Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD is rapidly expanding its foothold in South Korea, climbing to fourth place in the country’s imported passenger market in the first nine months of this year.

BYD sold 20,137 vehicles from January to September, more than triple the 6,107 units it sold throughout 2025, according to industry data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources on Monday.

Its share of the imported passenger car market jumped from 2 percent to 7.2 percent, placing the Chinese carmaker fourth behind Tesla, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The milestone comes less than two years after BYD entered the market in January 2025, emerging as one of the fastest-growing imported car brands in the country.

Driven by the popularity of Model Y, Tesla led the market with 89,148 vehicles sold over the nine-month period, followed by BMW with 57,929 and Mercedes-Benz with 43.249.

In September alone, BYD sold 2,614 vehicles, also ranking fourth.

BYD's rapid expansion comes as South Korea's EV market experiences unprecedented growth, and Chinese-made vehicles are capturing a growing share of demand. This includes Tesla vehicles sold in South Korea, which are manufactured at its Shanghai plant.

Domestic EV sales reached 299,894 units through September, up 76.7 percent from 169,735 units a year earlier. Sales surpassed last year’s full-year total of 216,405 units in just seven months.

Tesla has been behind the EV boom. Its Model Y was the country’s best-selling EV in the January-September period, with 73,123 units sold. The model is also threatening to overtake Kia’s Sorento as South Korea’s best-selling passenger vehicle overall. The Sorento posted 74,933 sales during the period, just 1,810 more than the Model Y.

BYD’s sales growth was driven by demand for its Dolphin compact electric car and Sealion 7 midsize electric SUV.

According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, the Dolphin ranked fifth among all imported car models with 8,198 sales from January to September, followed by the Sealion 7 in sixth place with 7,109.

Together, the two models accounted for 15,307 units, or about 75 percent of BYD total sales during the same period.

The sustained sales momentum is particularly striking given that its vehicles have been excluded from government subsidies for EV purchase since July. The automaker has tried to make up for the loss with its own financing incentives and aggressive pricing.

The market share of Chinese vehicles is expected to increase further as more Chinese brands enter the market.

Zeekr, the premium EV brand under China’s Geely, began selling its 7X model in Korea in October, while Xpeng and Chery are also preparing to enter the market after establishing local subsidiaries.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)