By the LetsLease team
Five years ago this was a fringe question. It is not any more. In September 2026 the best-selling car in Britain was the Jaecoo 7, with 10,814 registrations, ahead of the Tesla Model 3, the Ford Puma and the Kia Sportage. Not the best-selling Chinese car, the best-selling car. Across the year so far it sits second behind the Puma. Whatever you think of them, they are no longer a curiosity on the edge of the market.
We place leases across the whole market, including these brands and the established ones they are taking share from, so we have no particular reason to talk them up or talk them down. What follows is what the evidence actually shows, including the parts that do not flatter them.
The short version: on safety and warranty they are competitive with anything, on reliability they are close and improving, and the one genuine unknown is what they will be worth in a few years. That last point matters enormously if you are buying, and much less if you are leasing, for reasons we will come to.
Quick Verdict
Yes, the good ones are genuinely good, and the gap that used to exist has largely closed on the things that can be measured. Several Chinese cars hold five star Euro NCAP ratings, most brands offer seven year warranties, and the equipment you get as standard is usually well ahead of an equivalent European car.
Where they still lag is software polish, ride and handling refinement, and the size of the dealer networks behind them. And nobody yet knows what a five year old example will be worth, because there are not enough of them. You can compare the ranges from BYD, MG, Omoda, Jaecoo and Leapmotor to see what is on offer.
Are Chinese Cars Safe?
On the independent testing, yes. Euro NCAP has awarded five stars to the BYD Seal, the BYD Atto 3, the Xpeng G6 and the MG4, all tested under the same protocol as everything else on sale here. The BYD Seal scored 89 percent for adult occupant protection and 87 percent for child occupant protection, which are results that stand comparison with any mainstream European saloon.
That is worth stating plainly because the assumption runs the other way. Euro NCAP does not grade on a curve or take the badge into account. A five star Chinese car has passed the same crash tests, in the same laboratory, as a five star German one.
The caveat is coverage rather than performance. These brands are launching models faster than Euro NCAP tests them, so some newer cars are unrated simply because their turn has not come. The Omoda E5 and Jaecoo E5 were unrated at the time of writing, while their closely related combustion siblings hold five stars. Unrated is not the same as unsafe, but if a five star rating matters to you, check the specific model rather than the brand.
Are They Reliable?
Broadly yes for anything built from 2022 onwards, and the honest qualifier is that the UK data set is still young. What evidence exists suggests the powertrain gap with Japanese and Korean rivals has largely closed. Electric drivetrains in particular have far fewer moving parts to go wrong than a combustion engine, which is part of why several of these brands led with EVs.
Where the gap is still real and measurable is software and electronics. Infotainment bugs, over-sensitive driver assistance and updates that fix one thing and break another come up more often than they do on established brands. It is the sort of fault that annoys rather than strands you, but it is the most common complaint and it is fair to expect it.
How the Warranties Compare
| Brand | Vehicle Warranty | Worth Knowing |
|---|---|---|
| BYD | 7 years / 100,000 miles, 8 years / 125,000 miles on the battery | The world's largest producer of battery electric vehicles, and it makes its own batteries. |
| MG | 7 years | A UK marque since 1924, Chinese owned by SAIC since 2007, so the longest established of the group here. |
| Omoda | 7 years | A Chery sub-brand, in the UK since 2024, and growing faster than almost anything in the market. |
| Jaecoo | 7 years / 100,000 miles, 8 years on the high voltage battery | Chery's other UK sub-brand, positioned slightly more premium than Omoda. |
| For comparison | Kia and Hyundai: 7 and 5 years respectively | The Korean brands set this precedent thirty years ago, using warranty length to buy trust. It worked. |
A seven year warranty is a real transfer of risk from you to the manufacturer, and on a typical two to four year lease it covers the whole agreement several times over. It is the same strategy Kia and Hyundai used to establish themselves in the UK, and nobody questions those brands now.
