Overview
- Chery confirmed on Wednesday that it will open an R&D Centre of Excellence at UTAC Millbrook in Bedfordshire, with work due to start in late autumn 2026.
- The centre will initially focus on calibrating chassis dynamics and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to UK conditions such as roundabouts, narrow lanes and varied road surfaces.
- Chery engineers will have access to Millbrook’s more than 70km of test tracks plus laboratories for battery, powertrain and ADAS validation to validate vehicles for UK drivers.
- The company plans to recruit UK engineers into skilled roles and says the centre could later expand into autonomous driving and artificial intelligence work.
- The investment builds on a 2024 homologation joint venture with UTAC and follows non-binding talks with Nissan about possible production in Sunderland, but no factory decision has been confirmed.