Many Chinese car makers have been working up to entering the European and UK markets for quite some time. In fact, it’s worth clarifying at this point that some have already been here for a long time as silent owners or partners for familiar automotive brands. Volvo and Lotus, for instance, are owned by Chinese firm Geely, and MG Motor is owned by SAIC Motor (itself a Chinese state-owned company).
In fact, mainstream European manufacturers (notably Volkswagen Group) already have very strong partnerships with at least one of the Chinese manufacturers; until 2022, it was legally required for foreign companies to partner with a domestic firm if they were to sell cars in China, which is by far the biggest and most profitable new car market in the world.
But the next few years are going to see an influx of new Chinese brands, so are Chinese cars reliable? Well, it’s impossible to comment on reliability for brands that haven’t made it to the UK yet, but some of those that have already established themselves have put in a fairly mixed performance. For instance, MG came 9th out of 32 brands included in the 2022 What Car? Used Car Reliability Survey, but in the 2024 edition of the same survey, the brand had dropped to 31st out of 31 manufacturer, so stone-dead last. We’ll have to wait and see what the future holds for MG on that score, and whether the other Chinese latecomers can do any better. As is the case with MG, incoming new Chinese brands are also likely to offer long warranties to help entice car buyers to their cars and show confidence in reliability.
Many buyers will also be wondering what the best Chinese brands are. Again, at this point it’s hard to say as most aren’t on sale here yet and many are only just launching. Suffice to say that time will tell, and in the meantime here’s our rundown of the Chinese brands coming to the UK soon, and the ones already here. Don't forget to also check out our guide to the best Chinese Cars on sale in the UK right now.
The Chinese Car Brands Coming to the UK
The Chinese Brands Already Here
Aiways
Aiways is a Shanghai-based electric car brand that launched in 2017. The name is a merging of the phrase ‘Ai is on the way’, and this is one of a number of new Chinese brands that are targeting a very Tesla-like look and appeal.
Company officials originally stated that Aiways was planning to enter right-hand drive markets, including the UK, from summer 2023, but that’s obviously long gone by, so the smart money is now on the second half of 2025. It plans to launch here with its Aiways U5 crossover, which is a fraction smaller than the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Nissan Ariya and Tesla Model Y. The sportier Aiways U6 coupe-SUV could then follow the U5 to British shores.
The pure electric Aiways U5 is expected to have a range of around 250 miles, but pricing is still unknown. We’d expect it to cost from around £45,000 and up, in line with many of its rivals.
Lynk & Co
You’ll hear the name Geely quite a lot throughout this article: we’ve already mentioned it once, and believe us, it’ll feature again quite a number of times. That’s because this enormous Chinese manufacturing giant has its fingers in a vast number of metaphorical automotive pies, some of which will be very well-known to you. As we’ve already said, it owns both Volvo and Lotus, and other Geely-operated brands that might be familiar to you include Polestar and Smart (partly).
Lynk & Co is another, and the brand has made quite a name for itself in China, and has also been launched in a number of European countries. For now, the UK isn’t among them, but we expect that to change over the next couple of years. Its first model in Europe, the 01, was a hybrid SUV and was launched back in 2020. That was followed in 2024 by the 02, a Nissan Qashqai-sized electric SUV, and it’s that later model that we can see making a splash over here. Watch this space.
Nio
Nio has long been hailed as something of a Chinese Tesla. It was established in 2014, and it only sells electric cars with a strong focus on tech, including an in-car ‘assistant’ robot called Nomi. It even supports a network of battery-swap stations that allows Nio vehicles to pull in and swap a depleted battery for a fully charged battery in around five minutes, and its battery tech can support cell capacity upgrades so that it’s even possible to have a bigger battery inserted into your car for when you’re on a longer journey, and a smaller battery the rest of the time. This is also enabled by the company’s subscription basis, where you pay a single fee per month that covers all the associated insurance, maintenance fees etc.
While it’s uncertain whether we’ll see the Power Swap Stations in the UK, it's very likely the cars will appear here. Nio is already selling cars in Germany, the Netherlands and a few other European markets, and it’s thought that we can expect the Nio ET5 and ET7 saloons (Tesla Model 3 and Model S rivals) and the Nio EL6 and EL7 mid-sized electric SUVs (rivals to the Tesla Model Y) to be sold in the UK. It’s also possible that the company’s seven-seat SUV, the Nio ES8, will come to our shores.
XPENG
XPENG is an electric car brand that’s owned by Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology Co Ltd. XPENG is also very Tesla-like in its tech-focus, with aerodynamic styling and long-range models on offer. This Shanghai-based brand already sells cars in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands (all of which buy more EVs than combustion engined cars), and has said that it intends to come to the UK in the coming years.
It has launched its first models – the XPENG G3 crossover, P7 saloon and G9 SUV - in its European markets, complete with LFP (lithium-iron phosphate) battery technology.
Zeekr
If XPENG thought it was nailed-on to be last on the list of Chinese manufacturers alphabetically, then it hadn’t banked on Zeekr. This yet another of the brands owned and operated by manufacturing giant Geely, and it was launched in other parts of Europe - namely Sweden and the Netherlands - in 2023. Expect the UK to join that list in the next couple of years.
Its first European offering, the 001, was a midsize electric fastback shooting brake, and that was followed a little while later by the Zeekr X and Zeekr 7X, both electric SUVs of varying sizes. All three are built using platforms and tech already seen in various other models from Volvo, Polestar and Smart, so you can probably expect similar levels of dynamic ability, and the Zeekr models will have been polished at the brand’s dedicated European R&D centre in Gothenburg, so expect them to feel appropriate for a European audience.
