Chinese automaker Chery plans to open a research and development centre in the United Kingdom for passenger vehicles, expanding the market footprint of its Omoda and Jaecoo brands.The move comes as the company accelerates its push into Europe, with demand for its vehicles continuing to surge.Chery rolled out the Lepas brand in February, developed specifically for European buyers. In June, it signed a deal with Nissan to assemble vehicles at the Japanese carmaker’s plant in Sunderland, England.The company confirmed on 19 August that its new research and development centre will be based at UTAC Millbrook — the vehicle development and testing hub in Bedfordshire, England — and is slated to open later this year.Chery said the centre’s initial work will focus on fine-tuning the company’s cars for UK driving conditions, expanding over time to autonomous driving and AI. The Bedfordshire area is a hub for engineering and motorsport, hosting several automotive R&D centres.Gary Lan, chief executive of Chery International UK, said the launch of a passenger car R&D centre would be a key milestone in localising operations, with UK manufacturing to follow.“UTAC Millbrook allows us to turn UK customer insight into product development, from ride and steering to active safety systems,” Lan said in a statement.The group did not specify how much it would invest in the facility, or how many jobs may be created, but said it has long-term plans to hire local talent and create new, high-skilled roles at the centre.Kirsty Andrew, vice-president of UTAC UK, said: “This is about much more than testing individual vehicles. We see this as the sustained momentum of a long-term engineering relationship with Chery Automobile.”In July, Chery sold roughly 280,000 vehicles worldwide, with exports of about 202,000 — up 70 per cent year-on-year — making it the first Chinese automaker to ship more than 200,000 in a single month.The Chery Group owns the flagship Chery brand and Jaecoo, maker of the popular Jaecoo 7, and Omoda.In July, its sales accounted for 8 per cent of the UK new-car market, underlining the strength of the company’s rollout over the past two years. This is up from about 3 per cent last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Other Chinese automakers, including BYD, Geely, and Xiaomi, are also accelerating their push into the European market.