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By Jonathan Crouch

The Changan Deepal S05 PHEV is a lower-mid-sized Plug-in Hybrid crossover you probably won't have considered. Should you? Jonathan Crouch takes a look at what's on offer.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 35

Chinese maker Changan enters the Plug-in Hybrid market with this car, the Deepal S05 PHEV. Those shopping in the segment for a lower mid-sized crossover with Plug-in Hybrid power might like to take a look.

Backgroundword count: 115

Changan's core model, the mid-sized Deepal S05, might make more sense for you in Plug-in Hybrid rather than EV form. Here, we'll take a closer look. The limited familiarity UK customers have with China's growing Changan brand is based around the company's Deepal-badged EV offerings. But to grow as quickly as it needs to in our market, the company will have to adapt, something Chinese marques have shown themselves to be very good at. The S05 EV was this manufacturer's second UK product, launched here in early 2025, a lower mid-sized crossover EV model with a platform capable of supporting different kinds of drivetrains. It's the PHEV version of it that we look at here.

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It's interesting that this very Chinese-style model's PHEV drivetrain was part-developed at Changan's UK R&D centre in Birmingham, so you'd think that it would be engineered to suit our stop-start bumpy road network. The S05 PHEV uses the company's latest 'Ultra Hybrid' technology, which sees a 1.5-litre four cylinder petrol engine paired with a permanent magnet synchronous rear-mounted electric motor, the two combined producing 254bhp. The motor is energised by an 18.4kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery offering an EV range of up to 62 miles. There's 320Nm of torque and 0-62mph takes 7.5s en route to 112mph. A twin motor AWD version's also offered in other markets but as yet, there's no sign of that coming here. As with the S05 EV, there's a head-up display instead of an instrument binnacle - and an area view camera system for surroundings that cuts out at 18mph. Other Chinese brands don't set the bar high in terms of ride and handling in this segment and despite the British R&D input, you shouldn't expect this S05 to match the rest of its European rivals around the twisty stuff. As usual with Chinese cars, you'll probably come away from a drive feeling that a little more work is needed on steering feel, the firm ride and the intrusiveness of the ADAS features.

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