When Choi, a 35-year-old office worker living in Korea, started looking for her next car, she did not expect BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) brand, to make her shortlist. “I've wanted an electric vehicle, but domestic models are just too expensive,” Choi said, adding that rising fuel prices first sparked her interest in EVs. Her attention later turned to Chinese brands after reading about China's rapid adoption of EVs and how it helped cushion the country from recent oil-price shocks linked to the conflict in the Middle East. “I still have some biases against Chinese products, but with so many people driving them in China, I figured they can't just be cheap junk,” she said. “They’ve probably spent years developing the technology and gone through plenty of trial and error.” Choi’s case reflects a subtle shift underway: Chinese EV makers are stepping up their presence in Korea, one of the world’s most competitive automotive markets, and are now gaining traction. The push comes as Chinese-made vehicles overtook Japanese brands in Korea’s import market for the first time in April, according to data from the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association. Chinese vehicles accounted for 2,023 new registrations during the month, slightly ahead of Japan’s 1,974 and giving China a 6 percent share of the import market. That was driven largely by BYD, whose April registrations alone exceeded the combined sales of major Japanese brands including Toyota, Lexus and Honda, and ranked as the country's fourth-best-selling import brand for a second consecutive month, data showed. Meanwhile, Chinese automakers are accelerating their local expansion. Zeekr, the premium EV brand under China's Geely Group, recently entered the Korean market and received more than 500 preorders within six days of launching reservations for its first model, the Zeekr 7X electric SUV. While Chinese