BYD is hot-selling in Asia War-driven high oil prices enhance the attractiveness of electric vehicles

According to reports from the media, a BYD car dealership in Manila's financial district has been doing booming business recently. Matthew Dominique Poh said he has received the equivalent of a month's worth of orders in just the past two weeks. "Due to the rise in oil prices, customers are switching from fuel cars to electric cars," said Poh, who has been working in sales at this dealership for seven months. Meanwhile, in Hanoi about 1770 kilometers away, Nguyen Hoang Tu Anh stated that due to a threefold increase in customer visits, his VinFast showroom had to hire additional sales staff and sold 250 electric cars in the three weeks after the outbreak of the war in Iran. This means selling over 80 cars per week, twice the average pace for 2025. Although car manufacturers have not yet released sales data for March, early signs indicate that Asian electric car manufacturers such as China's BYD and Vietnam's VinFast are benefiting from the surge in oil prices. Albert Park, Chief Economist at the Asian Development Bank, said, "Rising oil prices have always favored the transition to electric vehicles. It can create economic incentives to accelerate this green transformation."