Looks-wise, you don’t be able to tell from the outside as the Emgrand remains unchanged from before down to the Energy Pulse front grille, available 17-inch alloy wheels, and its “Golden Ratio” waistline, tail light, and center console design. The big change is found inside with the controversial gray/blue nautical-inspired interior being dropped in favor of an all-black one across the line-up.

Additionally, the driver receives power adjustment, while the center touchscreen’s been upgraded with a larger size (12.8-inch from 8-inch). The infotainment also offers a new chipset for faster responses, an upgraded interface, and integrated Apple CarPlay.

The biggest change is what’s found under the hood. Although it keeps the same displacement and cylinder count (1.5-liter and 4 cylinders) as before, the normally-aspirated direct injected engine now offers 122 horsepower—up almost 20 horsepower from before and 152 Nm of torque (up 10 Nm). The sole variant now comes with a CVT gearbox offering up to 17.24 km/L.

The powertrain improvements should bode well for the Emgrand’s BMA architecture which is built for comfort and refinement with the quietest cabin in its class.

The Emgrand comes in one single variant, the Emgrand Luxury and retails for P 949,000. For a limited time, it comes with a P 40,000 discount dropping the SRP to just P 909,000.