One caveat worth knowing, because it was a fair criticism. The Omoda and Jaecoo headline of seven years and 100,000 miles originally excluded a long list of major components, including the alternator, starter motor, water pump, fuel pump, timing belt, catalytic converter and infotainment system, which were covered for only three years or 40,000 miles. Some items had just one year. The gap was raised publicly in May 2026 by the warranty firm Warrantywise, and in August 2026 Omoda and Jaecoo extended cover on most of those components to the full seven years and 100,000 miles, applying the change to cars already on British roads. Bushes, rubber components and ball joints now sit at seven years or 60,000 miles.
They fixed it rather than defending it, which counts for something. It is also a reminder that a headline warranty figure is worth reading past, whoever is offering it. If you are leasing rather than buying, this matters less to you than it would to an owner, because a three or four year term sits inside even the shortest of those component periods.
The Real Catch: Nobody Knows What They Will Be Worth
This is the genuine unknown, and it is the one worth taking seriously. Residual values are worked out from history, and these cars do not have enough of it yet. Nobody can tell you with confidence what a five year old Jaecoo or Omoda will fetch, because there are not yet enough five year old examples to say.
If you are buying, that is a real financial risk sitting squarely with you. Depreciation is the largest single cost of running a new car, and taking it on an unproven badge means taking it partly blind.
If you are leasing, it is not your risk. The finance company owns the car, takes a view on what it will be worth at the end and carries the consequences if they are wrong. You pay an agreed monthly rental and hand the car back either way. That single difference means the strongest argument against a Chinese car mostly disappears when you lease rather than buy, which is the opposite of the advice you will read elsewhere and it is worth understanding.
Buying and leasing give different answers
"Are Chinese cars any good" has two answers depending on how you pay for one. Buying means taking on an unknown resale value alongside everything else. Leasing hands that unknown to the funder and leaves you with the parts you can actually assess: how it drives, how well equipped it is, how good the warranty is and how far away the nearest dealer is. Those are all things you can check today.
What You Are Actually Giving Up
Two things, mostly, and neither shows up on a specification sheet.
The first is driving polish. European brands have spent decades tuning ride and handling for roads like ours, and it shows. UK road testers have been consistently critical of several Chinese models on exactly this point, including the Jaecoo 7. If you spend a lot of time on motorways or B roads, drive one before you commit to a multi year agreement, because it is the difference you notice daily and the hardest to live with if you get it wrong.
The second is network. These brands are building dealer coverage quickly, but it is thinner than Ford's or Volkswagen's and that means fewer places for servicing and potentially longer waits for parts. A seven year warranty is only as good as the network standing behind it. Check where your nearest dealer actually is before you order, not after.
So, Are They Any Good?
Yes, with the qualifications above. The best of them are safe, generously equipped, well warrantied and priced to win, and pretending otherwise is not a position that survives contact with the sales figures. Buyers have already decided this question faster than the commentary has.
The sensible way to approach it is to stop treating "Chinese" as a category and judge the specific car, as you would with any other brand. Check its Euro NCAP rating, check the warranty terms, check where the dealer is, and drive it. If it stacks up on those, the badge is not the thing that should decide it. And if you are leasing rather than buying, the biggest remaining unknown is not yours to carry.
Chinese Cars FAQs
Yes, the best of them are genuinely competitive, and the gap has largely closed on everything that can be measured. Several hold five star Euro NCAP ratings, most come with seven year warranties, and standard equipment levels are usually well ahead of equivalent European cars.
They still trail on driving refinement and software polish, and their dealer networks are smaller. The one genuine unknown is long term resale value, because there are not yet enough older examples in the UK to judge it.
The tested ones are, and they are tested by the same organisation as everything else. Euro NCAP has awarded five stars to the BYD Seal, BYD Atto 3, Xpeng G6 and MG4, with the BYD Seal scoring 89 percent for adult occupant protection and 87 percent for child occupant protection.
Euro NCAP does not adjust for where a car is built. The caveat is coverage rather than results: these brands launch faster than Euro NCAP can test, so some newer models are simply unrated. Check the specific car rather than the brand.
Broadly yes for cars built from 2022 onwards, with the honest qualifier that the UK data set is still young. The powertrain gap with Japanese and Korean rivals has largely closed, and electric drivetrains have fewer moving parts to fail in the first place.
Software and electronics are the weaker area and the most common source of complaints, covering infotainment glitches, over-sensitive driver assistance and inconsistent updates. Irritating rather than immobilising, but you should expect it.
