Chinese carmakers have taken 18% of the UK’s new car market in 2026 so far – in September’s bumper plate change month nearly a quarter of cars sold were from Chinese brands. 

In actual number terms that’s 300,000 cars and counting – you wouldn’t think there was any room left in the market for anyone else, but these brands disagree. Here are the new Chinese brands that are set to hit UK roads in 2027.

iCaur – Chery picked for 2027

When will it arrive in the UK? Early 2027

What will its first UK model be? V27 (confirmed)

When will deliveries start? Unconfirmed

Chery’s new off-roading themed sub-brand is set to kick us off for 2027 with the V27, the largest SUV it has in its line-up. There’s just the one car officially confirmed from iCaur (it’s pronounced iCar, it just can’t spell it like that because tech behemoth Apple has the trademark, the little scamp), but the V25 was revealed just the other week and could be on the way soon. 

Zeekr – new premium brand from Geely

When will it arrive in the UK? Late 2026/early 2027

What will its first UK model be? 7X and 7GT (expected)

When will deliveries start? Early 2027

Considering that Zeekr has been insisting that it plans to launch in the UK before the end of 2026 things have been awfully quiet, but a brand launch in the early part of 2027 seems a bit more realistic. Zeekr is an upmarket electrified brand owned by Geely – but wait, aren’t Volvo, Polestar and Lotus upmarket electrified brands owned by Geely as well? Zeekr is going for more of a techy angle, so it’s completely different. Launch cars are likely to be the 7X and 7GT, which we've driven. You can tell we're excited about the 7GT, we've already put it in our 'Best Chinese EVs on sale' list. 

Firefly – when will Nio’s fancy brand arrive?

When will it arrive in the UK? Still tbc

What will its first UK model be? Firefly hatch (confirmed)

When will deliveries start? Unconfirmed

This one is a bit of a head scratcher – we’ve already driven the Firefly, they’ve started making RHD ones and it was supposed to be coming to the UK in 2026, some site called Electrifying said so. We really want people to be able to enjoy the underseat in the back of the company’s debut electric hatchback, you know? The company told auto industry press as recently (!) as June 2026 that it was assessing how it would enter the UK market. You see, on the continent it’s selling cars directly to consumers, but in the UK it plans to gets some dealers. We’re pencilling this one in for some point in 2027… typical though – the most interesting brand is the most uncertain.

Freelander – the new Chery/JLR brand

When will it arrive in the UK? After everyone else

What will its first UK model be? Still tbc

When will deliveries start? Unconfirmed

Another Chery-owned off-roading themed brand, this one is going to feel a little more familiar to us than some of the new badges being launched on the market. Freelander has already spread from China to the Middle East, but the company recently outlined its expansion plans for the next little while and the UK is right at the bottom of the list. Humph. We’re expecting the brand to be launched over here towards the end of 2027, so at least that gives us something to look forward to. And there will likely be new models to see by that point, given Freelander’s ambitions plans to expand what is currently a single car range with the 8 SUV. 

The Chinese brands you might have missed

Lepas

It’s the passionate leopard brand (that’s what the name is supposed to stand for, I’m not being weird) – yet again, it’s a slightly posh Chery sub-brand, and it actually launched back in September but is slowly ramping up sales. You might have seen its new plug-in SUV (the L8) trundling around somewhere but there will be a lot more over the next few months. 

Aion

There are brands that try to go for the hip and cool crowd (and rarely get there) and there are brands whose sole purpose is to go for the exact audience that buys the Honda Jazz in large numbers. Think extra blankets in the boot and a box of tissues on the rear parcel shelf. I’ll let you guess which of the two types represented here that the Aion UT electric hatchback might fall into. It launched around the same time as Lepas and has outsold it so far this year, so that's nice.