China’s Chery is turning its long-running export business into a much more ambitious global expansion. Europe has become one of its most important proving grounds, with first-half regional sales more than tripling from a year earlier, a Chery model topping Britain’s monthly sales chart, and local manufacturing plans advancing in Spain and potentially the United Kingdom. At the same time, Canada has emerged as a realistic next market after Ottawa reopened limited access for Chinese-made electric vehicles at the regular 6.1% tariff.
The Canadian push remains at an early stage, but it is no longer theoretical. Chery has met Canadian dealers, begun cold-weather testing and indicated that sales could start as soon as late 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. Europe offers a preview of how quickly the company can move once a market opens.
Europe Has Become One of Chery’s Fastest-Growing Markets
Chery’s European numbers have moved well beyond the modest volumes normally associated with a new entrant. The automaker says it sold 174,000 vehicles across Europe during the first six months of 2026, an increase of more than 212% from the same period a year earlier. Independent registration compilations point to similarly dramatic momentum, although the exact percentage varies depending on which brands, countries and reporting definitions are included. One Europe-wide dataset calculated first-half Chery growth of roughly 305%, while June registrations across Chery, Omoda, Jaecoo and Jetour reached 32,455 vehicles, 266.2% above the year-earlier level.
The scale of the shift is clearer when viewed against 2025. Dataforce figures reported by Reuters showed Chery’s European sales rising from only 17,035 vehicles in 2024 to 120,147 in 2025. That means the company entered 2026 with considerably more dealerships, brand recognition and vehicles already on European roads. Europe’s overall car market has been growing too, but nowhere near Chery’s pace: EU registrations increased 5.7% during the first half of 2026. Chery is therefore gaining ground rather than simply rising with the broader market.
Overseas Sales Are Becoming the Centre of Chery’s Growth Story
Europe is only one piece of a much larger export machine. Chery Group exported 202,533 vehicles in July 2026, up 70.1% from July 2025 and marking the first time a Chinese automaker had shipped more than 200,000 vehicles overseas in a single month. Exports represented roughly 73% of Chery Group’s 276,820 worldwide sales that month. Through the first seven months of the year, overseas shipments reached approximately 1.15 million vehicles, a 71.2% increase from the same period of 2025. Those numbers help explain why entering another developed market such as Canada matters even if initial Canadian volumes remain small.
Chery has been building this international footprint for decades rather than relying on a sudden EV boom. The company says it has customers in more than 130 countries and regions and reached 20 million cumulative global vehicle sales in July. Nearly seven million of those customers were outside China. In 2025 alone, Chery sold about 2.8 million vehicles worldwide, with overseas markets accounting for more than 47% of sales. The result is an unusual position among Chinese automakers: while many rivals are trying to become exporters, Chery already depends heavily on exports and now needs major developed markets to sustain that trajectory.
A Jaecoo SUV Showed How Quickly Consumer Habits Can Change
Perhaps the clearest example of Chery’s European breakthrough came in Britain. The Jaecoo 7 recorded 10,064 registrations in March 2026, making it the United Kingdom’s best-selling new vehicle that month. It finished ahead of deeply established models such as the Ford Puma, with 9,193 registrations, and Nissan Qashqai, with 8,718. That is a striking result for a nameplate that British consumers had barely encountered a short time earlier. Chery had launched Omoda in the UK in August 2024 and Jaecoo in January 2025, meaning the company went from market newcomer to monthly chart leader in little more than a year.
That performance illustrates why traditional automakers are paying increasingly close attention to Chinese brands. Chery’s strategy has not relied on one badge or one propulsion technology. Omoda and Jaecoo together sold about 380,000 vehicles globally in 2025, and Chery has set a target of one million annual sales for the pair by 2027. The group is also expanding its core Chery nameplate and newer Lepas brand in Europe. Even so, executives acknowledge a weakness: much of the current range consists of SUVs longer than 4.2 metres. Chery is developing smaller cars below four metres because an executive estimated its existing lineup leaves roughly half of the European market insufficiently covered.
Chery Is Moving From Exporting Cars to Building Them in Europe
Rapid sales growth is pushing Chery toward a second stage of expansion: manufacturing closer to European customers. In Spain, Chery holds a 40% stake in a joint venture with revived Spanish automaker EBRO at the former Nissan factory in Barcelona. EBRO targeted production of 25,000 to 30,000 vehicles in 2026 after making about 14,000 in 2025, while Chery-branded production was expected to begin around the end of 2026 or early 2027. The Barcelona operation has roughly 1,600 employees and capacity that could eventually reach about 200,000 vehicles annually.