The main ones are BYD, MG, Omoda, Jaecoo, Leapmotor and Xpeng, with GWM, Geely and others also present. Between them they passed 10 percent of UK new car registrations in 2026.
MG is the odd one out and the longest established: a UK marque since 1924, Chinese owned by SAIC since 2007. Omoda and Jaecoo are both Chery sub-brands that arrived in 2024 and have grown extremely quickly, outselling Hyundai, Nissan and Ford between them in July 2026.
Yes, MG has been Chinese owned since SAIC acquired the brand in 2007, though it began as a British marque in 1924 and retains a UK design presence.
That long ownership matters practically. MG has had far longer than the newer arrivals to build its UK dealer network and parts supply, which is one of the main things separating the Chinese brands from each other.
Nobody knows yet with any confidence, and anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing. Residual values are calculated from historical data, and there are not enough five year old examples in the UK to produce a reliable answer.
This is the single strongest argument for leasing one rather than buying one. On a lease the finance company carries the risk on what the car turns out to be worth, so the unknown is theirs rather than yours.
Less risky than buying one, which is the opposite of the usual advice. The main danger with an unproven brand is not knowing the resale value, and on a lease the funder takes that risk and you simply hand the car back at the end.
The risks that remain are practical and checkable: how far away the nearest dealer is, how long parts take, and whether you actually like how the car drives. All three can be assessed before you sign.
Seven years is the norm. BYD offers seven years or 100,000 miles on the vehicle and eight years or 125,000 miles on the battery, while MG, Omoda and Jaecoo all offer seven year cover.
That comfortably exceeds most European brands and covers a typical lease several times over. It is the same strategy Kia and Hyundai used to establish themselves in the UK three decades ago, and it worked for them.
They are where these brands are strongest. Several arrived in the UK leading with EVs, BYD makes its own batteries and is the world's largest producer of battery electric vehicles, and the five star Euro NCAP results include the BYD Seal, BYD Atto 3, Xpeng G6 and MG4.
Electric cars also play to the reliability picture, since an electric drivetrain has far fewer moving parts than a combustion engine. The weaker area remains software, which on an EV is more central to the experience than on a petrol car.
They are following the same playbook, roughly twenty five years later: strong equipment levels, long warranties and keen pricing to buy their way into a market that did not know them. Kia and Hyundai went from unknown to mainstream on exactly that formula.
Where the Koreans are now ahead is refinement, dealer coverage and a proven residual value history. Those are the three things time buys, and they are the three things the Chinese brands do not yet have.
Driving refinement and dealer network, mainly. European brands have spent decades tuning ride and handling for roads like ours and it shows, with UK road testers consistently critical of several Chinese models on this point.
Networks are growing but remain thinner than the established brands', which means fewer service locations and potentially longer waits for parts. A long warranty is only as useful as the network behind it, so check where your nearest dealer is before ordering.
Yes, and more so than with a brand you already know. Ride and handling is where these cars most often disappoint, and it is not something a specification sheet or a review score will tell you about your own roads and your own preferences.
A lease is a fixed multi year commitment with no automatic right to end it early, so a car you find tiring to drive is a problem you live with for the full term. Half an hour beforehand is a sensible investment.
Often yes, mainly because so many of them are electric or plug-in hybrid, and electricity costs less per mile than petrol if you can charge at home. Long warranties also remove most repair risk for the first several years.
Servicing costs vary by brand and network, and a smaller network can mean less competition on price for work that is not covered. Ask about service pricing before ordering rather than assuming it will match what you are used to.
The trend is clear from the registration data rather than from opinion. In September 2026 the Chery group, covering Jaecoo, Omoda, Chery and the newly arrived Lepas, took 9.36 percent of the UK market across 32,823 registrations, making it the third largest automotive group in the country that month. BYD took a further 5.76 percent with 20,129 registrations, up 80 percent year on year. Across 2026 so far the Chery group has registered 124,365 cars, 7.15 percent of the market.
Whether that continues depends on things nobody can predict, including trade policy. What is already settled is that these are mainstream choices rather than outliers, and shortlists that exclude them are excluding a tenth of the market.