The Chinese carmaker Chery is launching a fourth brand in the UK, continuing a push into the British market where it has rapidly become a major player. The state-owned company said on Wednesday it would sell cars under the Lepas brand, which is developing battery and hybrid SUVs aimed at younger families, mainly in the European market. The decision to add a fourth brand in the UK underlines Chery’s efforts to win market share. The Lepas cars will be built initially in China and imported to the UK, which does…
Tag: Automotive industry
Chinese car firm Chery to open European base in Liverpool
Chinese carmaker Chery is to open a research and development headquarters in Liverpool, in a move that could pave the way for a deal for the British manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover to build its cars. State-owned Chery’s commercial vehicle arm will base the headquarters for its European operations on Merseyside, including research, engineering, and commercial functions. Chery has already made a mark in the UK car market through its Omoda and Jaecoo brands, and it is launching its eponymous brand with an advertising campaign featuring former England footballer Peter Crouch.…
UK probably needs large new factory to meet target of 1.3m cars a year, say industry boss
A target of building 1.3m cars a year is likely to be missed unless a large new UK factory is built in the coming years, an industry group has said, as Keir Starmer prepares to hold trade talks in China. Labour aims to have 1.3m vehicles rolling off production lines by 2035, a central ambition of its industrial strategy. That would nearly double the 764,715 cars and vans made in 2025, according to new data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). UK vehicle production slumped 15.5% in…
China forecast to have sold one in every 10 new cars in UK in 2025
Chinese brands are on course to account for one in every 10 new cars sold in Britain during 2025, a marked increase on last year as sales increase across Europe. Manufacturers led by MG, BYD, and Chery are on track to break the 200,000 mark in UK new car sales in 2025, meaning they are very likely to account for 10% of the market, according to Matthias Schmidt, an analyst tracking electric cars across Europe. Spain and Norway also get a tenth of their new cars from Chinese brands, with…
Chinese robotaxis due in London next year as Lyft and Uber reveal tie-ups
Chinese robotaxis are due to be on the streets of London next year after the US ride-hailing companies Lyft and Uber announced tie-ups with Beijing-based Baidu to deploy its self-driving technology. Lyft is the third firm to announce plans to introduce self-driving taxis to the UK capital next year, after Uber and Waymo, the main operator of robotaxis in the US. Its ride-hailing services are the major rival to Uber’s in the US and Canada, and this year Lyft expanded into Europe after acquiring the Freenow app in the summer.…
Netherlands suspends state seizure of Chinese chipmaker Nexperia
The Netherlands has suspended its seizure of the Chinese-owned chipmaker at the heart of a six-week dispute between the EU and China that threatened to halt car production at sites around the world. The Dutch minister of economic affairs, Vincent Karremans, said in a statement on Wednesday that the government would suspend its decision to take supervisory control of Nexperia as a gesture of “goodwill” to Beijing. “In light of recent developments, I consider it the right moment to take a constructive step by suspending my order under the Goods…
China voices ‘extreme disappointment’ with Dutch minister at centre of car chip row
Vincent Karremans called semiconductor supply chain crisis a ‘wake-up call for western leaders’ The Chinese government has expressed “extreme disappointment” with the Dutch minister at the heart of a row over chip supply to the car industry. A spokesperson for the ministry of commerce was responding to a Guardian interview with Vincent Karremans on Thursday in which the politician described the standoff between China and the European Union as a “wake-up call” for western leaders. Continue reading… The Guardian
‘It’s a wake-up call’: Dutch row with Chinese chipmaker that threatened global car industry
A bitter battle over the future of a Chinese-owned chipmaker in the Netherlands that threatened to cripple the global car industry is a “wake-up call to Europe and the west”, the minister at the heart of the row has warned. The six-week standoff between the EU and Beijing over Nexperia and its vital supplies of automotive semiconductors has served up a sobering lesson to world leaders over their dependency on China, says Vincent Karremans. The Dutch economy minister says he has no regrets about the tussle and would not change…
China poised to lift ban on chips exports to European carmakers after US deal
The vital flow of chips from China to the car industry in Europe looks poised to resume as part of the deal struck last week between Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. The Netherlands has signalled that its standoff with Beijing is close to a resolution amid signs China’s ban on exports of the key car industry components is easing. The dispute began when the Dutch government took control of the chipmaker Nexperia at the end of September after the US raised security concerns about the company’s Chinese…
Driving competition: China’s carmakers in race to dominate Europe’s roads
When Tesla wanted to catch the eye of British buyers, it put its cars and bright signage at a dealership in west London’s prominent Hogarth roundabout. Exposure to half a million drivers every day helped the US carmaker to become the dominant electric vehicle seller in the UK. Yet drivers passing by that site now see something different: twin Chinese brands Omoda and Jaecoo, both owned by the state-controlled manufacturer Chery. Chinese cars are on a roll across Europe – they outsold Korean rivals in western Europe for the first…