THE global automotive industry is undergoing what people in the business optimistically call “evolution,” but what any other rational observer would call a “disaster.” Rapid shifts in technology, changing attitudes towards environmental issues, politics, and self-destructive business practices are wreaking havoc on a sector that once seemed monolithic. While the impact of this is not yet being felt strongly in this country, the portents are grim. The automotive market is one of the few industrial sectors that the Philippines has put effort into developing, and it is risking have all its efforts be for naught if it does not quickly adapt.