BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The sting of expensive petroleum is doing what years of policymakers struggled to achieve: pushing drivers toward electric cars. In countries like the Philippines and Australia, showrooms selling Chinese new energy vehicles (NEVs) are reporting a noticeable rise in curious walk-ins, test drives and conversion to orders as fuel prices soar.
The recent surge in the interest in NEVs comes as geopolitical tensions have sent shockwaves through global energy markets, with Brent crude at one point jumping nearly 50 percent since March.
As high oil prices squeeze household budgets and strengthen the economic case for EVs, Chinese manufacturers, backed by years of strategic and industrial foresight that have given them a global edge, are drawing increasing attention from consumers.
Leading Chinese carmaker BYD's showrooms are bustling across Asia after the oil shock, Bloomberg reported, citing higher demand at new energy car dealerships in cities like Manila.
Over the past two weeks, sales of NEVs by automakers including BYD and GAC Group had risen notably in Australia, with foot traffic at many offline showrooms increasing by more than 30 percent compared with the same period last month, business news network Yicai reported on Monday.
"Oil is the Achilles' heel of the global economy... Oil volatility means electric vehicles are a common-sense choice for countries wishing to insulate themselves from future shocks," said Daan Walter, a principal at Ember, a think tank on the future of energy.
The shift is already evident in the data. An Ember analysis shows that scaling electrotech -- EVs, renewables and heat pumps -- to replace imported fossil fuels in road transport, heating and power, would enable importers to cut their fossil fuel imports by 70 percent, underscoring the growing role of electrification in cushioning energy shocks.
The latest global turn toward NEVs is playing to the long-term structural strengths of China's automotive industry. While soaring oil prices have undoubtedly acted as a recent "accelerant," the growth in Chinese NEV exports suggests a competitive foundation that was solidified long before the current energy volatility.
Even before the oil shock began, China's overseas shipments of electric cars and plug-in gas-electric hybrids in the first two months of 2026 had already more than doubled from a year ago, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Chinese exports of NEVs were already on a strong growth trajectory before the latest oil crisis. Rising fuel prices are acting more as a short-term catalyst than a structural driver, according to Sun Xiaohong, secretary-general of the automotive internationalization committee of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products.
After years of growth, China's NEV industry has entered a phase of scale, maturity and expanding global reach. Backed by a fully integrated supply chain spanning batteries, components and vehicle assembly, Chinese manufacturers have achieved a combination of cost competitiveness and rapid innovation.
In 2025, domestic production and sales of NEVs both exceeded 16 million units, with NEVs accounting for over 50 percent of new car sales in the domestic market. By the end of February 2026, the total number of NEV charging points reached 21.01 million in the country, up 47.8 percent year on year.
But in many regions elsewhere in the world, the rollout of NEVs remains at an early stage, with infrastructure lagging behind demand. Public charging networks are often sparse, charger density remains low, and standards are fragmented. For many consumers, especially outside major cities, "range anxiety" remains a real concern, while long charging times and inconsistent charging experiences continue to weigh on adoption, explained Lang Xuehong, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association.
While the current surge in demand across Asia-Pacific markets reflects heightened cost sensitivity among consumers, the long-term growth trajectory of Chinese NEVs overseas remains underpinned by deeper advantages, including cost competitiveness, a fully integrated supply chain, technological progress, and the ability to adapt to diverse energy and infrastructure conditions across global markets, according to analysts.
Sustained global demand for Chinese NEVs will depend less on short-term tailwinds but more on a shift in strategy, which involves moving beyond simple vehicle exports toward exporting entire industrial ecosystems, bringing battery and component suppliers overseas, building local supply chains, and establishing localized production, Lang said. ■
