- BYD to offer own-brand home chargers via retailers
- CMA ‘minded to clear’ Constellation-Aston Barclay merger
- Chery to use British JLR factories?
- Jaguar explores range-extender for controversial Tupe 00
- WEEK AHEAD: NFDA annual parliamentary dinner
- US new car affordability crisis
- House prices set to fall in 2026
- Did Ford lobby for US EV cutbacks?
- New NADA chairman to fight direct sales
- Ford and GM green light to open US banks
- OPINION: Denza’s chargers, not its badge, could define premium
BYD to offer own-brand home chargers via retailers
BYD is working on a deal to offer EV buyers a home charger when they buy one of its cars. While other car brands offer a charger with a new electric car, few manufacturers produce the charge points themselves.
Speaking to Auto Sunday at the launch of the Sealion 5, BYD country manager Bono Ge said the company was currently working on the project and talking to charge point installers. He added the launch of a home charger bundle with a new car was around two or three months away.
In a move that mimics Tesla, Ge also revealed that BYD plans to install its own network of 300 “flash charge” charging points across the UK by the end of the year, including the possibility that some will be at retailer sites. The charge network is being set up to allow cars from BYD’s new premium brand Denza to be able to charge at speed of more than 1000kW and add around 250 miles range in five minutes. The UK’s current fastest chargers are typically rated at up to 350kW.
Ge said that while the charge points would be open to all (even if those cars can’t make use of the fastest charge speeds), Denza customers would be able to use the flash charge network at a discounted rate. Also, Denza EVs are likely to be the only cars capable of accepting charging at such a high rate.
* Read the full interview with Bono Ge in the February issue of Auto Market Insight.
CMA ‘minded to clear’ Constellation-Aston Barclay merger
The Competition and Markets Authority is “minded to clear” the acquisition by Constellation of Aston Barclay (CAB), according to provisional findings issued last week. “In the CMA’s view, absent the CAB merger, Aston Barclay – having experienced some financial challenges – would likely have exited the market.”
The NFDA has a full rundown of the provisional findings; they are not yet final and the CMA is inviting interested parties to make representations over the next three weeks. The deadline is 5pm Thursday 12 February.
Chery to use British JLR factories?
Chinese new entrant Chery would use a British JLR plant to manufacture cars, under proposals backed by the UK government and set to be discussed during PM Keir Starmer’s visit to Beijing this week, reports the FT.
Two people familiar with the discussions say the proposal would see Chery using an existing manufacturing facility owned by JLR.
The firm currently builds Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Velar in Solihull, and the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport in Halewood, Merseyside. (The Land Rover Defender and Discovery are built in Slovakia.)
It is believed that, while Solihull is at capacity, Halewood is not.
Chery and JLR will hold exploratory talks during Starmer’s visit; business secretary Peter Kyle has acknowledged that the government wanted Chery to build in the UK and using an existing JLR plant would be an option, reports the FT.
“If there is a manufacturing facility where there is sort of undercapacity, then… there is a logic to forming partnerships and that could well form one of them.”
JLR already has a joint venture with Chery, and licenced the Freelander brand to it in 2024 to develop EVs using a Chery platform.
Jaguar explores range-extender
In more JLR news, it has emerged Jaguar is exploring a range extender powertrain option for its highly controversial Type 00 electric car. The Sunday Times reports the secret initiative “to soothe drivers’ concerns” would extend the range of its new models from around 435 miles to over 680 miles by the addition of a small petrol engine generator.
“The move, under new chief executive PB Balaji, follows a backlash against the “complete reset” of the Jaguar brand.”
The cars due to be unveiled later this year would be all-electric, said sources. “But they added that a range of other engine options were in the early stages of development.”
JLR declined to comment.
WEEK AHEAD
Tuesday, NFDA annual parliamentary dinner
Wednesday, BRC shop price index
Thursday, SMMT 2025 UK manufacturing figures
Friday, UK consumer credit
Friday, Nationwide house price index
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DATA INSIGHT
US new car affordability crisis
$800: The average monthly payment on a new vehicle in the US (in Sterling, it is £590). Analysts project US sales will decline this year in part because of high vehicle prices.
House prices set to fall in 2026
-10%: Fall in buyer demand so far in 2026. Despite this, the average estate agent has 32 homes for sale, the highest for eight years. Property experts have now forecast house price falls, particularly for flats, second homes and the most expensive homes in London and the South East.
GLOBAL AUTO
Did Ford lobby for US EV cutbacks?
A Senate committee is investigating whether Ford lobbied to overturn the rule underpinning virtually all US climate regulations, The Guardian reports. It follows Trump’s tour of a Ford factory where he was caught on a hot mike saying: “He [Ford CEO Jim Farley] calls me all the time: ‘Can we get rid of this environmental piece of garbage?’.”
New NADA chairman to fight direct sales
Incoming NADA chairman Rob Cochran will fight direct-to-consumer sales and zero in on AI and policy issues in 2026, reports Automotive News. He is CEO of #1 Cochran Automotive, which ranks 50th in the top 150 US retailers. It sold 21,822 new vehicles in 2024.
Ford and GM green light to open US banks
Ford and GM have received approval from federal regulators to set up banks, reports the FT. It is a sign of the Trump administration’s “more permissive approach to financial oversight”. Opponents argued that industrial banks tied to OEMs would be tempted to take more lending risks to increase sales. Toyota and BMW already operate industrial banks in the US.
OPINION
Opinion: Denza’s chargers, not its badge, could define premium
We have heard plenty of new entrant brands claim they’re ‘premium’ as they arrive in the UK. Most lean on design, materials and specification, and in the process joining the crowd. Few explain what the ownership experience will actually feel like.
BYD’s incoming upmarket Denza brand is taking a different tack which centres on charging.
This week, BYD outlined plans for a UK network of up to 300 ultra-fast ‘flash charge’ points capable of delivering more than 1,000kW of power. The headline claim is eye-catching: a Denza EV could add 250 miles of range in around five minutes. That’s petrol-comparable. What’s more, BYD claims these 300 chargers will be installed before the end of the year.
If delivered, that is not a marketing line. It is a tangible, daily advantage that directly tackles the biggest remaining friction point in EV ownership: time.
Premium has traditionally been defined by comfort, refinement, driver involvement and brand heritage. In the EV era, it may increasingly be defined by convenience. The ability to stop, plug in and be back on the road in less than the time it takes to buy a coffee is a very different proposition to planning journeys around charging stops which are 30 minutes or more.
The move mimics Tesla when it arrived in the UK; to set up a dedicated network of chargers that are lower cost than regular public charging and link seamlessly to the car.
It may be anecdotal, but I have spoken to several repeat Tesla customers that have only been repeat customers because of the Supercharger network.
BYD’s Denza Flash Charge network could easily provide the same and control more of the ownership experience than rivals.
Other new entrants have talked about premium positioning, but few have defined what that means in practice. Denza is doing so in a way customers will immediately understand: less waiting, less planning, less compromise.
Couple that with BYD’s advanced in-car motor systems and engineering focus, and the brand is attempting to prove its premium credentials through measurable benefits, not stitched leather and ambient lighting.
Tristan Young
Editorial Director
Get in touch: tristan@autosunday.co.uk
ISSN 2977-6597