You would be forgiven for not being hugely au fait with Changan’s work. The Chinese brand arrived in the UK only at the tail end of 2025 with the impressively competent Deepal S07 electric family SUV. Now there’s a smaller one, the Deepal S05.
It promises tech, performance and the sort of stuff that ‘lifestyle’ people go all giddy over. We went to Austria for some cold-weather driving and low-grip fun to get a hint of what it will be like when it hits the UK later this year.
Changan is one of China’s big manufacturers, and it has had an R&D base in the UK for years, as well as a design house in Italy. So it should be able to make good on its promise that its cars are tailored to European needs.
The Deepal S05 is the sort of 4.6m-long electric crossover that we're seeing a lot of. See also: Skoda Elroq, Kia EV5, MG S5 EV.
Changan is definitely playing the value card, because for £39,995 – the price of a well-specced single-motor Elroq – it will give you a dual-motor, four-wheel-drive Deepal S05 with all the kit you could wish for. There's a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive version as well for £37,990.
We used the AWD one for winter slithering duties, and it’s a punchy package. There’s 429bhp and 370lb ft to play with and 0-62mph is a brisk 5.5sec.
Under the floor is a 68.8kWh battery, which is on the small side for the class, but it uses lithium-iron-phosphate chemistry so won't mind being fully charged on a regular basis.
It promises 4.0mpkWh efficiency and 278 miles of range. On a 200kW DC charger, you will get the battery from 30% to 80% in 15 minutes.
When it comes to the look and feel of the car, Changan's Italian team has done a fine job. It’s aerodynamically efficient yet doesn’t look like an egg, which is pleasing.
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