Ayala clinches deal to be official distributor of BYD cars in PH

By Othel V. Campos

AYALA Corp. said Friday unit AC Motors Automobile Group signed a deal with BYD, a global leader in hybrid and electric vehicle manufacturing, to be the official distributor of the latter’s vehicles in the Philippines.

AC Motors head Jamie Alfonso Zobel de Ayala underscored Ayala Group’s goal of addressing national pain points to provide long term value to stakeholders.

“This partnership between one of the largest multi-brand automotive groups in the Philippines and the world’s leading EV brand is a cornerstone of the group’s goal of accelerating the future of mobility in the country,” said Zobel de Ayala.

“Our long-term vision is for AC Motors to become the leading platform for EVs and other new energy vehicles in the Philippines. This includes building up BYD to become a key brand in the

Philippine market, with leading share among EV brands and meaningful presence in the automotive market as a whole,” he said.

BYD managing director for the Philippines and Singapore James Ng noted the Philippine government’s support for local efforts to create policies that would usher in technology for new energy vehicles.

“The Philippine government is also promoting the construction of electric vehicles and establishing new green industrial chain. Consumer consumption of cars is increasing which is one of the most important reasons why we are promoting environmental friendly technology for new energy vehicles,” he said.

BYD has an expansive line-up of both passenger and commercial vehicles at competitive price points, allowing the vehicles to be deployed at a larger scale.

The China-based EV manufacturer has ramped it production of EVs to 5 million units as of July 2023, making it one of the biggest EV manufacturers globally. Its operations as an automotive manufacturer are also fully-integrated, with capabilities not only in designing and assembling the final vehicles, but even in battery technology, electric powertrain development and semiconductors.

BYD also has investments in rail transit, renewable energy and battery storage.

Ayala has been prioritizing the electric mobility vehicles as the enabler of Ayala’s ecosystem. The group is uniquely positioned to provide longterm value to EV customers, given its assets in renewable power generation, automotive distribution and dealerships, property development and management, manufacturing, financing and insurance and digital connectivity—all of which are critical components of the EV ecosystem.

Pse Index Closing

This brought the flag carrier’s total income in the first half to $250 million, up 257 percent from $70 million a year ago.

PAL’s second-quarter revenues grew 27 percent to $820 million, on higher passenger numbers. The airline flew 4 million passengers, up 80 percent year-on-year; operated over 50,400 flights and logged an 81.6-percent average passenger load factor.

“The latest positive financial results enable us to build a better, stronger and more agile Philippine Airlines that creates greater value for our customers, and we are grateful for their continuing support and patronage,” said PAL president and chief operating officer Capt. Stanley Ng. Lucio Tan III, president and chief operating officer of PAL Holdings Inc., the airline’s parent company, said it was “on a recovery track.”

He said PAL was in a position to carry out major product and digital transformation initiatives to grow amid a more competitive and challenging aviation industry.

PAL is investing $3.2 billion for the acquisition of nine Airbus A3501000 long-range jetliners based on the list price of $366.5 million per aircraft.

By

Jenniffer B. Austria

JG SUMMIT Holdings Inc., the listed holding company of the Gokongwei family, bounced back to post a net income of P10.4 billion in the first half of 2023 from a P2.75-billion net loss in the same period last year.

JG Summit said in a stock exchange filing Friday it achieved the strong first-half results on the back of sustained margin expansion across listed subsidiaries and double-digit consolidated topline growth.

DIGITINDAHAN. Leading finance super app GCash and global food company Nestlé launch DigiTindahan on GLife powered by leading e-distributor Great Deals as its main aggregator. With the partnership, shopping for snacks, cooking essentials, beverages, confectionery, cereals and more can now be done with just a few taps on user’s smartphone. Signing the partnership agreement at the Nestlé office in Rockwell, Makati are (from left) GCash chief marketing officer Neil Trinidad, Nestle Philippines chairman and chief executive Kais Marzouki and Great Deals E-Commerce Corp. founder and chief executive Steve Sy.