“In this business, you gotta have a tough skin.” This is what Visor.Ph Editor-in-Chief Vernon Sarne told me at last week's BMW M2 launch event. Chief, as I fondly call him to this day (he got me to join Top Gear Philippines magazine as a cover photographer and writer back in 2010), has seen it all and has been through wars ordinary people would have waived the white flag early on. The mental and physical stress this job entails can be too much for someone who cares about his craft. So when we he

BREAKING: A reliable source who wishes not to be identified has confirmed that AC Motors, the Ayala-owned distributor of Volkswagen, Maxus, and Kia vehicles, will take over the BYD brand in the country. An announcement is likely to be made by August 11, 2023. This development follows a recent internal company announcement that Jaime Alfonso Zobel de Ayala will become the new president and CEO of AC Motors. Jaime Alfonso is the only son of Jaime Augusto and Lizzie Zobel de Ayala; he is part of th

Following the unveiling of the Chery Tiggo 7 Pro mild-hybrid on June 2023, another electrified crossover will join the Chinese carmaker’s lineup Chery Auto Philippines announced in a July 2023 press statement that the first batch of the subcompact Chery Tiggo 5x Pro, which will also feature a mild-hybrid powertrain, has arrived in the Philippines. The Tiggo 5x Pro Hybrid and Tiggo 7 Pro Hybrid, which were both showcased at the 2023 Manila International Auto Show, are expected to officially launc

Disclosure: Chery Auto Philippines lent us a Chery Tiggo 8 PRO 1.6T for eight days with a full tank of gas. Additional fuel and toll fees were paid by the writer using his personal money. Jetour Auto Philippines likewise invited the writer to an all-expense paid trip to China which included a visit of the Chery Auto manufacturing facilities. Something about the tag “Made in China” turns many car buyers off. Geopolitics aside, Chinese-built cars have long suffered from the negative impressions th

When speaking about how expensive Electric Vehicles are, we can’t get away from the fact that, despite the TRAIN and EVIDA laws already being implemented, EVs are still prohibitively priced. For the sake of argument, though, there are calculations that can be done to see if it’s actually going to save you money in the long run. Let’s take the cheapest available EVs in the Philippines, the Wuling Mini EV, and the BYD Dolphin. Why the two, you may ask? Officially, the BYD Dolphin is the cheapest E

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, BYD and Toyota are collaborating on a new EV sedan called the Toyota bZ3. In what looks like the production version of the Toyota bz SDN concept unveiled in 2021, the upcoming EV will run on BYD's FinDreams Battery and electric motors. It will sit on Toyota's new e-TNGA pure electric platform. The rear-wheel drive bZ3 will be produced by FAW Toyota, the joint venture manufacturing plant of Toyota and FAW, based on information released by China's Ministry of