Chinese cars: All the new brands in the UK explained

It feels like barely a week goes by without a new Chinese car brand comes along. But amongst the many fresh names and badges arriving in the UK, which are the ones you should be paying attention to?

Here, we'll list what we consider to be the major players who'll either be making waves in the next few years or already are. Many of these are actually massive companies already in their native China, but are only just making an assault on the UK. 

The cars from these unknown (to UK motorists) brands are getting better all the time, drawing closer and in some cases going one up on more established players in Europe. Value, too, is usually high on the agenda, with knock-down prices grabbing attention and in many cases leading buyers away from more traditional rivals. The actual cars can be a bit hit-and-miss, but the rate of improvement suggests that all of these brands need to be taken seriously. 

The exception to this is, of course, MG, one of the most historic British brands, but the modern, Chinese-backed iteration is unrelated to the firm that once made fun but rust-prone things like the Midget. 

As well as having over 100 years of history in the brand, the 'new MG' has actually been operating in the UK a while, so its latest products are quite well known. On the other hand, you might be wondering what on earth a BYD or a Skywell is, and if that's the case, you should read on.

BYD

While far from a household name in the UK, BYD is a huge deal in China, and became the best-selling car brand in the country in 2023. Although BYD has been turned into the backronym 'Build Your Dreams (something which, unfortunately, is plastered over the back of some of the company's cars), it didn't originally stand for anything. 

BYD started as Yadi Electronics, named after the location of its original facility, later renamed as Biyadi to punt it up the alphabetical-sorted lists of trade shows, and shortened as 'BYD'. BYD makes batteries and motors for other car companies, and started building its own cars via an automotive offshoot founded in 2005. 

The products that have made it to the UK have thus far been a bit of a mixed bag. First launched here in 2023 was the BYD Atto 3, which doesn't look all that interesting on the outside, but has a mad interior with a rotating screen and 'guitar strings' for door pockets on which you can play a tune. Yes, really.

Follow-ups like the Seal and Sealion 7 have been a touch more serious, and have a lot going for them, including impressive spec lists and well-made interiors. They're priced quite strongly, though, so don't go thinking one of these will be a bargain.

BYD also has other brands including Denza and Yangwang, for the former being confirmed for a UK launch with its Z9GT.

MG

To understand MG in a modern context, you need to go back to the sorry story that is the collapse of the Phoenix Consortium, which in 2000 bought various assets then belonging to BMW to form the short-lived MG Rover Group. That went bust in 2005, having never made a profit, and at that point, Nanjing Automobile, a company that would later merge with SAIC, swooped in and bought the rights to the brands.

The reborn company was called MG Motor, and it still operates to this day. Some engineering of the cars is done in the UK, and even in the remnants of MG's old Longbridge plant (most of it has been demolished to make way for housing and other redevelopment work), but this is still a Chinese concern with its headquarters in Shanghai, with all the manufacturing done in China also.

Initial cars to emerge from the reborn brand like the MG3 and MG6 were cheap and cheerful, but the products have been getting better and better, particularly on the EV front. The MG4 is pretty much unbeatable as a value proposition, but it isn't just cheap - it's genuinely a very good car. Its most recent effort, the MGS5, is better still, so we're confident MG hasn't peaked just yet.

As the most established of the marques on this list, it should come as no surprise that MG has by far the biggest dealer network, with 150 locations across the country. 

Omoda

You won't find any cars sold under the Omoda banner in China. Instead, Omoda is used by parent company Chery to sell rebranded versions of its cars elsewhere. What's known as the Chery Omoda 5 in China, for instance, is sold in the UK as simply the Omoda 5.

This mid-sized SUV comes in both petrol and electric flavours, with the latter badged as the 'E5'. Each score well in terms of value, but the petrol powertrain lacks refinement, while the ride and handling need work.

Although Omoda has only been a thing since 2023, Chery's roots can be traced back much further, with the state-owned manufacturer having been founded in 1997. Chery has many brands under its umbrella, including off-road-focused iCar, which is also set to come to Europe, albeit under the 'iCaur' guise to avoid upsetting a certain manufacturer of laptops and smartphones. 

There's also Chery Jaguar Land Rover, a joint venture between Chery and JLR to facilitate Chinese production of vehicles like the Range Rover Evoque for the local market.

Jaecoo

Omoda isn’t the only brand Chery is using to snare buyers outside of China. There’s also Jaecoo, the more grown-up option compared to the supposedly ‘sporty’ Omoda. The name is a portmanteau of ‘jaeger’, the German word for hunter, and the English word for cool, with the L sliced off, for whatever reason. 

