BYD’s bet on EVs is paying off as drivers ditch gas amid rising oil prices

Since it stopped building vehicles powered solely by internal combustion engines (ICEs) in 2022, BYD has become the world’s largest EV maker.

The Chinese automaker ranked sixth in global sales in 2025, surpassing Ford for the first time, with over 4.6 million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles sold.

While sales growth has slowed over the past few months amid new competition and shifting policies, BYD is seeing an uptick in EV demand as buyers seek alternatives amid rising oil and gas prices.

At one dealership in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, demand is so high that it booked a month’s worth of orders in just the past two weeks. “Clients are replacing units in favor of EVs because of the oil price hikes,” Dominique Poh, a salesman at the dealership, told Bloomberg. And it’s not just BYD that’s seeing more traffic in its showrooms.