By Guy Bird
The recent sales momentum behind mainstream Chinese brands in Europe is without question. But can Chinese premium brands follow suit? Motor Trader talks to some of the brands aiming to do just that, plus an independent branding expert
UK sales of cars from Chinese manufacturers in 2026 has never been higher. But out of those high-performing brands with high tech at low cost – from BYD to Jaecoo – none would claim to be ‘premium’. That is the next hunting ground for certain Chinese export brands and undoubtedly a harder nut to crack.
The Chinese automotive brands that are tasked with taking on that mission in the UK are few but growing, and include Xpeng, Lepas and Denza (and Changan’s Avatar soon). According to independent expert Aaron Shields, executive director of experience at Landor, there are a few unofficial stages of premium to consider. “We know there are three milestones to Chinese brand development,” he begins. “Better technology, better ecosystem and then Chinese culture or desirability.”
But is there such a thing as a successfully exported Chinese Premium brand in any industry or field in 2026? Shields points to a few – non-automotive – businesses including the Chinese fashion brand Icicle, which has recently received significant investment from Kering, the international luxury goods company that already owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent (and has ex-Renault Group head honcho Luca de Meo as its CEO). And there is DJL – a premium drone and tech company – which now has a store on London’s Regent Street – plus Huawei mobile phones, which, according to Shields, have a very premium outlook and price point (and car-related products back in China) plus the Lao Pu jewellery company which has been dubbed the ‘Chinese Hermès’ by some and also shares some of the same customers.
So, there are some precedents, but Chinese premium car brands have so far not fared well beyond their homeland. Shields mentions Nio – with its mainly elegant and pared back electric vehicle range, battery swap stations and upmarket Nio House experience centres – as a good example of Chinese premium in China. “The Nio Houses are well-attended, cool big spaces occupying 30,000 sq ft,” he enthuses, before adding a caveat. “But those buildings [and battery swap stations] are big infrastructure projects, they’re not cheap and ultra-fast charging has kind of reduced the need for them.”
Nio has ventured into continental Europe but not so far to the UK, perhaps because some of its unique selling points beyond the product aren’t so easy to export. But entering the UK fray with a few genuine technology unique selling points – including a new type of quick-charging battery and ultra-rapid charging system which might be easier replicate beyond China – is BYD’s upmarket Denza brand.
Boasting just five minutes to charge a large EV from 10-70%, or nine minutes from 10-97% – and witnessed first-hand by Motor Trader – BYD has bold plans to install 300 Flash chargers in the UK by the end of 2026 at new Denza and existing BYD dealerships. Taking a leaf out of Tesla’s Supercharger network, if successful BYD will have got rid of two key sticking points for potential customers – range and infrastructure anxiety. After all, it’s not very ‘premium’ to wait up to an hour to refuel at a dingy motorway services station, or even worse, find the fast charger you wanted to use, out of order or just plugged into someone’s car.
To the cars themselves, the early Denza products are very well-designed and built, with a flagship all-electric Denza Z convertible and coupé aiming at Porsche’s 911 no less. The Z Coupé drives very well too, based on a brief but spirited track drive Motor Trader undertook in the summer. However, the asking price is north of £150,000 which is a lot for a brand that didn’t exist before 2010 and was only an under-the-radar, China-focused joint venture with Mercedes until 2021.
An even newer automotive name with premium aspirations is Chery Group’s Lepas. Starting globally just a year ago, in April 2025, it officially launched in the UK in late summer with a glitzy London shindig featuring art installations and influencers, plus virtuoso violinists roaming through the assembled crowd. At that launch Motor Trader asked Lepas UK md Ray Wang his thoughts on the brand’s positioning. “As a Chinese manufacturer, ‘premium’ is not a given. ‘Premium’ is something you should earn,” he says humbly. “We might have different understandings about being premium, but for us, the design is for Europeans as you can see here [pointing to the new Lepas cars on display], they are sleek and with premium parts and feel. And the handling has been refined and designed for European roads and customers, including UK roads. Combine all these elements together, and that’s what we understand about ‘premium’, rather than just the price tag.”
Taking of which, the Lepas L8 PHEV starts at £34,900 which is a very different (lower-priced) version of ‘premium’ to Denza’s and when asked about rivals, Wang mentions VW, not Audi. Sitting in the new Lepas cars, they are no doubt well-appointed, if a little lacking in distinct character, but Lepas head of design, Ivan Dulanovic, says more differentiation is on its way. “In a couple of years, it’s going to be a clearer story,” the smartly dressed Serbian says. “It’s going to be more elegant and we’re going to push the quality up using the clinic tests which we always value. We’re going to study those and improve the global image of the brand.”
Selling a ‘premium’ product of any kind requires a consistency of approach that goes well beyond the product itself. Asking Wang about Lepas dealer strategy, he says: “No matter if it’s premium or not, you still need coverage in terms of network and we have already signed up 60 dealerships. All Lepas cars will be sold throughout dedicated dealers and the majority will have a full building [although] a few are dual-franchised with other European or existing brands.”
The swiftness of launch and dealer roll-out is another aspect of the ‘China Speed’ phenomenon that the UK is only just getting used to, but again, is it the right approach for new brands with premium aspirations like Lepas? After all, many Europeans are used to their favourite premium and luxury brands having 10s or even 100s of years of history, product development and customer service skills. This authenticity is part of the product story and appeal that a one-year-old Chinese brand simply cannot match.
Visiting the Chery Group HQ in Wuhu earlier this year was a case in point. Within the HQ’s ground floor, each brand has its own display space but the Lepas one seemed like it needed more curation. There was a leopard sculpture – as the brand is keen to push its nature-inspired athletic design from that big cat – and then a Scandinavian chair and a picture of the Eiffel Tower. All European. But I put it to Wang that if I went to China and said, “I’m going to make an Asian brand,” he might question my expertise for the job and asked him how Lepas was planning to build some authenticity to which he replied: “I understand your point. Honestly speaking, we are not here trying to educate people. The understanding from Chinese people about ‘premium’ is different. We are still learning.”
As to Lepas’ potential USP, beyond the elegant smooth flowing bodywork of the L8 and L6 crossovers, he’s enthusiastic about the highly credible technology Lepas can draw upon from the wider Chery Group, including advanced autonomous driving which could inform future products from an in-cabin experience perspective. As he adds: “As a Chinese manufacturer, we are very strong in terms of technology and smart cabins and once you get used to this kind of experience, you never go back. So, I think these are some of the benefits or possibilities we could use to build our brand name and value.” Which is a fair answer and a scenario that could arrive sooner than we think.
The last words go to branding and experience expert, Aaron Shields of Landor. “Copy paste won’t work,” he says. “I think Nio is the warning story. The Icicle [fashion case study] is probably more interesting – although a lot easier to deploy than Nio – but they started by opening up shops in Paris and began using those as research labs to really understand what was going on with their consumers there.”
“You have to build a culture around a [premium] brand and an emotional response, not just a functional response. You can offer great technology at a low price in a car that doesn’t look bad, and you’re off to the races for a practicality-oriented customer who’s frustrated with paying more, when they feel like they shouldn’t, especially during a cost-of-living crisis. But if you’re going to aim at premium customers, you’ve got to build that emotional brand world, and cement those emotions at every touch point. It has to go beyond just looking right. It has to feel right.”
Guy Bird is a freelance journalist and a long time contributor to Motor Trader
