21 Luxury Cars Destroyed! Here’s Why Philippines Customs Destroyed Them

Wanting to bring in expensive sports cars, but unwilling to pay the proper taxes, this is why illegal luxury car import activities are rampant in the Philippines. A total of US$1.2 million (around RM4.9 million) ‘burned’ just like that!

In August last year, Philippines authorities confiscated a unique model, the McLaren 620R after importers entered false information saying the car brought in was a Porsche Cayman. The Philippines government views this as a serious offence and actions have been taken against the importers.

So, what have the Philippines customs done to help bring justice to this issue?

They destroyed these luxury cars using excavators. This action was then shared on Facebook:

In a statement made, it was reported that the vehicles destroyed were cars that had been seized from Manila International Container Port (MICP), Port of Manila (POM) and Port of Subic.

Among the seven vehicles destroyed in the Port Area, Manila were cars seized from POM namely the latest McLaren 620R and a used Hyundai Genesis; from MICP namely Bentley 2007, Porsche 911 C2S, and used Mercedes-Benz; as well as from the Port of Subic namely Lotus and Toyota Solara.

All seven cars were destroyed along with 14 other vehicles at separate locations. In the second location, the model destroyed was a Mitsubishi Jeep.

However, among all the models destroyed, the 620R is the most unique model as only 350 units were produced!

According to a post shared on Facebook, these cars are imported unit cars that have been collected between 2018 to 2020. What happened recently was the disposal of luxury cars for the second time this year. On February 9, the Philippine Customs also destroyed 17 vehicles. At the time, the vehicles destroyed included a 2015 Toyota Land Cruiser, a Ford F-150 Raptor, a Hyundai Starex, a 2019 Land Rover Evoque, a Porsche 911 and a 2007 Bentley Continental GT. So, when did this all start? In 2017, Philippines President Rodrigo Roa Duterte ordered that all vehicles smuggled into the country be removed to send a firm message that the government takes serious efforts to combat smuggling.

As a result of this, in 2018, many vehicles began to be destroyed, reaching up to USD 8 million. Did you know that almost 100 cars were destroyed that year? The action taken is aimed at thwarting the efforts of smugglers' from continuing these illegal activities. Most likely, more cars will be destroyed as criminals will constantly try to find ways to avoid complying with strict import laws as well as paying high taxes. The disposal of these vehicles was witnessed firsthand by representatives from the Philippines Ministry of Finance, the Audit Commission as well as key officials from the Customs department led by Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero.

Philippine Customs often share photos of cars seized before being destroyed on social media. Among the car models that have recently been seized are the Ferrari F430 Scuderia, Mercedes Benz SLK, 2016 Nissan GTR, Porsche Boxster, Mercedes Benz E220, Toyota Land Cruiser, 2020 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and two Toyota MR2s.