[Anchor]

For the first time this year, sales of Chinese-made cars in the domestic imported car market have surpassed those of Japanese cars. Driven by overwhelming price competitiveness, Chinese automakers are accelerating their moves to target the domestic market.

Reporter An Huijae explores the background.

[Reporter]

Baek Gi-nam, an office worker in his 30s, bought a Chinese-made electric vehicle late last year.

He faced quite a few difficulties as public perception remains unfavorable, to the point where his apartment complex even refused to register the vehicle over safety concerns.

[Baek Gi-nam / Chinese Electric Vehicle User: "There were concerns that the safety verification was somewhat incomplete, and I heard a lot of comments from people around me asking, 'Why did you buy that car?' or 'With that kind of money, why didn't you buy something else?'"]

However, it ultimately came down to price.

Being about 10 million won cheaper than similarly sized domestic cars was a condition that was hard to pass up.

[Baek Gi-nam / Chinese Electric Vehicle User: "Since that price range made buying a domestic car very difficult, my options were limited. The car isn't bad. It drives well, stops well..."]

This is the compact electric vehicle that has recently gained the most popularity from this Chinese company.

Thanks to a price that drops to the early 20 million won range, over 8,000 units have been sold this year alone.

The company explains that despite being affordable, it has everything it needs.

[Hey, BYD. (Stand by.) Open the window. (Okay.)]

Even though it is excluded from government subsidies and has notable weaknesses such as a lack of service centers, it is pushing forward with its price advantage.

In this year's imported car market, based on the number of registered vehicles, China's BYD has climbed to 4th place, surpassing Japanese cars like Lexus and Toyota.

Even when looking at it by country, the number of registered Chinese cars has surpassed Japanese cars for the first time in history.

This offensive is expected to become even fiercer going forward.

This is because the domestic Chinese automobile market has shrunk.

With reckless factory construction causing production to skyrocket, there are not enough buyers, leading to car sales dropping by more than 20 percent compared to last year.

Unlike the United States or Europe, South Korea has a free trade agreement (FTA) with China, meaning we can only impose an 8 percent tariff, making our domestic market a top-priority target.

[Lee Sang-ho / Head of Economic Research Division at the Korea Economic Daily / FKI: "In the case of China's electric vehicle industry, there is strong government support. Based on this, they are rapidly preoccupying the global market."]

As China's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th largest electric vehicle companies also plan to enter the South Korean market sequentially, the rapid surge of Chinese cars is expected to continue.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Reported by Cho Chang-hyun | Video by Won Hyung-hee | Footage courtesy of BYD | Design by Jeon Yu-geun and Hyun Minhee)