EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds of car showrooms across Britain are ditching traditional European and US brands in favour of Chinese challengers as experts and motorists explain why new names are appearing on UK roads
British drivers and car showrooms are abandoning well-known Western brands for Chinese rivals as the Iran war petrol crisis accelerates the shift towards electric cars.
Over the past two years, hundreds of dealerships across the nation have been refitted to house a new wave of Beijing-backed car brands – such as Jaecoo, XPENG, Chery, Changan, and Omoda. BYD, already the UK’s best-selling EV brand, says it wants to be the nation’s number one overall within the next five years – and has reported 113% growth in 2026 so far compared to the year before.
Even MG, a quintessentially British car marque, is now a fully owned subsidiary of Shanghai-headquartered SAIC Motors. The shift towards Chinese vehicles comes as data shows the hybrid Jaecoo 7 battling it out for the UK’s best selling car of 2026. It’s currently in third and ahead of some established names, such as the Vauxhall Corsa, Ranger Rover Sport and the Mini Cooper.
Last month was the best May for overall car sales in Britain since the pandemic, with EVs from China leading the charge. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), who put together the figures, said 27.3% of all new sales were electric, putting the boom down to “increasingly competitive offers” amid “economic and geopolitical uncertainty”.
Taking full advantage of this trend are bosses at major UK car retailers, with at least 300 showrooms estimated to have been set up for Chinese EVs and hybrids over the past 24 months. The majority of these are existing sites that have shifted away from Western brands, which in contrast are actively scaling back their physical sales presence.
Evans Halshaw rebranded at least five sites – including Ford locations in Rotherham and Bury – into BYD showrooms, while London-based Ancaster Group has completely repurposed its Hyundai forecourt in Welling, London to launch Omoda and Jaecoo.
Vertu Motors converted some of its traditional Ford premises, such as its Hartlepool branch, into dedicated BYD hubs, and the 78-year-old Yorkshire family business JCT600 recently cleared out its Volkswagen Vans site at Priory Tec Park in Hessle, near Hull, to house Changan.
Steve Fowler, a motoring expert who has served as a judge for the World Car of the Year awards, told the Mirror: “These Chinese brands are looking after their dealers better than some of the established brands have been… they are looking after their dealers really well.
“And they’re looking after their customers better because they’re incentivised to do so.
“A Chinese car has to be explained a little bit more, the consumer is is a little bit more wary about them. You’ve got to try harder to sell them. And I think that’s what people are liking, the fact that the dealership is is working harder to explain the cars to answer all the questions, which, frankly, the established legacy players are not doing, and they haven’t been doing for years.”
Sandra Wilkinson, 61, looks after her 88-year-old mother Eileen Jones and her 96-year-old ex-Mirror reporter father Reginald Jones at home in Bramhall, Cheshire. She said her Jaecoo 7 4×4 hybrid helps them get out and about in the countryside for lunch and afternoon tea, and is also useful for trips to North Wales and the Scottish Highlands.
She explained: “They’ve made it a hard car not to buy, and I think that European and North American car manufacturers have got a hell of a competitor on their hands.”
“I was looking for a car that I could transport two elderly parents comfortably, and that they could get in and out of very easily. It’s not a sports car, it doesn’t feel like it’s stuck to the road. But it’s a very comfortable ride that is incredible value for money.”
“It ticked every box. Did I worry about the fact that it was Chinese and it was new? I think I was a bit worried that maybe the parts might not be available, but once they start manufacturing them here… no more problem.”
Reginald, whose big stories included during his 35-year career included the Moors Murders and a 17-day police stand-off in Shropshire, added: “The car does the job… and I couldn’t care less who makes it!”
Taxi driver Rob Dunkerley, 56, from Fleet, Hampshire, has been using Jaecoo model for six months after previously driving his passengers around in a Toyota Avensis – and was “very pleased with the car so far”. “The only downside for me is the boot isn’t as big as I’d like”, he added.
Tu Pham, a BMW driver of 25 years, told us that his family had already made the move to BYD – and he was now looking at an XPeng too. China’s car exports not always been warmly received, with their reputation for failing crash dummy tests making them the butt of jokes on Top Gear as recently as the early 2010s.
But that perception may now be shifting thanks to some long-term strategic thinking in Beijing, which has seen Chinese manufacturers “leap frog” Western competitors by switching development to EVs early. More recently, Donald Trump’s war in Iran has sent prices at the pump soaring, pushing previously sceptical drivers towards EVs for their next purchase.
Professor David Bailey from Birmingham Business School explained that the “Brexit effect” means the UK has significantly lower tariffs than the EU and the US, making this country a “target” for Chinese manufacturers.
He said: “The US has got tariffs of more than 100% on Chinese EVs, which is keeping lots of them out. The European Union has various tariffs of up to about 45% for some Chinese brands… but the UK doesn’t have that tariff. We have just a simple standard 10% tariff. So because of that Chinese brands are very much targeting the UK because it’s wide open for them.
“Because the Chinese market has essentially stagnated because of slow economic growth and various other things, the government’s industrial strategies are very much shifted towards exports and exports of EVs in particular – and the UK is a major market for this.”
He said the rate of growth could eventually raise questions over whether tariffs should be introduced – but that “if you want people to get into EVs, then it’s going to be cheap Chinese EVs that will do that much more quickly.”
Last month, Nissan announced plans to build Chery passenger vehicles at its Sunderland factory – securing the future of its 6,000-strong workforce, and marking the first time a Chinese manufacturer would make its cars in Britain should it go ahead.
Experts believe it’s a sign that China’s hand in the car industry is set to only strengthen over the coming years. Professor Bailey added: “You’ve got this situation where, because the European industry including the UK is under so much pressure, they’ve got a lot of spare capacity. And so companies are looking to bring in Chinese players to build in that spare capacity – including Stellantis with Leapmotor, Nissan with Chery.
“We may see further moves. JLR has got a lot of spare capacity and in fact with Chery they’ve got a kind of joint venture to make the Freelander model, which I think is eventually becoming a separate brand.”
