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The Chinese carmaker Chery is launching a fourth brand in the UK, continuing a push into the British market where it has rapidly become a major player.

The state-owned company said on Wednesday it would sell cars under the Lepas brand, which is developing battery and hybrid SUVs aimed at younger families, mainly in the European market.

The decision to add a fourth brand in the UK underlines Chery’s efforts to win market share. The Lepas cars will be built initially in China and imported to the UK, which does not have the tariffs imposed by the US and EU, but the government is hopeful it will eventually decide to manufacture cars in Britain.

Jaguar Land Rover, Britain’s largest automotive employer, is in early-stage discussions over a potential deal to use its factories to make Chery cars but no agreement has been announced.

The new brand launch comes a week after Chery said it would open a research and development headquarters in Liverpool for commercial vehicles.

Chery has been the largest exporter of cars from China for 23 years but did not make significant inroads in Europe because it focused on cheaper models for other regions such as the Middle East.

The rise of electric cars and heavy government subsidies for Chinese manufacturers, however, have allowed companies such as Chery, BYD and the MG owner SAIC to take on European and Japanese carmakers.

Chery launched its Omoda brand in 2024, Jaecoo in January 2025 and its eponymous brand last summer. It sold 53,600 of those cars in 2025 in the UK, or 2.7% of the market. That meant it outdid BYD, Tesla and the German-owned Mini, and easily outsold Japanese rivals such as Honda and Mazda.

In January, Chery sold nearly 6,100 cars in the UK, most of which were hybrids combining a smaller battery with a petrol engine, according to figures from New Automotive, a thinktank.

The sales figures also suggested that Tesla’s sales slump continued, with only 650 sales recorded, fewer than half the 1,400 recorded in January 2025. The US carmaker’s European sales have been hit by an ageing model lineup as well as consumer distaste for the chief executive Elon Musk’s support for far-right politicians. Tesla’s sales were less than half the 1,326 electric sales of BYD, which last year overtook it to become the world’s biggest seller of battery electric cars.

Chery has not yet committed to manufacturing in the UK, but it has indicated that it is considering doing so. Its UK director, Victor Zhang, said in June it was “actively considering” building a UK plant as part of a “localisation” strategy.

The company has said repeatedly it wants to pursue an “in UK, for UK, be UK” strategy, suggesting that setting up manufacturing would be a serious option.

The Lepas brand – a madeup word referring vaguely to leopards – appears to be positioned as a mass-market offering, emphasising “fun”. Its Jaecoo brand, in contrast, has been described by some as a “Range Rover clone”, albeit for a much cheaper price.