Delta Motor Corporation was a former automobile company established by Ricardo C. Silverio Sr. in the Philippines. It operated under a technical tie-up with

Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

of Japan,Doner, p. 43 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.

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. It was developed in the mid-seventies especially for the

Philippine Army The Philippine Army (PA) () is the main, oldest and largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), responsible for ground warfare. , it had an estimated strength of 143,100 soldiers The service branch was established on December ...

as the M-1777, but was also sold commercially. The Mini Cruiser (sometimes called the Explorer) was even exported, to

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, the Middle East and to Italy. In Italy, it was sold by Gandin Auto from 1980. About 500 units were sold in Italy until supplies dried up in 1986, following Delta's untimely bankruptcy in 1984. 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. 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. Delta also built Toyota's 12R engine from 1973, the tools and die-sets for which were acquired through the

Philippine National Bank The Philippine National Bank (PNB, ; ; Hokkien in the Philippines, Hokkien ) is a major Filipino bank based in Pasay in the Philippines. It was established by the Philippine government on July 22, 1916, during the Insular Government, America ...

(PNB) as part of Japan's war reparations to the Philippines.

The end

Silverio fell out of favor with then

Philippine president The president of the Philippines (, sometimes referred to as ) is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of the Philippine government and is the commander-in- ...

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

during the Philippine economic downturn in the early eighties. 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 is a Japanese corporate group and '' keiretsu'' that traces its roots to the ''zaibatsu'' groups that were dissolved after World War II. Unlike the ''zaibatsu'' of the pre-war period, there is no controlling company with regulatory power. Ins ...

and the remaining 65% going to the

. Toyota formally entered the Philippine market in August 1988 through its subsidiary Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation (TMPC).

Potential revival

In meetings with Toyota representatives from Japan in February 2023, President Marcos Jr. suggested that the Mini Cruiser could be revived. The new Toyota Tamaraw was revived by Toyota officially on December 6, 2024.

Toyota models

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly Subcompact car, subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has bee ...

Toyota Corona The is an automobile manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota across eleven generations between 1957 and 2001. On launch, the Corona was Toyota's second-highest product in their range, just below the Crown. The Corona was marketed in the ...

Toyota Cressida The is a compact, later mid-size sedan manufactured and marketed in Japan by Toyota between 1968 and 2004. Prior to 1972, the model was marketed as the Toyota Corona Mark II. In most export markets, Toyota marketed the vehicle as the Toyota C ...

Toyota Crown The is an automobile which has been produced by Toyota in Japan since 1955. It is primarily a line of mid-size luxury cars that is marketed as an upmarket offering in the Toyota lineup. In North America, the first through fourth generation ...

Toyota Celica The is an automobile produced by Toyota from 1970 until 2006. The Celica name derives from the Latin word ''wikt:coelicus, coelica'' meaning ''heavenly'' or ''celestial''. In Japan, the Celica was exclusive to ''Toyota Corolla Store'' Car deale ...

Toyota Hiace The (pronounced "High Ace") is a light commercial vehicle produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. First launched in October 1967, the HiAce has since been available in a wide range of body configurations, including a minivan/M ...

Toyota Land Cruiser The , also sometimes spelt as LandCruiser, is a series of four-wheel drive vehicles produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. It is Toyota's longest running series of models. , the sales of the Land Cruiser totalled more than 1 ...

Toyota Starlet The is a subcompact car manufactured by Toyota from 1973 until 1999, replacing the Publica, but retaining the Publica's "P" code and generation numbering. The first generation Starlet was sold as the Publica Starlet in some markets. In Japan ...

* Toyota Tamaraw * Toyota Townace *

Toyota Hilux The , stylised as HiLux and historically as Hi-Lux, is a series of pickup trucks produced and marketed by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The majority of these vehicles are sold as a pickup truck or cab chassis, although they coul ...

* Toyota Hilux Champ * Toyota DA-series truck (in Japanese) *

Delta Mini Cruiser Delta Motor Corporation was a former automobile company established by Ricardo C. Silverio Sr. in the Philippines. It operated under a technical tie-up with Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan,Doner, p. 43 but also produced its own range of small ...

Basketball

The company was active in professional basketball in the Philippines from 1973 to 1983 with its Toyota basketball team, led by notable players like

Alberto Reynoso Alberto C. Reynoso (May 14, 1940 – November 22, 2011), also known by his nickname "Big Boy" Reynoso, was a professional basketball player from the Philippines. During the 1960s to 1970s, Reynoso played in the amateur basketball tournament of t ...

Robert Jaworski Robert Vincent Salazar Jaworski Sr. (; born March 8, 1946), also known by his nicknames Sonny, Big J, and Jawo (), is a Filipino former professional basketball player, head coach and politician who served as a Senator of the Philippines fro ...

Francis Arnaiz Francis C. Arnaiz (born June 4, 1951) is a Filipino former basketball player. He is best known for his career in the PBA, playing for Toyota and Ginebra San Miguel from 1975 to 1986. Early basketball years Arnaiz had a love for sports and wou ...

and

Ramon Fernandez Ramon Sadaya Fernandez (; born October 3, 1953) is a Filipino former professional basketball player and current commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission. Fernandez won four PBA Most Valuable Player awards and a record of 19 PBA ti ...

References

{{Automotive industry in the Philippines Car manufacturers of the Philippines Motor vehicle assembly plants in the Philippines Manufacturing companies based in Manila Defunct manufacturing companies of the Philippines Philippine subsidiaries of foreign companies Defense companies of the Philippines Defunct privately held companies of the Philippines Philippine companies established in 1962 Philippine companies disestablished in 1988