The Philippine auto industry is finally catching a tailwind. The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) reported 42,880 vehicles sold in July 2026, the highest monthly total of the year, but the bigger story is the electric one underneath it: xEVs now make up nearly a third of every car leaving a Philippine showroom.
July’s industry total was up 2% month-on-month and included 37,319 units from CAMPI-TMA members alone (up 0.6% MoM, down 3% YoY from 38,295 in July 2025). The non-member sales estimates that CAMPI uses to round out the industry figure pushed the combined total to 42,880 units, a single-month record for 2026.
CAMPI president Jose Maria Atienza framed the month as the turning point after a “tough first half,” saying the industry is “riding on a good momentum” and is “hopeful that the positive trend will continue for the remainder of the year.”
The seven-month numbers behind the headline
Strip July out and the year is still a hard read. From January to July 2026, the Philippine auto industry sold 241,725 units, a 10.2% drop from the 269,207 units sold in the same seven-month window of 2025, per the joint CAMPI-TMA report cited by Philstar, Top Gear Philippines, and Autocar Philippines.
The contraction is broad, not narrow. Passenger car sales fell 11% to 47,856 units. Commercial vehicle sales fell 10% to 193,869 units. Even the recovery month of July ended CAMPI-TMA down 3% year-on-year, proof that the MoM bump is momentum, not yet a turn.
| Segment | Jan-Jul 2026 | Jan-Jul 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passenger cars (PC) | 47,856 | 53,767 | -11% |
| Commercial vehicles (CV) | 193,869 | 215,440 | -10% |
| Industry total | 241,725 | 269,207 | -10.2% |
Electrification is the entire growth story
If ICE sales are down double-digits, xEVs (the CAMPI umbrella for HEVs, PHEVs, and BEVs) are doing the opposite. Industry xEV sales hit 38,286 units in the first seven months, a 136% jump from the 16,195 units sold in the same period of 2025.
BEV growth is the loudest line on the chart. From January to July, BEV sales tripled to 10,476 units from 2,617 a year ago (+300%). PHEVs exploded from 288 units to 7,094 (+2,363%). HEVs, the volume backbone of the xEV mix, grew 56% to 20,716 units. In July alone, xEVs made up 29.5% of the market, up 18 percentage points from July 2025.
| Powertrain | Jan-Jul 2026 | Jan-Jul 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hybrid (HEV) | 20,716 | 13,290 | +56% |
| Battery EV (BEV) | 10,476 | 2,617 | +300% |
| Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) | 7,094 | 288 | +2,363% |
| xEV total | 38,286 | 16,195 | +136% |
The July split tells the same story at a single-month zoom. HEVs led at 2,964 units, BEVs followed at 2,520, and PHEVs reached 1,602 units. CAMPI-TMA xEV sales hit 7,086 in July, up 162% from the 2,707 units in July 2025, per Philstar’s write-up of the joint report.
Who is winning the BEV race
VinFast returned to the top of the BEV ladder in July with 813 units sold, the first month the Vietnamese brand has reclaimed the lead in 2026. Geely took second at 509 units, Omoda & Jaecoo third at 428, GAC fourth at 381, and Tesla rounded out the top five at 271.
The PHEV board is a different game. Jetour held the top PHEV spot in July with 480 units, followed by MG at 421 and Geely at 312. On the HEV side, Toyota is in a class of its own: 1,709 hybrid sales in July, more than five times Ford’s 333 and well ahead of Omoda & Jaecoo’s 320.
Toyota’s grip is even clearer on the year-to-date CAMPI-TMA leaderboard. Per GMA News, TMP held 49% of CAMPI-TMA YTD sales through July, with Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (6,271 units in July) the only other brand anywhere near double-digit share. The full CAMPI member top five for 2026 so far: Toyota, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Ford, and Nissan.
The brand that isn’t in the count
One major name is missing from the CAMPI tables: BYD. As Top Gear notes, the Chinese brand is not a CAMPI member and historically releases its data at year-end, so its 2026 numbers are not folded into the 241,725 industry total. The closest read is ACMobility’s H1 2026 financials, which Top Gear cites: BYD’s local volume, if included in the CAMPI table, would slot in at number three, cutting ahead of Suzuki and closing in on Mitsubishi.
That is a big “if.” Including BYD would also lift the industry total above 241,725, since ACMobility’s H1 report (which TMP-style data does not capture) covers a sales channel the CAMPI joint report excludes entirely.
What “recovery” actually means
July is one good month inside a year that is still down 10.2%. CAMPI’s own framing of xEVs as the engine of growth is accurate, but the math is brutal for the non-electrified half of the industry: ICE-only vehicles are bearing the entire -10.2% drop, while xEVs add 22,091 incremental units (38,286 minus 16,195) on top of last year’s base.
For car shoppers, the second half of 2026 is shaping up to be the strongest discount window in two years, especially on ICE SUVs and pickups, where Toyota and Mitsubishi have room to clear 2026 stock against a flat volume market. The xEV story, by contrast, is a pricing power story, since demand at every price band is outrunning supply and brands like VinFast have already extended free-charging perks through 2029 to lock in the early buyers.
Two new product launches in the next two weeks are also about to redraw the segment maps. The Mitsubishi Pajero returns to PH showrooms on September 2, and BYD’s 900 km Sealion 08 flagship is already confirmed for the Philippines. Both will land in the same electrified-and-ICE mix that the July 2026 data shows is finally breaking the year-long slump.
Source: Joint CAMPI-TMA monthly report (Aug 25, 2026), as reported by GMA News, Philstar, Top Gear Philippines, Autocar Philippines, and Manila Standard.
