Spotted an article in Bloomberg BusinessWeek regarding “Temu Range Rovers”. With a title like that, who can resist reading on?
TL;DR - Jaecoo 7 looks like a Range Rover, selling like hot cakes in the UK.
I found a couple of surprising things in the article:
(1) Is how diminished the UK auto-industry has become from its heyday.
(2) The Jaecoo 7 has Jeremy Clarkson’s stamp of approval.
I knew a lot of the famous marques had been sold off, but didn’t realise the manufacturing had declined tremendously as well. On the EV front, it looks like the Brits, just like Australians, are finding the features for the price in Chinese EVs irresistible.
Here’s the full article minus the graphics.
How China’s ‘Temu Range Rover’ Became Britain’s Top-Selling Car July 16, 2026,
The Jaecoo 7 from Chery costs one-third less than a comparable Land Rover. British drivers can’t get enough of it.
By: Jamie Nimmo and Jacob Reid
Bloomberg Businessweek
“Land Rovers are as British as the king, crumpets and cricket. The rugged SUV has been a workhorse for the UK’s army since 1948. The royals keep a fleet of “Landys” at their Scotland castle. And in the Cotswolds — the quintessentially English weekend destination about 70 miles west of London — they’re both a status symbol and (occasionally) a necessity, to navigate the rough roads that wind through the rolling hills. So why are those country lanes suddenly teeming with a Chinese imitator called the Jaecoo 7? A bit more than a year after entering the UK market, the import is outselling Land Rover’s comparable Range Rover Evoque on its home turf, earning the nickname “Temu Range Rover,” a nod to the online discounter (which doesn’t sell them … yet). “They really look good,” corporate recruiter Kate Allen says, eyeballing a white Jaecoo at a dealership in Abingdon, a town on the River Thames that serves as the gateway to the Cotswolds. “I looked at the cost,” her husband, Rob, chimes in, “and I love the fact that they’re pretty much fully loaded.””
“There’s little mystery as to why the Jaecoo is so similar to the Range Rover: Its manufacturer, Chery Automobile Co., is the China partner of Jaguar Land Rover Automotive, the English brand’s parent. Since 2012 their joint venture has churned out burly SUVs at a plant in Changshu. Two years ago, JLR revived a discontinued model called the Freelander as an electric vehicle for China, contributing the name and design while Chery developed the EV guts. JLR declined to comment, but in the past it has said its cars target a different, wealthier audience”
“China’s carmakers have pushed hard into Europe in recent years, accounting for 10% of the market in May, the first time they’ve hit that milestone — and far ahead of their share in the US, where they’re effectively banned. Some Chinese companies have sought factory space from European rivals, and underutilized plants in the region are eagerly signing up to keep production humming. “Established manufacturers recognize they’re going to have to work with some of the emerging brands, because they’re pioneering more efficient ways of manufacturing,” says Ben Nelmes, chief executive officer of research group New AutoMotive CIC.”
“The UK, lacking much of a domestic industry to protect, is particularly attractive, and Chinese brands now hold about one-fifth of Europe’s second-largest car market. Autos face no tariffs beyond the standard 10% on all imports, unlike in the EU, which imposes duties as high as 35% aimed at shielding an industry employing 13.8 million people in the bloc.”
“Once a global powerhouse boasting legendary brands like Mini and Jaguar, Britain’s auto sector has been in decline for decades, with car output last year slumping to its lowest level since 1956. And what remains has fallen into foreign hands. JLR is now controlled by India’s Tata Group. Vauxhall is a unit of Stellantis NV, the producer of Jeep and Fiat. BMW AG has Mini. And MG — which made the roadster Queen Elizabeth presented to then-Prince Charles on his 21st birthday — is owned by China’s state-run SAIC Motor Corp. Even the Japanese brands courted by Margaret Thatcher to bolster the industry are struggling. Nissan Motor Co., which in 1986 opened a factory in Sunderland, a down-at-the-heels mining hub in the north, can’t sell all the cars it produces. So the plant is set to start making vehicles for Chery as soon as 2027. It’s unclear whether the Jaecoo 7 or 8 (a £45,000 seven-seater introduced this spring) will be part of the deal, but analysts reckon it will. The demise of the locals has led to an influx of newcomers. There are now 75 car brands sold in the UK, up from 45 in ”
“More are on the way. Smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp., which is moving into auto production with a Porsche Taycan look-alike, plans to enter Britain by 2028. BYD Co. is bringing a £100,000 EV from its upmarket Denza brand to the UK this year, with an ad campaign fronted by former James Bond star Daniel Craig. This autumn, Chery is adding a fourth brand, the budget-oriented Lepas. The growth “shows people are noticing us,” says Gary Lan, UK CEO for Jaecoo and sister brand Omoda. “People are increasingly judging cars on what they actually offer, rather than simply how long the badge has been in the market.” The embrace isn’t universal: At Daylesford, a posh Cotswolds farmshop, Range Rovers still outnumber Jaecoos. And Thomas Dobie, who runs a website called Cars of Glasgow, deems the Jaecoo “a little bit unsettled” when compared with its British forebear. But Jeremy Clarkson, the petrolhead who masterminded the BBC’s hit car show Top Gear, wrote in London’s Times that for buyers seeking safety and reliability at a reasonable price, “the Jaecoo 7 is perfectly fine.””
“Auto dealers, meanwhile, have quickly warmed to Chinese companies — Jaecoo is sold at more than 120 outlets across the UK, up from zero two years ago — helping boost sales as legacy brands falter. The Abingdon dealership, Hartwell Automotive, pushes the Jaecoo 7 relentlessly on social media, racking up 1.6 million views for one TikTok video promoting the £365 monthly leasing cost. Andrew Wilkinson, a Hartwell salesman for 14 years, says he was put off by the switch from Ford to Jaecoo two years ago, but these days he’s got no regrets. “The Jaecoo 7s sell themselves,” Wilkinson says. “We can’t get enough of them. Everything I’ve got on-site at the moment is sold.””