Chery's record exports: what UK Omoda and Jaecoo owners need to know

Omoda and Jaecoo are sister brands that share the same parent, the same UK dealer group, and the same warranty infrastructure: Chery Automobile Co. Ltd, founded in 1997 in Wuhu, Anhui province. Chery is one of China's largest vehicle exporters and has been the country's number-one passenger-car exporter for more than twenty consecutive years. In the UK, this matters because warranty credibility depends on whether the parent company still exists in year seven.

The group's UK footprint expanded significantly in June 2026, when Chery and Nissan signed a memorandum of understanding for contract manufacturing at Nissan's Sunderland plant — the largest car factory in the UK, with roughly 6,000 workers. Chery had already acquired former Nissan facilities in Barcelona (production began April 2026) and Pretoria (January 2026). Sunderland production is targeted for the financial year beginning April 2027. The MoU is not yet a binding production contract, but the direction of travel is towards permanent UK industrial roots, which changes the calculus for buyers concerned about the brand's longevity.

In July 2026, Chery exported 202,533 vehicles — the first time any Chinese automaker has shipped more than 200,000 units in a single calendar month. The figure comes from Chinese industry outlets CNEvPost, D1EV, and Gasgoo, citing Chery's own sales data; it has not been independently audited, so we rate the confidence as medium rather than verified. That caveat aside, the scale is not in dispute: Chery's total July 2026 production (domestic plus export) was 261,876 units, with exports accounting for 73 per cent of that total. Year-on-year growth was 24.1 per cent.

For UK Omoda and Jaecoo owners, the export number matters for one specific reason: a carmaker shipping one fifth of a million vehicles a month to customers across dozens of countries is not quietly winding down. The financial gravity required to maintain that volume — supplier contracts, shipping logistics, overseas warranty networks — is substantial. Pulling out of a market the size of the UK would be a rounding error on the downside, not a catalyst for exiting entirely.

Scale is a proxy for credibility when it comes to after-sales commitments. Chery reported a global customer base of 20.16 million as of August 2026, exporting to more than 80 countries. The Rosslyn plant near Pretoria, South Africa — taken over from Nissan at the start of 2026 — already employs 692 people directly. The Barcelona facility, which Chery began operating in April 2026, adds a European manufacturing node that reduces the cost and time of supplying right-hand-drive European markets.

None of this is disclosure-quality data — Chery does not publish audited international accounts in English, and the figures come from the company's own communications reported by Chinese industry media. But the consistency of the evidence across multiple independent outlets (CNEvPost, D1EV, Gasgoo) in the same reporting window gives reasonable confidence in the general picture: this is a large, globally active manufacturer in expansion mode, not contraction mode.

The honest answer to "will my warranty hold?" is: more yes than no, and better this month than three months ago. UK buyers of the Omoda E5 get a 7-year/100,000-mile vehicle warranty plus an 8-year/100,000-mile battery warranty — both verified from the UK official site. Jaecoo 7 PHEV owners carry the same 7/100k vehicle warranty and an 8-year/100,000-mile high-voltage battery warranty. These commitments sit on top of a manufacturer with July 2026 export volumes that exceed the annual output of many mid-tier European brands.

Both models carry Euro NCAP 5-star ratings: the Omoda E5 (tested as Chery OMODA 5 in 2022, validated for the EV variant in 2024) and the Jaecoo 7 PHEV (tested 2025, 81/80/80/80 per cent across all categories). On the UK market performance side, the Jaecoo 7 was the UK's best-selling model across all powertrains in March 2026 — meaning the dealer and service infrastructure has reason to stay in place.

The caveat the record numbers do not address: Chery's UK entity (Omoda Jaecoo UK Ltd) is a micro-company by Companies House standards. Warranty delivery in years five to seven depends on parent-company commitment staying in place, not just the size of global exports today.

The July 2026 export figures are a strong positive signal, but they are not a financial audit, and UK buyers should be clear about what remains unknown.

First, Chery does not publish English-language audited accounts for its UK subsidiary or its global operations. The export volumes come from Chery's own communications, reported by Chinese industry media — not from an independent filing. We treat all such figures as medium confidence.

Second, the Sunderland deal is a memorandum of understanding, not a signed production contract. The April 2027 target is aspirational; production-line installation has not yet begun. If global trade conditions or tariff regimes change sharply, the MoU could be renegotiated or shelved.

Third, the 73 per cent export-dependency figure cuts both ways: Chery's finances are heavily exposed to international trade conditions. A significant tariff shock in multiple markets simultaneously could affect the economics of maintaining UK after-sales commitments. This is a tail risk, not a near-term concern, but it is worth naming.

Finally: the five-star safety figure in Chinese media reports (a gasgoo.com article citing Chinese model specs) refers to the Chinese domestic C-NCAP test system — not Euro NCAP. These are different test regimes. Euro NCAP results for both UK models are cited separately above and are the ones that count for UK regulatory purposes.