Imported from Dubai...?

We Filipinos are valued customers of grey market imports because they offer fully-equipped cars rather than in local dealerships. As the government keeps a watchful eye against grey market imports because of the smuggling issues, we are still big fans of it. Most of the grey market import cars we commonly see at Subic, Cebu, Port Irene, Manila and other parts of the Philippines are from U.S., Europe, Korea, and Japan.

However, there is only one thing I am not utterly familiar of. Are you familiar about a "Dubai Version" vehicle? Yes, I kept commonly see on the classified ads and I still don't know what's a Dubai Version car and how did a Dubai Version car became a trending topic to the grey market imports?

How the heck did we get these "Dubai version" cars? Does a country like Dubai make these? Nope, Dubai doesn't make cars and they import it from countries like Europe, America and Japan like for instance, Toyota Sequoia, Toyota FJ Cruiser, Toyota Land Cruiser, Ford Expedition, Range Rover, Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Suburban, Mitsubishi Pajero, and other large SUVs that once we get it, we labeled them as "DUBAI VERSION".

The mystery behind a grey market "DUBAI VERSION" car remained unsolved and how the heck did a country like the Philippines snagged those luxury SUVs imported from Dubai. Why Dubai? How did we get those ultra premium rides straight from the Arab country like Dubai?

Hmmm, like what Pooh said, ANO NGA KAYA? What should we know about a Dubai Version luxury car? First off, the speedometers are in the kmh unit, not in a mph unit because it was set in metric/imperial units instead of English units. Another thing to spot a Dubai version SUV is the full options that a local car dealer would not have, especially the part where a DVD player is installed. Whoever bought those Dubai Version rides were especially politicians and celebrities. 

Do you remember the news about Gerald Anderson caught owning a smuggled, unregistered Hummer? No wait, he has a Hummer but his driver was caught. Yes, he owns that smuggled Hummer caught by the cops but what version is that smuggled Hummer? Is that smuggled from North America? No, that's from Dubai. It seems the government is keeping a watchful eye against smuggled vehicles because of the unpaid taxes. Heh, didn't realize that Gerald Anderson was a victim of those.

Something's fishy about the Dubai Version cars. How did we get those. A Ford Expedition imported from Dubai instead from America? A Toyota Land Cruiser imported from Dubai instead of being a converted unit from Japan? That feels wrong and I am not a huge fan of grey market imports from Dubai. I prefer gray market imports from America, Europe, Japan and Korea because these were made of and I hope that's a lesson served to all of you.

Can a country like the Philippines import some vehicle straight from Dubai even though it was not made in Dubai? For me, it's a wrong way because Dubai doesn't have manufacturing plants but sourced it from other countries.