Chinese Carmakers Chery and Geely Forge Production Deals in UK and Brazil

Chinese automakers are accelerating their global footprint through direct industrial partnerships with established manufacturers, a strategy gaining momentum on two continents. On Wednesday, Britain’s Nissan Motor and Chery International UK signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to study building Chery passenger cars at Nissan’s Sunderland plant from the 2027 financial year. Under the proposed deal, Nissan would retain ownership of the factory and its workforce would remain employed by the Japanese firm, while Chery takes over a spare production line — Line One — that Nissan is vacating as part of a cost-efficiency drive that consolidates its Leaf, Qashqai and Juke models onto Line Two.

The Sunderland talks offer a potential lifeline for the UK’s largest automotive factory, which, according to analysts in London, has faced uncertainty amid Nissan’s restructuring. For Chery, already present in Britain with its Omoda and Jaecoo brands and plans for vans, local assembly would mark a decisive step beyond mere importation. Nissan’s chief executive, Ivan Espinosa, described the arrangement as integral to the “structural reforms” the company is pursuing, while expressing confidence that a partner would be found to utilise the idle capacity.

A parallel dynamic is unfolding in South America. France’s Renault has confirmed it will produce the 100% electric Geely EX2 hatchback at its Ayrton Senna complex in São José dos Pinhais, Brazil. The move, part of a broader alliance between Renault and China’s Geely, sees the Chinese model integrated into the CVU (Curitiba Veículos Utilitários) production line. Viewed from Brasília, the deal signals that Chinese car brands are no longer content simply to ship vehicles from Asia but are embedding themselves in regional manufacturing ecosystems, often leveraging under-utilised plants of legacy carmakers.

The twin developments highlight a strategic shift: Chinese carmakers, facing tariff threats in Europe and North America, are using collaboration to circumvent barriers and share costs. While the Sunderland study’s outcome is expected in the coming months, its successful conclusion could set a precedent for other financially pressed European plants. For Nissan, the tie-up offers a way to optimise a facility that might otherwise contract; for Chery and Geely, it provides a fast track to localised production and a shield against trade tensions. As Western automakers scale back, Chinese producers appear poised to fill the void — not by building greenfield factories, but by moving into the spaces their competitors are leaving behind.