Ayala’s ACMobility swings to first half loss despite booming BYD sales

Insider Spotlight

• BYD demand drove ACMobility’s vehicle sales up 25 percent, lifting its Philippine market share to 10.9 percent.
• ACMobility still swung to a P57-million core loss as the weaker peso raised inventory costs and Kia and Isuzu softened.
• Ayala is putting more money behind the EV push as BYD volumes grow and its charging network more than doubles.

Ayala Corp.’s automotive business has emerged as one of the biggest winners of the Philippines’ electric-vehicle boom, but profits are proving harder to deliver.

Soaring fuel prices in the wake of the US-Iran war have pushed more Filipino motorists to consider electric vehicles, accelerating demand for Chinese car maker BYD, which, according to some dealers, is already outselling No. 2 player Mitsubishi.

In fact, BYD’s strong performance pushed ACMobility’s vehicle sales up 25 percent in the first six months of the year, Ayala’s latest financials showed.

Jaime Alfonso Zobel de Ayala 

ACMobility CEO 

ACMobility books first semester loss 

But during this period, the business swung to a P57-million core net loss from a P34-million profit in 2025.

The reversal came even as ACMobility sold more than 25,000 vehicles, with higher import costs eating into the gains from stronger volume from BYD.

“Profitability was affected by higher inventory costs arising from peso depreciation and softer Kia and Isuzu performance,” Ayala said.

The P57-million figure excludes equity earnings from ACMobility’s stake in Honda Cars Philippines, giving a clearer view of how its core automotive operations performed.

BYD drives the growth

BYD remained the main growth engine as ACMobility expanded its presence across the Philippine auto market:

• Distribution sales jumped 53 percent to 19,125 vehicles, led by strong BYD demand.
• Dealership sales fell 21 percent to 5,923 vehicles.
• Overall market share climbed to 10.9 percent from 8 percent, placing ACMobility third nationwide.
• New-energy vehicle market share stood at 56.9 percent, still No. 1 but down from 80 percent a year earlier.
• The charging network more than doubled to 542 charging points across 222 locations, from 239 points across 102 locations.

More money behind BYD

Ayala is also putting more cash behind the business as BYD volumes expand.

Advance payments for inventory purchases at ACMobility’s BYD distribution business contributed to a 13 percent increase in Ayala’s other current assets to P114 billion in the first half.

The parent company separately injected P800 million into ACMobility, mainly to support the continued rollout of its electric-vehicle charging network.

While ACMobility has exited the Honda dealership business, Ayala remains invested in Honda Cars Philippines. Sales by the Japanese motoring giant contributed P88 million in equity earnings in the first half of 2025.

—Edited by Miguel R. Camus