MANILA, Philippines — The last time Mitsubishi tried selling a plug-in hybrid SUV to Filipinos, almost nobody bought it.
That was September 2020. The country was in the thick of pandemic lockdowns, public charging stalls were nonexistent outside a handful of mall parking basements, and the third-generation Outlander PHEV was stuck behind the glass of a single pilot showroom along Manila Bay carrying an eye-watering sticker price of P2,998,000 (about $48,000). With no government tax breaks on the books, the pioneer quietly disappeared from local brochures without making a dent.
Six years later, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation is having another go at plug-in hybrid SUV power.
On Aug. 20, the carmaker rolled out the redesigned 2027 Outlander PHEV, choosing Manila as the staging ground for the vehicle’s first market release anywhere in Southeast Asia.
The playing field looks completely different this time. Republic Act 11697, the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act, is now active law, shielding electrified cars from the weekday number-coding schemes while offering discounted registration and green plate privileges.
Yet the everyday reality of owning an electric vehicle in the archipelago has changed little once a driver leaves the capital. High-speed direct-current chargers still thin out dramatically once you clear the expressways of central Luzon, leaving provincial runs to the Ilocos coast, Bicol, or cross-island roll-on, roll-off ferries fraught with planning headaches.