If you can get past the iffy name, the brand’s first effort to land here, the Jaecoo 7, is packed full of kit and doesn’t cost a lot of money. Similar to the Omoda 5, then. But again, There are flaws to put up with, like the pure petrol cars having power delivery issues, and the driver assistance systems lacking polish. You can't avoid the petrol engine, either, as unlike the Omoda, there's no electric version. 

The handling isn't much good either, and the ride is a bit firm. You'll need to be very taken by the price, standard equipment list and the excellent warranty to overlook its misgivings.

The dealer backup for both Jaecoo and Omoda models should be good, too. There are already more than 70 locations in the UK, with a target of 130 for the end of the year.

Leapmotor

Founded in 2015, Leapmotor is a unique one on this list, as it’s part-owned by a European car giant. Not content with its giant list of in-house brands including Fiat, Citroen and Peugeot, Stellantis acquired a 20% chunk of Leapmotor in 2023 for €1.5 billion, helping the fledgling brand distribute its cars outside of China. 

The first two to arrive in the UK are very different, albeit both electric. There’s the Leapmotor T03, a pint-sized, £16k hatchback taking the fight to the Dacia Spring while massively undercutting Stellantis’ own cheaper EVs, including the Citroen e-C3, and a mid-sized SUV costing more than twice that in the form of the C10. 

£36,500 is not much for an EV of this size, though, and the Leapmotor C10 is packed full of equipment despite the low price, with highlights including a huge panoramic roof and a whopping 14.6-inch touchscreen infotainment system. 

Once again, that value is offset by the C10 being so-so to drive. Meanwhile, the little T03 is better than a lot of ways than the Dacia Spring, but it’s a little worrying that Leapmotor won’t get it crash-tested by Euro NCAP, but was more than happy to send the C10 to be assessed. 

Ora

GWM might sound like a new brand for the UK, but it isn't really. GWM stands for Great Wall Motor, a Chinese company founded in 1984, whose Great Wall Steed on our shores starting in 2012. 

The Steed (called the Wingle elsewhere in the world) is a cheap and not especially cheerful pick-up truck that never sold in big numbers, but the brand has made a bit more of a mark with its Ora sub-brand. The first car to arrive in the UK under this banner was the GWM Ora Funky Cat.

Yes, more naming strangeness, but we didn't mind in this case, particularly because it made for great headline puns. Sadly, it was later renamed simply the '03', which means we're unlikely to other eyebrow-raising Ora names appear in the UK, including 'Lightning Cat'. A shame. 

As for the Funk...03, it's an EV with some snazzy retro-like styling both inside and out, but it's not quite cheap enough to overcome various flaws including driver assistance features that don't quite work properly and poor ride quality. Here's hoping follow-up from vehicles are better rounded. 

GWM vehicles are imported into the UK by International Motors, which also brings the likes of Isuzu and Subaru to our shores, as well as Xpeng - more on the latter shortly.

XPeng

The second EV-focused Chinese brand to be imported to the UK by International Motors is XPeng. It's one of the younger ones here, having been founded in 2014. It takes its name from He Xiaopeng, one of the brand's early backers and its current chairman. 

The XPeng G6 is the first of the brand's vehicles to be sold in the UK, and it's one of the better-rounded products on this list. And yes, as you're probably used to hearing by now, it's priced below more traditional competitors (think Tesla Model Y) despite being absolutely packed full of equipment. It looks a bit anonymous, but that's another theme with these newcomers, perhaps aside from GWM. 

Although it's early days for XPeng in the UK, the brand expects to have 20 dealers in the UK by the end of the year. 

Skywell

Skywell was created in 2017 a joint venture between Skyworth, a massive consumer electronics company that's been going since the 1980s, and Nanjing Golden Dragon Bus, which makes electric buses among other things.

Its debut product in the UK is the BE11. Even the Long Range version that'll do 304 miles on a full charge costs less than £40,000, and, you guessed it, this SUV is packed full of equipment. An 80kW rapid charge capability is well below what most rivals manage (some can take multiple times that figure), and the styling is pretty bland.

If those weren't deal-breakers already, the BE11 also suffers from sub-par handling, and the infotainment system isn't brilliant. Hopefully the Skywell Q hatchback and the Skyhome four-seater luxury car on their way to the UK prove to be better bets.

The Skywell UK dealer network is still fairly limited, with 12 locations at the time of writing, but there are plans for 50 by the end of the year.