Ambitious Chinese car brand Omoda is set to launch within weeks and its management team is already setting sales expectations that would overtake established brands Citroen, Mazda, Dacia and Seat by just its second year.

Its first franchise partners are Endeavour Automotive, Listers and Peter Vardy, and more are expected to be announced soon ahead of the March brand launch. An initial 50 sites have been confirmed, with 100 expected by the end of 2024 and 180 by 2026.

Chris Clayton, a member of its management team, said Omoda’s dealer franchise model was one of the reasons he joined this company from Hyundai, stating that dealers are “integral to OEMs”.

Building brand awareness will be a top priority for Omoda when it officially launches in March. It means getting people to see the cars and getting bums on seats, as it wants to sell 16,000 cars this year and another 40,000 in 2025.

Such ambitions could rapidly take it past established brand names such as Citroen, Mazda, Honda, Dacia and Seat which all recorded less than 35,000 sales each in the last full year.