AC MOTORS, Ayala Corporation’s automotive group, finalized its distributorship deal with the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker BYD. The announcement was made by Jaime Alfonso Zobel de Ayala, newly-minted CEO of AC Motors.
“Our goal is to catalyze electric mobility in the Philippines and progress to become the leading EV platform in the country in both market share and scale and utilization of our ecosystem,” Zobel said as he referred to solving the “national pain points” in automotive electrification through the Ayala Group’s complete energy management portfolio, which includes the engineering and design for charging stations, the software and hardware expertise for connectivity, the real estate network for charging infrastructure and its financing arm for vehicle purchasing.
“We (AC Motors) are positioned where we can best serve our customers within our own EV ecosystem,” he added.
A disclosure made by Ayala Corp to the Philippine Stock Exchange signaled AC Motor’s official engagement with BYD. The agreement is for the exclusive rights to distribute and sell BYD’s passenger electric vehicles (EVs) in the country. This includes setting up the line-up and appointing dealers.
“We will retain the current line-up and towards the end of the year, add the ATTO-3,” Toti Zara, President of BYD Philippines said. Zara is also president of AC Motors. This dual role puts him in a position to best provide the interaction needed to fulfill Ayala’s vision of a full ecosystem for electric vehicles.
“BYD will operate with both franchise and company owned dealerships,” Zara said highlighting that former BYD distributor Solar Transport and Automotive Resources will continue to engage with the brand as the first of 12 dealers planned for this year.
“The first dealership is up in Makati and Solar Transport is building a new one in Quezon City. We will also set up dealers in Metro Cebu, Metro Davao and Cagayan de Oro as well as locations in the North and South of Manila,” Zara added.
“We are elated to be in this joint venture with the Ayala Group and AC Motors…Together, we create a greener, more sustainable and brighter future, as we embark on this exciting journey,” James Ng, the Managing Director of BYD Philippines and Singapore remarked as expressing his positive outlook for the collaboration.
The Ayala Group’s strong belief in the potential of EVs, extends even to electric motorcycles and scooters. It is currently assembling Zero Motorcycles in its Laguna motorcycle plant under IMI and partnered with Gogoro on a prototyping of swappable batteries for electric scooters.
“We estimate around 10 to 20 percent of vehicles we will sell in the next five years will be electric,” the young Zobel told motoring journalists at the distributorship announcement
BYD, is the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, outpacing Tesla by 150,000 passenger cars in 2022. It’s current output is about 1.4 million electric passenger cars. It has an extensive lineup of passenger and commercial vehicles. It is also involved in battery technology, electric powertrain development, and semiconductors, as well as the production of buses, in rail cars and trains, renewable energy technology, and battery storage systems (BSS).
BYD under AC Motors will continue the current line-up which includes the BYD Han, a luxury sedan with a P3.5M price tag, the BYD Tang a seven-seater SUV and the BYD Dolphin compact hatchback. The ATTO 3, a popular model in the Asia-Pacific region for its pricing, design, comfort, and performance will also be introduced. All vehicles will be sourced from China.
