For most of us, the jeepney continues to be the “king of the road”.
Back in the day, when we think of jeepney, it automatically follows that we think of the Sarao jeepney.
Sarao Motors is a Pinoy company that manufactures jeepneys. It started as a small car shop in 1953. Entrepreneur Leonardo Sarao, a mechanic and a former calesa driver, was the man behind it. From an initial budget of P700, Sarao Motors turn into a multi-million business venture. In its heyday, the ratio of Sarao jeepneys rolling the streets of Manila outnumbered other names by nearly 7 to 1. Hence, Sarao became synonymous with the jeepney.
Recently, Enoch Gabriel Gonzales shared with us his designs for the new Sarao. His designs are memorable of retro style SUVs like Hummer and FJ Cruiser.
Here’s what he told WhenInManila.com:
I really love designing cars. It has been my passion ever since I was young. I have made designs for different cars for different brands, but the jeepney has never been on my list. Few years back, when I was in college (by the way, I studied Industrial Design in UST), I have attempted to make designs for it, but it failed every single time, I even thought of using it as the topic for my thesis. It was only this year when I started taking it seriously. I started this project way back in February 2016. I took me 10 months to finish the whole exterior design.
I thought of every way on how to make a modern interpretation of the jeepney, while keeping it recognizably a jeepney as much as possible. I kept the design cues of the iconic car, like the short gap between the circular headlights, long window for the rear passengers, boxy shape, almost-vertical windshield and most of all, the proportions (I almost put a spare-tire on the driver’s side, but I decided to scrap it in the end). The size is similar to midsize SUVs like the Toyota Fortuner, and Mitsubishi Montero Sport. This design could take on popular retro-inspired cars like the Jeep Wrangler, Toyota FJ Cruiser, and Hummers.
Check out his designs below:
See more of his Sarao designs here.
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