Chery to open UK R&D base as Sunderland deal eyes 2027 production

Chery, the Chinese group behind Britain’s best-selling car in September, is due to open a research and development centre at UTAC Millbrook in Bedfordshire in late autumn 2026. A non-binding deal with Nissan could also see Chery cars built on Line 1 at Sunderland from Nissan’s 2027 financial year. For UK drivers, that points to Omoda, Jaecoo and Chery models engineered for British roads and, if the factory plan is confirmed, cars less exposed to shipping costs and import tariffs. For the group’s next small SUV, see our Omoda 4 UK launch report.

The timing reflects how fast the group has grown. The Jaecoo 7 topped the UK registration chart in September with more than 10,800 sales, ahead of the Tesla Model 3 on more than 9,900 and the Ford Puma on 6,958, according to SMMT figures reported by Carwow. Jaecoo (15,057), Chery (9,793), Omoda (7,241) and the group’s fourth UK brand, Lepas (739), registered 32,830 cars between them in the month. We break that down in our report on how Chery’s four brands outsold Volkswagen in September, and the wider picture is in our piece on Chinese brands taking 23% of UK sales.

What will Chery’s Millbrook centre do?

Chery confirmed in August that it would set up an R&D Centre of Excellence at UTAC Millbrook, according to AM Online. Its first work will be chassis dynamics and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) for vehicles developed specifically for the UK. Chery says the programme responds to narrow lanes, roundabouts, sharp corners, dense traffic and varied road surfaces, as well as British drivers’ preference for responsive steering and suspension. Over time, the centre is meant to recruit local engineers and expand into autonomous driving and artificial intelligence.

The site gives Chery’s teams access to more than 70km of test tracks, including Millbrook’s Hill Route and Alpine Circuit, plus battery testing laboratories, powertrain test facilities, semi-anechoic chambers and ADAS testing, Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology International reported.

Separately, Chery Commercial Vehicle announced in January that its first European headquarters, covering engineering, software and R&D, would be in Liverpool, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority said.

For buyers, the ADAS work is the part most likely to show up day to day, in how lane keeping and speed assistance behave on busy, narrow British roads. Local tuning there is a sensible priority.

What has Chery agreed with Nissan at Sunderland?

On 3 June 2026, Nissan and Chery International UK signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to study building Chery passenger cars at Sunderland, Nissan announced. Chery would use Line 1, with production slated to begin in Nissan’s 2027 financial year, CarNewsChina reported. Nissan would keep full ownership of the plant, and all plant staff would remain Nissan employees.

Line 1 is free because Nissan has consolidated Leaf, Qashqai and Juke production onto Line 2 as part of global cost cutting. Sunderland builds the new Nissan Leaf, one of the cars in our guide to every British-built electric car you can order, and Automotive News reported on 24 September that Nissan had resolved Leaf production delays there.

The important word is non-binding. Nissan says discussions are continuing, and neither company has named a model, a volume or a firm start date.

Date	Milestone	Status
January 2026	Chery Commercial Vehicle names Liverpool as its European headquarters	Announced
3 June 2026	Nissan and Chery International UK sign non-binding MoU for Sunderland	Signed, not final
August 2026	Chery confirms R&D centre at UTAC Millbrook	Confirmed
September 2026	Jaecoo 7 is the UK’s best-selling car with more than 10,800 registrations	Done
Late autumn 2026	Millbrook centre due to open	Upcoming
1 January 2027	Stricter UK and EU rules of origin for EVs and batteries	Scheduled
Nissan’s 2027 financial year	Target start of Chery production on Sunderland Line 1	Subject to a binding deal

Why would Chery build cars in Britain?

Building cars locally would cut the cost and time of shipping them from China and reduce Chery’s exposure to import tariffs.

The bigger test is the post-Brexit trade deal. From 1 January 2027, an electric car must meet tougher local content rules to move between the UK and the EU tariff-free, AM Online reported. Cars that miss them face a 10% customs duty.

Rule from 1 January 2027	Minimum UK or EU content
Electric vehicle	55%
Battery pack	70%
Battery cells	65%

European carmakers are worried. In a September letter to EU leaders, the industry body ACEA warned that 82% of the 520,000 electric cars and vans expected to be exported from the EU to Britain next year would not comply, exposing about 426,000 vehicles to the duty, according to the same AM Online report.

There is a catch for Chery. Assembling a car in Sunderland does not make it British for trade purposes. A model built mostly from Chinese parts with a Chinese battery would struggle to reach 55% local content, so tariff-free exports to the EU would depend on how far Chery localises its supply chain. Local assembly is the first step, not the whole answer.

What this means for you

Nothing changes on the forecourt yet. Every Chery, Omoda and Jaecoo on sale today is imported, and the Millbrook work will feed into future models rather than cars already in showrooms. If you are weighing up one of these brands, start with our guide to Chinese EV brands in the UK.

We would not change a buying decision because of the Sunderland plan. It is a non-binding study with no named models, no prices and no start date beyond a financial year, so there is no case for waiting for a British-built Jaecoo. The Millbrook centre is the firmer commitment, and it signals that Chery intends to compete on driving quality, not just price.

For Sunderland, using an idle line would keep a large plant busier without changing who employs its workforce. Watch for a binding contract, a named model and a battery sourcing plan. Until then, treat UK-built Chery cars as a possibility, not a promise.