Why does BYD not top local sales reports despite the obvious?
Vehicle sales data for the first half of 2026 have come out, and multiple automotive brands are flexing their performance left and right. There’s Jetour Auto Philippines that announced that it topped local plug-in hybrid (PHEV) sales, then there’s MG Motor Philippines that’s proud that it maintained its eighth place ranking.
READ: PH automotive sales at 204K as of 1H 2026, electrified segments up by 132%
A cause of debate now is on Tesla Philippines ranking first in local battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales instead of BYD Cars Philippines, with keyboard warrior social media users accusing us and other motoring publications as peddlers of fake news, having accepted bribes, and publishing inaccurate reports, among others.
Well, as much as we’d love an extra bit of moolah, all our sales report articles are as accurate as they can officially be, based on the only data available on local vehicle sales, reports from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA).
These two automotive organizations publish monthly reports on local vehicle sales, both as a whole and per individual automotive or commercial vehicle brand. Unfortunately, non-member brands are excluded from these reports, and brands that do not report their monthly sales figures. That includes BYD Cars Philippines and its Chinese parent, BYD Philippines, which recently became a member of a rival organization, the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors of the Philippines (AVID).
We are really good friends with the folks over at BYD Cars Philippines, and its distributor ACMobility. Unfortunately, the very strong performing company is tight-lipped with their sales figures for the BYD brand, only releasing monthly figures for the Kia brand which is a member of CAMPI.
READ: BYD tops electrified vehicle sales charts in PH with over 26,000 units sold
There is no downplaying the strength of BYD in the Philippines. The Chinese electrified vehicle manufacturer surprised everyone with a third place ranking in 2025 overall industry vehicle sales here in the Philippines. It also came out as the top-selling automotive brand in the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and battery electric vehicle (BEV) categories in the same year.
We’ll no longer be surprised if it retains its third place ranking for this year’s sales, or even moves up to second place, despite the announced sales numbers for both Tesla Philippines and VinFast Philippines which are both fighting for the top spot among CAMPI and TMA members.
And that explains why BYD, despite its obvious scale, does not top local sales reports. All we have to do, or all we can do now, is to wait for an official announcement from BYD Cars Philippines and BYD Philippines themselves regarding their actual sales figures. This could happen by January next year at the earliest, if not a bit later, or not at all.