Chinese brands now make up a meaningful slice of the UK market. Euro NCAP, the European crash-test programme, says Chinese models took nearly 10% of UK new car sales last year, and that the number of Chinese cars it assesses has risen nearly tenfold since 2021. So the question comes up often: are they safe?
The short answer from the test results is that most recent Chinese models score well. The longer answer is that the stars are only the start.
How a Euro NCAP rating works from 2026
Euro NCAP rewrote its tests for 2026. Cars are now scored in four stages, each marked out of 100 and shown as a percentage:
- Safe driving: how well the car helps the driver avoid trouble in the first place, including driver monitoring and how easy the essential controls are to use. Euro NCAP now rewards physical buttons for commonly used functions, and its highest scores require continuous tracking of the driver’s eyes and head.
- Crash avoidance: tougher tests of automatic emergency braking and lane-support systems.
- Crash protection: how well occupants and pedestrians are protected, now covering a wider range of body sizes and ages.
- Post-crash safety: what happens after an impact. Electrically powered door handles must still work, and electric cars must isolate the high-voltage battery and warn of battery fire risk.
Each stage has a minimum threshold, and those thresholds set the overall star rating.
How the latest Chinese cars scored
In September 2026 Euro NCAP published results for three Chinese cars tested under the new 2026 protocols. All three got five stars:
| Model | Safe driving | Crash avoidance | Crash protection | Post-crash safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aion UT | 66% | 74% | 91% | 88% |
| Geely E2 | 79% | 72% | 86% | 95% |
| Leapmotor B05 | 66% | 77% | 92% | 89% |
Geely calls the E2 the “E2 (EX2)” in its announcement. For comparison, the Cupra Raval tested alongside them got four stars as standard and five with an optional safety pack.
Euro NCAP was not uncritical. It said Chinese safety had improved dramatically since it first tested a Chinese-made car in 2010, but added that “There is still some way to go”. It flagged the Aion UT’s 68% accuracy at recognising speed limits, inconsistent emergency braking on the Geely, and the Leapmotor B05’s lack of adaptive restraints.
Why the detail matters: the MG3
The MG3 shows why it pays to read past the stars. Euro NCAP published its result in September 2025, giving it four stars. In the frontal offset crash, though, the driver’s seat latch failed and the seat twisted during the impact. The dummy’s head bottomed out the airbag and hit the steering wheel, and leg protection was rated poor. Euro NCAP said it had not seen this kind of seat failure before, and its scoring at the time had no way to mark a car down for it, so the four stars stood. It advised buyers to consider other cars and reported the fault to type-approval authorities.
MG redesigned the seat latch for cars built from August 2025 and launched a free recall for earlier MG3 and MG3 Hybrid+ models. In May 2026 Euro NCAP said it had verified the redesigned seat and urged owners to get the repair done. Auto Express reported that MG had fixed more than 12,000 cars by the end of April 2026, about two-thirds of those affected.
What it means for UK buyers
On the evidence of recent tests, Chinese brands are building cars that can match European rivals in Euro NCAP’s crash tests. That does not mean every Chinese car is safe, or that every car from any country is.
When you compare cars, look up the full Euro NCAP result rather than relying on the star count. Check the year of the test, because 2026 ratings use different, tougher protocols from earlier ones, and look at the four stage scores and Euro NCAP’s written comments, which is where problems such as the MG3’s seat or weak speed-limit recognition show up.
If you own an MG3 built before August 2025, Euro NCAP advises contacting an MG dealer to check whether your car needs the free seat repair, even if you have not been contacted.
Not every Chinese model sold in the UK has been tested, and some ratings date from older protocols. Where a car has no recent rating, that is worth asking the dealer about before you buy.
