Chinese electric car maker Omoda is planning to set up an assembly plant in the UK as it eyes sales of up to 10,000 in its first year in the country.
The manufacturer said it had identified a number of potential sites for the plant in the UK as it this week unveiled a range of vehicles available to British consumers for the first time.
Omoda is being launched in the UK alongside its sister brand Jaecoo. The pair are subsidiaries of state-owned Chery, which is China’s third-largest carmaker and biggest passenger car exporter.
The models aim to claw market share from larger, more established luxury brands in the UK with the offer of an “affordable premium” range with prices starting from £26,000.
The vehicles will go on sale at over 60 dealerships with plans to extend to 100 over the coming months. Omoda hopes to sell up to 10,000 vehicles in the UK a year after going on sale, and is eyeing as many as 50,000 annual unit sales by 2028.
Omoda spokesman Robert Durrant told the Standard: “The UK has a unique position…we’re right hand drive and they are established [automakers] who are manufacturing and exporting from the UK.
“But there are other markets such as Australia and South Africa and we sell to various markets in Asia with right-hand drive, so there is viability in doing that.”
Chery also co-owns Jaguar Land Rover in China in a joint venture with Indian owner Tata. An Omoda spokesperson today said that international expansion via joint ventures “is something that happens in every market” in signs that the company could be exploring partnering with another manufacturer in the UK or Europe.
The plans come amid a turbulent time for the UK electric vehicle market, after a number of EV firms such as Arrival, Volta and Lunaz went into administration amid rising costs and a softening of demand. The wider global EV market has also come under strain, with shares in US carmaker Tesla down 27% since the start of the year and its smaller rival Rivian down nearly 50%.
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The launch of the new range also coincides with a period of heightened tensions in relations between the UK and China, after the UK government yesterday said Chinese government-affiliated groups were responsible for a cyber-attack on the Electoral Commission. Last year, the UK government forced a Chinese-owned firm to sell its stake in a Newport-based chip manufacturer on grounds of national security. It has also ordered the removal of Huawei-made equipment from UK telecoms infrastructure on similar grounds.
But Omoda UK country manager Victor Zhang told the Standard: “UK-China has very close trade between these two markets and there will be no change.
“We fully understand the importance of these two countries’ co-operation. In terms of the auto business, it’s still very open for different markets brands’ coming, not only Chinese or Asian but others — so for us we don’t have any doubt about this bilateral relationship.
“As long as we bring good service and quality to customers we think it can have a place in the UK.”
Other Chinese-owned carmakers have shown signs of success in the UK, including the former British brand MG, whose sales of EVs helped revenues reach £1 billion in 2022 after it was bought by Chinese company SAIC Motor Corp following its demise in the mid-2000s.
Omoda has also become one of the largest EV makers in Russia after a number of European manufacturers withdrew from the market following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.