Vehicles & Servicing Best Posts in Thread: Chinese cars imports vs sales 2025 (in the Philippines)

I ordered a Sealion 6 a while ago, it got delivered last month, so the experience is rather limited so far.
I can say a few things about it,
1. the "pure electric" range is a bit more limited than advertised, still plenty for a couple days of mostly city traffic, but not 110 km.
2. the maximum charge speed of 7kw means that charging halfway destination is not really an option unless you're willing to wait 3 hours or so.
3. if you're any taller than me (5'10") the driver's chair won't move back far enough for your leg length.
4. driving around is really quiet, and it's a joy to charge the car battery from my solar system at home. After 500 km or so, the first gasoline tank is still all the way full.
5. the build quality is a little bit below the Volvo I was driving before, but at least on par with most other brands.
6. if it had been only up to me I would have bought a pure electric car rather than a hybrid, but my wife has a rather bad case of range anxiety, even though we would never drive further than to Cebu or Bacolod and back.

 

This might clear up what is currently suggested to be available. https://www.expressway.ph/ev-charging

 

From the information at the (chinese) website https://carnewschina.com/2026/01/25...-countries-ranking-in-2025-mexico-russia-uae/
it would appear to be the case that China exported 256,681 vehicles to the Philippines in 2025.

View attachment upload_2026-2-2_9-0-17.png

However, at the same time the total number of cars (passenger and commercial ones together) sold in the Philippines in 2025 came in at just below 500,000.
View attachment upload_2026-2-2_21-19-58.png

So these statistics can only be both true if more than half the cars sold in the Philippines in 2025 were actually built in China, so not just the brands recognizable as Chinese.
Either that or the "vehicles" definition in the chinese statistic includes all chinese motorbikes, electric scooters, trikes etc.

Either way, the recent success of BYD as a brand in the Philippines is remarkable, especially when looking at the rather quick closure of their Dumaguete branch by both Geely and more recently Changan.
BYD's new dealership in Dumaguete is being built on a rather large lot on North Road, so they seem confident that they're here to stay.
I do suspect Geely might return to Dumaguete in due course.