China's Chery International eyes share in UK's electric vehicle market

In an increasingly crowded marketplace, making sure your brand stands out is vital - that was the message at a launch in London of the Chinese manufactured Omoda 5 SUV and its electric counterpart the E5.

Earlier this year a study found that one in five electric cars sold in Europe were made in China.

Victor Zhang, country director of Omoda & Jaecoo UK, told CGTN Europe that he is confident their Omoda brand will soon rank alongside their more established rivals in terms of market share.

"For the last 27 years, we've been the biggest car exporter, and we are sustainable. So we want to be successful and we want to bring good products, good quality, good service, and also good experience for the customer that will make us different," said Zhang.

Fashionably futuristic

The Omoda E5, is a mid-size electric SUV, with prices starting at around $39,000, considerably cheaper than many of its similar EV rivals.

And its parent company Chery hopes this aggressive pricing policy will tempt buyers away from other brands and give them an advantage in an increasingly competitive market.

With so many brands to choose from especially in the EV sector, Chery believes the Omoda's distinctive look will help it stand out from the competition.

Steve Eum is the man behind the design concept, he is also the vice president and general manager of Chery Design China 

"We wanted to keep it as simple and visually organized as possible. This one compared to our ICE version has small changes which we had to make so the person driving the EV remains comfortable," explained Eum, giving CGTN Europe a quick peek at the unique interior of the E5.

EU trade tariffs targeting China

The European Union has said it would impose tariffs on EV imports from China, effectively making the cars more expensive to buy for European customers.

The EU claimed that Chinese EVs were getting an unfair advantage as a result of state subsidies.

The Chinese government, however, has accused the EU of being protectionist.

Currently, the UK has no such tariffs, making its car market more attractive to Chinese brands, which could mean even more EVs from China making their way onto British roads.

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