The Innova is definitely not a vehicle we would consider to be interesting.
That's not to put the Innova down, but this ever-reliable and ever-dependable Toyota MPV has become such a ubiquitous sight on our roads. The thing is we didn't realize just how ubiquitous it is until we visited a local car group on social media.
The Facebook group “Interesting Car Spotting PH” has been all about taking snaps of different cars all around the country. From Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Porsches to classic American muscle cars and even 90's Japanese sports cars, there's a good variety of vehicles being spotted driving around on local roads.
But if you look closer at a lot of the photos, you may see something lurking in the background: a Toyota Innova. Yes, Toyota's MPV has become quite the photobomber on social media, and spotting one has become a game of sorts.
Sometimes the Innova is obvious, like just beside the vehicle being snapped like the one of the white Porsche 911 GT2 RS. Sometimes the Innova is there in the background tucked behind traffic like in the shot of the gray widebody Mazda MX-5.
Sometimes you have to really zoom in like in the photo of the 911 Targa at Clark. In one instance, the guy snapping a picture of a supercar meet claimed there was no Innova, but there was a red one with its roof visible just behind.
The Toyota Innova was first launched in the Philippines in 2005 as the successor to the Toyota Revo and Tamaraw FX line of AUVs.
The Innova is built at Toyota's plant in Santa Rosa, Laguna, and is consistently one of the best-selling vehicles in the country for the last two generations. Don't be surprised then if you take a photo of a nice car, but there's an Innova there somewhere.
This group is all in good fun, of course. And because a lot of us have been in a (sort of) lockdown, it provides us car enthusiasts with some good ol' home-based social media fun. Below are some more of the images from the group. Keep 'em coming guys.