Local production carries advantages beyond transportation costs. Chinese-built battery-electric vehicles face additional European Union duties, making regional manufacturing increasingly valuable as Chery’s electric lineup expands. The company is also exploring ways to use existing European factories rather than building every plant from scratch. In June, Nissan and Chery signed a non-binding agreement to study whether Chery vehicles for Britain could be produced at Nissan’s Sunderland plant beginning as early as Nissan’s 2027 financial year. No production deal is guaranteed, but the discussions show how Chery is trying to turn its sales surge into a more permanent industrial presence rather than remaining purely an importer.
Canada Is Moving From Possibility to Concrete Preparation
Chery’s Canadian ambitions accelerated after Ottawa changed its approach to Chinese electric vehicles in early 2026. Reuters reported that Chery held its first Canadian dealer meetings only about two weeks after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the new import arrangement with China. By late April, roughly 20 Canadian dealers had been invited to the Beijing auto show and then to Chery’s headquarters in Wuhu to examine the company’s products and discuss potential business. Chery has also filed Canadian trademark applications involving names including Omoda, Jaecoo and Jetour, another sign that groundwork is being laid before vehicles arrive in showrooms.
The company is testing vehicles in Canada as well. Chery officials told Reuters that vehicles were being road-tested under Canadian conditions to determine how the country’s cold climate could affect durability and warranty costs. Those considerations are particularly important for an unfamiliar manufacturer attempting to establish resale values, parts support and consumer confidence from scratch. Company officials were targeting a fourth-quarter 2026 sales launch, while the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada has described late 2026 as possible, subject to regulatory approvals. That distinction matters: Chery is preparing for an entry, but a specific launch date and final Canadian model lineup have not yet been formally locked down.
Ottawa’s New EV Rules Opened a Door, but It Is a Narrow One
Canada’s policy shift created the regulatory opening that Chinese automakers had been missing. Beginning March 1, 2026, the federal government established a country-specific quota allowing 49,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles annually to enter Canada at the 6.1% Most-Favoured-Nation tariff rate. The previous 100% surtax was repealed for vehicles qualifying under the quota. The initial quota represents less than 3% of Canada’s new-vehicle market, meaning the new rules amount to controlled access rather than an unrestricted opening. During the first six-month allocation period, 24,500 vehicles were made available under a first-come, first-served permit system.
The quota is also designed to evolve. Ottawa has said it can increase by 6.5% annually, while half of the quota is expected to be reserved by 2030 for EVs priced at C$35,000 or less. That affordability provision could eventually encourage competition in parts of the Canadian EV market where choices remain comparatively limited. For Chery, however, the biggest immediate challenge may be access rather than demand. Tesla, established manufacturers importing Chinese-built models, BYD and other Chinese companies could all compete for the same limited quota. Chery therefore cannot assume that its enormous Chinese export capacity automatically translates into large Canadian volumes.
Chery Could Bring Several Brands Rather Than a Single Badge
Chery’s expansion differs from the familiar model of introducing one corporate brand and gradually broadening its lineup. The group operates a portfolio that includes Chery itself as well as Omoda, Jaecoo, Jetour and newer international brands such as Lepas. In Europe, Omoda and Jaecoo have become important growth engines while the company simultaneously develops the Chery nameplate. Canadian trademark applications for Omoda, Jaecoo and Jetour suggest that management is at least preserving the option of using a similar multi-brand approach in Canada, although trademark filings alone do not establish which brands will actually be sold.
The strategy gives Chery considerable flexibility. Jaecoo can be positioned around SUVs, Omoda around design-focused crossovers, while other Chery products cover different price and technology segments. The company also sells gasoline, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles internationally. That breadth is important because Canada’s current import concession specifically concerns Chinese-made EVs, while Chery’s worldwide success remains broader than battery-electric models alone. No complete Canadian range or pricing structure has been announced, so assumptions about which models will arrive first would be premature. What Europe demonstrates, however, is that Chery is willing to deploy multiple names quickly when it believes a market can support them.
Canada Will Test More Than Chery’s Ability to Sell Cars
Canada is attractive partly because it resembles the much larger U.S. auto market. About 1.9 million new vehicles were sold in Canada in 2025 compared with more than 16 million in the United States, according to figures cited by Reuters. Automotive consultants told the news agency that similarities in consumer preferences and regulation make Canada useful experience for Chinese manufacturers with longer-term North American ambitions. Chery International President Zhang Guibing has acknowledged that the company ultimately has an interest in selling vehicles in the United States when circumstances permit, although current U.S. tariffs and restrictions on Chinese connected-vehicle technology present major obstacles.
That makes Canada unusually significant despite its limited quota. Success would require more than shipping inexpensive vehicles across the Pacific. Chery would need regulatory compliance, dealerships, repair capacity, replacement parts, warranty support and vehicles capable of coping with Canadian winters. It would also enter a politically sensitive market where Chinese automotive investment is being debated alongside Canada-U.S. trade relations and supply-chain security. Europe shows that Chery can scale quickly once consumers accept its products. Canada will reveal whether the company can repeat that formula in North America while building the service infrastructure and long-term trust that a new automotive brand needs.