The Chinese brands already here
BYD
BYD stands for Build Your Dreams, and it is probably the biggest manufacturer you’ve never heard of. Having started as a battery manufacturer in 1995, it’s been selling passenger cars in China for many years and is one of the biggest Chinese brands, having sold 1.8 million cars in 2022. More than that, BYD makes all of the parts that it needs in-house, from the new ‘Blade’ batteries to the seat upholstery and every other part of the vehicle, which gives it an advantage over rivals that rely heavily on third-party parts manufacturers.
BYD is already making big inroads into European markets with its electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars. It entered the UK market in spring 2023 with its pure-electric family car, the BYD Atto 3, which is pitched at a similar price to the slightly smaller VW ID.3 and Kia Niro EV, in line with BYD’s intention to position itself as a lower-premium brand. Its rotating infotainment touchscreen is a novel touch.
Since then, the company has launched a variety of cars in quick succession. There’s the BYD Dolphin, a smaller, ‘B-segment’ electric hatchback to rival the Peugeot e-208, Renault Zoe and Vauxhall Corsa Electric, and the BYD Seal, which is a midsize Chinese EV saloon aimed squarely at the Tesla model 3. And, it won’t be long until we see the Atto 3 (an SUV that’s slightly smaller than the Atto 3) and the Sealion 7 (an SUV that’s larger). The BYD Tang seven-seat SUV (a rival for the Volvo XC90) and BYD Han saloon (a rival for the Audi A7) are already on sale in some European markets, and it’s possible that they’ll be coming to UK showrooms in the fullness of time.
GWM Ora
Ora is a brand that was launched in 2018 by its parent company, Great Wall Motors. GWM has actually existed in the UK for quite some years, having previously offered the Great Wall Steed pickup truck, but it didn’t do awfully well, which is why you’ve probably never heard of it. For some context GWM, is actually one of the top five biggest car manufacturers in the world, and produced over a million cars in 2022. And it’s not selling cars in the UK again under different brands.
Ora will only offer electric cars, and is aiming to offer a classy interior finish and generous equipment levels, with prices to rival the likes of Peugeot, Kia and more. Its first car, to be offered in the UK had a completely bonkers name, the Ora Funky Cat. However, around a year and a bit after it went on sale, the car was rebranded to have a completely boring name instead, the Ora 03. Yawn. Whatever the case, it’s a style-focussed family hatchback that sits on Ora’s ‘ME Platform’, which also underpins BMW’s latest electric Mini hatchback.
Ora hasn’t launched any more new cars in the UK, but GWM has, under another brand. The Haval Jolion Pro is a Nissan Qashqai-sized SUV that’s design to compete with budget SUV rivals such as the MG HS and Citroen C3 Aircross.
Omoda/Jaecoo
Omoda is a new brand that has been launched by Chery Automobile Ltd. Chery itself was founded in 1997, and is a very well-established company in China. It sold 1.2m passenger cars in 2022, and has been one of China’s top exporters for many years.
Chery announced plans to bring its new brand Omoda to Australia, Europe and the UK in 2022. Omada was finally launched in the UK at the end of 2024 with its mid-sized crossover, the Omoda 5. This high-value family SUV is offered with either a 183bhp 1.6-litre turbo petrol engine with prices starting at around £25,000, or as an all-electric car. This EV version has 201bhp and an official range of 257 miles, and costs from £33,000.
At the beginning of 2025, Chery followed up the launch of Omoda with the launch of Jaecoo, another brand that's supposed to be slightly more rugged and slightly more upmarket, in a similar vein to Land Rover or Range Rover. Its first offering is the Jaecoo 7, which is a similar size to the Omoda 5, and is available either with pure petrol power, or as a plug-in hybrid. We’ve already driven it, and you can see what we thought of it if you read our Jaecoo 7 review.
Leapmotor
Leapmotor was founded in Hangzhou in 2015, and built its first cars in 2019, and so the brand doesn’t exactly have the longest of most illustrious of histories. It does, however, have some very powerful friends. Familiar with Stellantis? You know, that vast manufacturing conglomerate that owns and operates Citroen, Peugeot, DS, Vauxhall, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Jeep, and a variety of other brands as well? Well, in 2023, Stellantis acquired a 20% stake in Leapmotor (it didn’t have enough car brands in its stable, clearly), leading to the formation of another company, Leapmotor International, in which Stellantis has a 51% controlling stake. And that’s why Leapmotor products have just started being offered across Europe, the UK included.
This is very much designed to be a high-value electric car brand, and it kicks off life in the UK with two models, which are quite different to one another. First, there’s the T03, which is a small electric city car that will rival the Dacia Spring at the budget end of the EV market. It’s a smidgen more expensive than the Dacia, but it comes with a longer range and more equipment as standard. The other is the Leapmotor C10, which is a much larger family SUV aimed squarely at the Tesla Model Y. It’s a lot more expensive that the T03 as a result, but importantly, it costs thousands less than the Tesla.
MG
This is the outfit that all these Johnny-Come-Latelys from the Far East will be hoping to emulate when it comes to cracking the UK. It’s no secret that the MG brand found itself in a fairly torrid state in the mid-noughties before being rescued by Chinese money, and after two decades of building itself back up by producing high-value hatchbacks and SUVs, MG is now on a serious roll. Its last few cars have had much more going for them than just their low prices, with coherent design, impressive interior quality, sophisticated infotainment and polished engineering all being delivered consistently. The latest versions of the popular MG ZS and MG HS SUVs are both very tempting prospects for value-minded family car buyers, while the brand has also made a recent return to its illustrious sports car past with the all-electric Cyberster convertible. This is a brand that’s gone from barely surviving in 2005 to competing for a top-ten spot in the list of the UK’s best-selling brands in 2025. That’s massively impressive.
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