At the ongoing 2018 Philippine International Motor Show, Honda Cars Philippines has a nice little surprise for its fans, and it comes in the form of the Small RS Concept which the Japanese automaker first displayed at the Indonesia International Motor Show earlier this year. It’s a head-turning car, we admit, but it wasn’t this diminutive hatchback that caught our attention during the brand’s media presentation on opening day.

The most noteworthy part of company president Noriyuki Takakura’s speech—at least for us—was the announcement that the BR-V seven-seater subcompact SUV will now be assembled at Honda’s manufacturing facility in Santa Rosa, Laguna, starting in November.

This means that the BR-V will officially become the second Honda car to be built in the country, after the City subcompact sedan. In 2017, its first full year in the Philippine market, the BR-V was the second-best-selling Honda car in our territory with 7,212 units (only the City sold more with 9,430 units). So it makes good business sense on the part of Honda to bring the BR-V’s production to our shores.

The prices for the BR-V will remain the same even after its production has been brought to the country, according to HCPI corporate affairs head Louie Soriano, who has assured VISOR that Philippine-made units will be exactly identical to those produced in Thailand.

Hooray for more jobs!