Sarao Motors

Sarao Motors, Inc. is a Filipino automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Las Piñas, Metro Manila, specializing in designing, engineering, manufacturing and distributing the jeepney. It was established in 1953 by Leonardo Sarao, a former kalesa driver turned mechanic, as a small automotive shop with an initial budget of 700 pesos, and grew into a multimillion corporation that produced most of the jeepneys in the Philippines. Wikipedia says that at its peak its jeepneys outnumbered other brands in Manila by almost seven to one. A Sarao jeepney was shown at the Philippine pavilion of the 1964 New York World's Fair, and in 1971 one travelled from Manila to London as part of the London-Manila Express. Rising costs forced a halt to jeepney production in 2000, cutting the workforce from 300 to 50, and the company later resumed on a smaller scale.