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Chery to open UK R&D centre in Bedfordshire as sales surge
Chery said its new Bedfordshire facility will open in late autumn and will be used to test vehicles on more than 70 km of purpose-built tracks.
Chinese carmaker Chery will open a research and development facility in Bedfordshire in late autumn, as it steps up its UK expansion and works toward manufacturing cars in Britain, the Guardian Business reported. Chery makes vehicles under the Jaecoo and Omoda brands, and said the move is the next step in its long term plan for the UK.
Chery said its UK expansion comes as demand for its lineup continues to rise. The company noted that its Jaecoo 7 became the top selling model in the UK in March, and Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders data cited in the report showed the Chery, Omoda and Jaecoo brands accounted for nearly 8% of UK market share in July, up from 3% a year earlier.
The R&D facility will be built at UTAC Millbrook, an existing vehicle testing centre in Bedfordshire used by engineering and motorsport companies and the Ministry of Defence. The report said UTAC Millbrook gives Chery access to more than 70 km of purpose built test tracks to fine tune its cars for UK roads, and that the site could later support work on self driving cars and artificial intelligence.
Chery is also connected to plans for UK production through a signed deal with Nissan to build its cars at Nissan’s Sunderland plant, with mass market Chinese car production in Britain expected to start from 2027, according to the report. The article also pointed to pressure on traditional European automakers from Chinese rivals that can undercut costs, aided by state subsidies, lower labour costs and China’s dominance in the battery industry.