Chery International UK has announced the opening of a UK Research and Development Centre of Excellence at UTAC Millbrook's Bedfordshire proving ground, scheduled for late autumn 2026, focusing initially on chassis dynamics and advanced driver assistance systems for vehicles developed specifically for the UK market; the investment consideration is not disclosed.

Chery International UK is the British arm of Chery Holding Group, China's largest passenger vehicle exporter for 23 consecutive years, with Chery Group having surpassed 20 million global cumulative vehicle sales.

Omoda and Jaecoo alone have surpassed 100,000 UK registrations since August 2024, reaching a combined market share of approximately 5.7%, with the Jaecoo 7 becoming the UK's best-selling new car in March 2026. The combined three-brand UK market share peaked at 6.73% in April 2026.

UTAC Millbrook is a Bedfordshire-based automotive testing and engineering services group providing more than 70km of test tracks alongside battery, powertrain, ADAS and semi-anechoic chamber facilities.

The structural driver is the localisation imperative at scale. The UK represents the most stringent road environment in Europe for chassis and ADAS calibration: left-hand-drive European tuning at Chery's existing Raunheim R&D centre cannot be directly transposed to a market with narrow lanes, roundabouts, sharp corners and a distinct driver preference for responsive steering and suspension.

As registrations grew from zero to over 100,000 in under two years, with 66% of Jaecoo 7 sales to private retail buyers, the gap between Chinese-calibrated and UK-optimised vehicles has become commercially measurable.

The Millbrook centre builds on an existing UTAC relationship through a homologation joint venture established in 2024. The non-binding Nissan Sunderland agreement exploring potential UK production of Chery passenger vehicles adds further strategic context, a UK engineering centre is the prerequisite for a credible UK manufacturing proposition.

For Ireland, Chery's brands are available through its Republic of Ireland dealer network; localisation work conducted at Millbrook for UK roads will directly benefit Irish-market vehicles sharing similar driving conditions.

Source: am-online.com / electriccarsreport.com / evpowered.co.uk / autojosh.com