Chery H1 2026: profit slips, exports surge — what Omoda and Jaecoo UK buyers need to know

Chery Group's headline figures for the first half of 2026 are not alarming, but they require some unpicking. Total revenue of 143.28 billion yuan is essentially flat year-on-year — up just 1.2%. Net profit attributable to owners fell 11.7% to 8.57 billion yuan, giving a margin of 6.3%. The more encouraging figure is gross margin, which rose from 13.0% to 16.1%. That means Chery earned more on each vehicle sold even as its product mix shifted dramatically between segments. With twelve major production facilities globally, including three overseas, the group operates at genuine industrial scale rather than as a speculative new entrant.

The single most important fact for UK buyers is the scale of Chery's international shift. Overseas revenue grew 51.0% in H1 2026 to 98.97 billion yuan, now representing 69% of the group's total turnover. That means export markets are no longer supplementary — they are the core of Chery's business. The context is essential: domestic Chinese revenue fell 41.7% year-on-year to 44.31 billion yuan, driven by the near-collapse of the domestic combustion car market. This is not a story of Chery retreating; it is a story of a group that bet on international electrification early and is now reaping the revenue. The UK, through Omoda and Jaecoo, sits within that strategic export footprint. Chery needs UK success, which creates a commercial incentive to sustain support, parts availability and dealer investment.

Within Chery's total revenue, the NEV segment is the one growing rapidly. NEV sales generated 59.28 billion yuan in H1 2026, up 63.8% year-on-year. NEV now accounts for 41.4% of the group's total revenue, almost double the 25.6% it represented in the same period last year. Research and development spending grew 28.3% to 6.67 billion yuan, explicitly targeting electrification, new platforms, assisted driving and smart cockpit systems. The group's premium electrification ambitions are made tangible by the Luxeed RX, developed with Huawei, which opened pre-orders in China on 20 August 2026 from 299,800 to 359,800 yuan. The standard variant includes in-cabin LiDAR; the higher trim is designed to an L3-ready architecture. No UK or right-hand-drive date has been confirmed. Note that NEV gross margin (12.8%) remains below ICE gross margin (18.1%) — normal at this stage of scale-building, but a margin gap that Chery needs to close as volumes grow.

One balance-sheet item in Chery's H1 2026 results is worth flagging honestly rather than glossing over. Combined accounts payable and notes payable reached 145.67 billion yuan at 30 June 2026 — a figure that exceeds the group's entire first-half revenue of 143.28 billion yuan. Notes payable specifically tripled, reaching 50.33 billion yuan. To be clear: this is not the same as debt, and it is not unusual in the Chinese automotive supply chain, where supplier credit terms are long and component volumes are large. Chery is profitable, generating positive gross margins and genuinely growing exports. But it does represent a significant short-term obligation concentration. Buyers who are weighing up whether Chery will be around to honour a five or seven-year warranty on an Omoda or Jaecoo should note this figure and revisit it when H2 2026 results are published.

Taking the H1 2026 results as a whole: Chery Group is a large, increasingly export-led manufacturer in the middle of a genuine structural pivot from domestic combustion to international electrification. The profit decline is real but sits alongside rising gross margins and substantial R&D investment. The accounts payable figure is the one item that warrants ongoing monitoring, but it does not signal imminent financial distress in a group that is profitable and growing revenues rapidly in overseas markets. For buyers of Omoda E5, Omoda 9, Jaecoo 7 or Jaecoo 7 PHEV in the UK: the brand-survival picture is broadly stable. The strategic logic is straightforward — Chery needs UK and European volumes to sustain its export growth thesis, which provides a commercial incentive to invest in dealer networks, parts supply and warranty fulfilment. Verify warranty terms directly with your dealer and note that H2 2026 results (expected early 2027) will be the next meaningful data point for the accounts payable position.