Tamaraw was revived by Toyota officially on December 6, 2024.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/610303/toyota-tamaraw-what-we-know-about-this-next-generation-workhorse |title=Toyota Tamaraw: What we know about this next generation workhorse |first=Brian Mikhael |last=Judilla Ochoa |website=Cebu News Daily |date=2024-12-07 |access-date=2025-06-14}}</ref>

==Toyota models==

*Toyota Corolla *Toyota Corona *Toyota Cressida *Toyota Crown *Toyota Celica *Toyota Hiace *Toyota Land Cruiser *Toyota Starlet *Toyota Tamaraw *Toyota Townace *Toyota Hilux *Toyota Hilux Champ *Toyota DA-series truck (in Japanese) *Delta Mini Cruiser

==Basketball== The company was active in professional basketball in the Philippines from 1973 to 1983 with its Toyota basketball team,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.spin.ph/basketball/pba/toyota-pba-team-marks-50th-anniversary-with-grand-reunion-a1374-20230215 |title=Toyota's fabled PBA team marks 50th anniversary with grand reunion |author= |work=spin.ph |location=Philippines |date=2023-02-15 |access-date=2023-09-30}}</ref> led by notable players like Alberto Reynoso, Robert Jaworski, Francis Arnaiz and Ramon Fernandez.

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Car manufacturers of the Philippines Category:Motor vehicle assembly plants in the Philippines Category:Manufacturing companies based in Manila Category:Defunct manufacturing companies of the Philippines Category:Philippine subsidiaries of foreign companies Category:Former defense companies of the Philippines Category:Defunct privately held companies of the Philippines Category:Philippine companies established in 1962 Category:Philippine companies disestablished in 1988