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Chery is expanding its UK operation from selling cars towards local engineering and potential manufacturing
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China’s Chery is no longer just selling cars in Britain — it is starting to build here
Aug 19, 2026
- Chery will open a new research and development centre in Bedfordshire later this year.
- The company is exploring a deal to manufacture cars at Nissan’s Sunderland plant.
- Its Omoda and Jaecoo brands have rapidly gained ground in the UK.
China’s Chery is making a bigger bet on Britain. The carmaker plans to open a dedicated research and development centre at UTAC Millbrook in Bedfordshire in late autumn 2026, giving it a local base to develop and test vehicles for British roads and drivers.
The move comes as Chery explores something potentially much bigger: making its cars in Britain.
The company is in talks with Nissan over a non-binding agreement that could see Chery vehicles manufactured at Nissan’s Sunderland plant from fiscal 2027. Nissan is considering using spare capacity on one of the site's production lines for contract manufacturing.
Neither move guarantees that Chery will eventually produce cars in the UK. But together, they suggest the Chinese manufacturer is looking beyond simply importing vehicles into the British market.
Chery wants to build cars for British roads
The new centre will initially focus on areas including vehicle chassis, ride and handling, steering and advanced driver-assistance systems.
That means Chery's engineers will be able to work directly on how its vehicles behave on British roads, rather than relying entirely on cars developed for other markets.
UTAC Millbrook, around eight miles south of Bedford, is a major vehicle testing site used by the automotive industry and the Ministry of Defence. Chery will have access to its testing facilities and engineering expertise.
Gary Lan, chief executive of Chery International UK, reportedly said the centre was the next step in the company's long-term plan for Britain and that local capability was becoming increasingly important.
The company eventually expects the centre to expand into areas such as autonomous driving and automotive artificial intelligence.
That is a significant change for a manufacturer that is still relatively new to the British market.
Chery launched its Omoda and Jaecoo brands in the UK in late 2024 and early 2025, followed by vehicles under the Chery name. It is also introducing a fourth brand, Lepas.
The brands have made a rapid start. Chery's group sold 53,600 cars in Britain last year and is on course to exceed that figure in 2026. Its Jaecoo 7 SUV was the country's third best-selling car during the first six months of the year.
Could Sunderland become Chery’s UK factory?
The more ambitious part of the strategy is still only being explored.
Chery International UK and Nissan signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding in June covering possible contract manufacturing at Nissan's Sunderland plant from fiscal 2027.
Nissan is considering using its second production line after plans to consolidate production of the Qashqai, Juke and Leaf onto a single line. Under the proposal, Nissan would continue to own the plant and employ its existing workforce.
For Chery, such an arrangement could provide something its growing UK sales operation currently lacks: a domestic manufacturing base.
It would also give Nissan a way to make better use of its Sunderland facility.
The talks come as Chinese carmakers are taking a larger share of the British market. Chinese-owned brands accounted for around 15 per cent of new car registrations, according to industry data cited in recent reports, helped by competitively priced electric and plug-in hybrid models.
Chery's own market share has risen rapidly, with its group of brands approaching 8 per cent in July, compared with around 3 per cent a year earlier.
The company is therefore trying to establish itself in Britain at several levels at once — selling cars, developing them for local conditions and potentially making them here.
The Bedfordshire centre is the part that is confirmed. The Sunderland manufacturing plan remains subject to further discussions.
But if both moves eventually go ahead, Chery would have something more substantial than a growing showroom network in Britain: a local engineering base and a potential route to producing cars on UK soil.
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