Chinese car brands Seres and Skywell will be launched in the UK later this year by importer Innovation Automotive.
Seres was founded in 2017 by Chongqing-based industrial group Sokon but is headquartered in California.
Its 3 electric car will be brought to the UK in May, priced from £29,995 – £500 cheaper than the MG ZS EV.
The Nissan Qashqai-sized SUV has a 161bhp motor on the front axle, a 54kWh battery and an official range of 205 miles.
Skywell was founded in 2017 by bus manufacturer Nanjing Golden Dragon and industrial group Skyworth.
Its BE11 – also known as the ET5 and EV6 – is set to become yet another when it arrives in July. It offers 201bhp and a range of 304 miles.
No price has been announced yet, but Autocar expects it to be around £32,000.
Skywell sees Audi and Mercedes-Benz as its competition.
Innovation Automotive chairman Samir Hmicho told Autocar: "2024 is set to be a very exciting year for IA. Both vehicles are competitively priced and well specced, and - with our growing dealer network - we have every confidence that we can meet our ambitious sales target of 1000 sales for each brand in the first year."
Innovation Automotive has for the past few years imported Seres-owned firm DFSK's EC35 van and EC31 pick-up truck to the UK. In 2020, it also sold 50 examples of the DFSK Glory 580 seven-seat petrol SUV.
Seres and Skywell are among a host of new car brands coming to the UK in the next few years.
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I'm looking at the comments below. Boring, dull, how long will these chinese manufacturers last etc.
The butt of every car joke was Skoda. They haven't done too badly. The but of every airline joke is Ryanair who people love to hate. The fact is they are by far Europe's largest airline.
If these Chinese companies get their pricing right, then it's not a question of what Chinese manufacturers will last, it's a question of who'll be the first esablished EU car maker to fold.
Someone commented that their cars could be worth 5p after a few years. If they're going to cost 5p then that's a bargain because you can easily loose £50k on that lovely looking well built Audi EV after 3yr.
Ah Skywell, one of those manufacturers who achieved a massive 1 out of 5 in even the local Chinese C-NCAP crash tests on one of their vehicles. I have seen those DFSK SUV's on Auto Trader - thought they hadn't actually been homologated for retail sale?
How many of these new Chinese car companies are going to survive in the UK? Because once they are gone, there will be no backup, and these things will be worthless. And because the market knows its going to happen, and they are all EVs (which the buying public dont want anyway), the residual value is going to to be 5p when they are 3 years old.