The days of Chinese brands solely producing their cars locally and exporting them around the world are well and truly over, after new reports claimed Chery is looking to build vehicles in the UK at factories owned by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).
As reported by the Financial Times, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will visit Beijing next week, during which he will meet with Chery to convince the carmaker to start production in the UK.
According to the publication, Starmer is visiting China with executives from JLR, which already has an existing joint venture with Chery in the latter’s home market.
Until October last year, the joint venture produced the Jaguar XEL, XFL and E-Pace in China for the market, and it’s set to build the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque there until the end of 2026.
In May, Autocar reported the Freelander nameplate would be reborn and launched as a China-first sub-brand before 2027, running on Chery’s current and future electrified vehicle platforms.
It’s not yet clear whether these Freelander vehicles would be those Chery could build in the UK for export markets, though given the tariffs on Chinese EVs in Europe, it’s possible they may make up some of the product mix.
Chery’s main brand only launched in the UK last year, however its 5517 sales in the region put it ahead of Alfa Romeo, Subaru, and Jaguar, while its Omoda and Jaecoo sub-brands managed 19,855 and 28,232 sales, respectively – in the same ballpark as Suzuki, Honda and Dacia.
For context, in 2024 Jaguar sold 16,617 cars in the UK, almost all of which were built locally.
However with no more cars coming down the production line until the arrival of the Type 00 electric grand tourer’s production counterpart, its factories are effectively sitting idle.
“If there is a manufacturing facility where there is sort of undercapacity, then [… ] there is a logic to forming partnerships and that could well form one of them,” UK business secretary Peter Kyle told the Financial Times.
It’s worth noting Land Rovers are still built at two sites in the UK, JLR’s Solihull and Halewood plants.
A potential deal for Chery to build its vehicles at JLR’s UK factories would be of cost benefit to both brands, David Bailey, professor of business economics at the University of Birmingham, said to the Financial Times.
“At a time when European plants are under capacity, it’s a way of filling that space and also getting Chinese brands to produce in Europe. It’s a potential win-win.”
Previous reports have suggested the first new Freelander model will be based on Chery’s T1X platform, currently underpinning the Omoda 5 (renamed this week to the C5) and the Omoda E5 EV.
Autocar reported at the time last year that the Freelander crossover will not only be available with pure electric power, but also support range-extender powertrains, which see a petrol engine act as an on-board generator for a smaller battery that powers the motors.
Chery also has plug-in hybrids in its current stable, potentially offering a third powertrain to the Freelanders.
While it’s yet to be seen how much interest there is in reviving the Freelander name – which would have been extinct for almost 11 years by the time the brand launches – its revival will make it the ninth Chery brand on sale globally.
Discussion about this post