Deepal

Changan’s presence in Europe goes back further than its cars do. The company opened a UK research and development facility, focused on powertrain and energy research, back in 2010, and has run a design studio in Turin, Italy since 2003, alongside manufacturing partnerships with Ford and Mazda dating back to 2005. That two decades of groundwork shows in the S07 itself, which was styled at Changan’s Italian design centre and had UK roads specifically factored into its on-road development, a genuinely unusual level of Europe-specific preparation for a brand only just arriving here.

The Deepal S07 launched in the UK in September 2025, pitched directly at the Tesla Model Y, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Skoda Enyaq, with a starting price that undercuts all three. Changan has said a smaller SUV, the Deepal S05, will follow, offered as both a fully electric and plug-in hybrid model, though it hasn’t gone on sale in the UK yet. Changan’s ambitions here extend well beyond Deepal alone, the group has confirmed that models from three separate marques, Changan itself, Deepal, and the premium brand Avatr, will eventually be sold in the UK, backed by a target of 60 dealer sites by the end of its launch year and more than 60 models, a mix of EVs and hybrids, in its wider global pipeline.

Changan sold more than 2.7 million vehicles worldwide in 2024 alone, and has committed to investing €2 billion in Europe by 2030, including plans to eventually manufacture vehicles there rather than only import them. For a brand whose name was unfamiliar to most UK buyers before 2025, that’s a serious statement of long-term intent.