China’s original domestic car maker could be one of its most intriguing
Wherever you look around the world, to North America, Europe, Japan or elsewhere – you’ll find a different breakthrough first passenger car; that one mass-produced marvel that revolutionised mobility. Austin Seven, Ford Model T, Fiat Topolino. This week, the Autocar road test turns its focus on the maker of China’s equivalent automotive pioneer (or, perhaps, the closest approximation that Communist rule would allow at the time: the Changjiang Type 46 jeep of 1959).This is Changan: China’s self-proclaimed oldest domestic car maker. The state-owned marque got into the commercial passenger car business properly in 1984 (with a little help from Suzuki) and last year became the first Chinese maker to pass the 30 million production watershed over its long history. It’s aiming to become a top 10 global car brand by the end of this decade and already has a global footprint to suit, having had a design centre in Turin since 2001 and a UK R&D base since 2010.Of its several sub-brands, it has chosen to enter the UK with Deepal (cars will be badged ‘Changan Deepal’ here and ‘Deepal’ in other markets). Deepal was launched in 2023 as a technically progressive entity focusing on advanced digital technologies and electric and plug-in hybrid powertrains. It has a model line-up consisting mostly of crossover estates and SUVs, the first of which to be brought to UK shores is our test subject: the Changan Deepal S07.The S07 is a mid-sized hatchback-cum-SUV that will face some of the market’s electric heavyweights: the Tesla Model Y, Polestar 2 and Skoda Enyaq. This, then, is a Chinese EV, but one designed in Turin, developed in Birmingham and manufactured (for right-hand-drive countries, at least) in Rayong, Thailand. Already, it has assumed a different path from so many other cars of its ilk that we have tested over the past few years. So where will it take us next?
