Chery, the Chinese carmaker whose Jaecoo 7 has earned the nickname the “Temu Range Rover”, is to open a research and development centre in Britain, with the facility due to go live in late autumn.
The site will be based at UTAC Millbrook in Bedfordshire, the proving ground used by engineering firms, motorsport outfits and the Ministry of Defence, and it comes as Chery’s brands take an ever-larger bite out of sales once owned by the Nissan Qashqai, Kia Sportage and MG HS.
The numbers behind the move are striking. In July, Chery, Omoda and Jaecoo between them took nearly 8% of the UK new car market, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, up from 3% a year earlier. Omoda and Jaecoo alone recently passed 100,000 UK sales in under two years.
The Jaecoo 7, so named for its keen pricing and generous helping of tech, went one better in March when it became Britain’s best-selling car outright. For now, every example has to be shipped in from China.
That is set to change. Chery, which is part-owned by the Chinese state, has already agreed a deal with Nissan to build cars at the Sunderland plant from 2027, the first time a Chinese manufacturer will have mass-produced cars on British soil.
“Our ambition goes much further”
Chery said the R&D centre was “the next step in our long-term plan” for the UK. Gary Lan, chief executive of its UK business, said: “We waited over 20 years for the right time to enter this market, and our ambition has always gone much further than simply bringing vehicles here.”
Millbrook gives Chery’s engineers access to more than 70km (43 miles) of purpose-built test tracks, from high-speed bowl to alpine routes and durability loops, which will be used to tune its cars for British roads and British tastes. Our own review of the Jaecoo 7 SHS found the ride and steering well short of the best in class, so there is plenty to work on.
Longer term, the company says the site will also host work on self-driving technology and artificial intelligence.
Kirsty Andrew, vice-president of UTAC UK, called the centre “a significant commitment to engineering and vehicle development in the UK”.
She added: “Creating a stand-alone engineering centre here means Chery Automobile can develop and validate vehicles against the particular demands of UK roads and UK drivers, with direct access to our engineering expertise and testing environments throughout that process.”
Chery has said it intends to recruit locally and create engineering jobs in the area, although it has not put a figure on either the investment or the headcount.
The brand line-up continues to grow, too. Lepas, Chery’s fourth UK marque and one pitched at younger families, launched last February, and the Lepas L6 is due here before the end of the year in both pure-electric and plug-in hybrid form.
The rise of Chery and its compatriots has heaped pressure on established European manufacturers. State subsidies, lower labour costs and China’s grip on the battery supply chain have allowed its carmakers to undercut rivals on electrified models, a gap that shows little sign of closing as the UK market heads towards record electric car volumes.
Building, testing and eventually engineering cars in Britain will not silence the “Temu” jokes overnight. But a permanent base at one of the UK’s most respected proving grounds suggests Chery is settling in for the long haul.
