THE EV GOLDRUSH WHY ARE CHINESE CAR MAKERS FLOODING THE UK

We investigate why the British market is so attractive to Chinese brands

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SKODA boss Klaus Zellmer has a map on his office wall, where he plots the confirmed R&D or manufacturing operations of Chinese car manufacturers in Europe. There are four pins in Germany, a couple each in the UK, Hungary and Italy, plus markers on Spain and Sweden too.

“How do the Chinese handle tariffs?” he explains. “If tariffs impose a risk and there’s enough sales potential, they just invest into that area. We know China’s ambitions and aspirations don't stop at its borders. Their invested capacities and volumes mean they need to export. They are very keen and aggressively looking into the export potential.”

The Chinese influx of the UK and European car markets is in full flow. In the first half of this year, Chinese market share in Europe topped five per cent - up from two per cent at the beginning of 2023, calculates automotive data and analytics firm JATO. It’s even more pronounced in the UK: from January to September, Chinese manufacturer registrations passed 150,000 cars - just under 10 per cent of the entire pie. Changan, Chery, Geely, Haval, Jaecoo, Leapmotor, Poer and XPeng: eight Chinese car brands have launched in this market since the turn of the year. Why?