Test Drive: Skywell B11 at Chandlers of Belton & Horncastle

This month, a large, comfortable and well-appointed SUV with masses of space, an all-electric drivetrain and an almost embarrassingly reasonable price… there’s much to love as Skywell makes its debut at Chandlers of Horncastle and Belton

This is the Skywell BE11, and it’s a heck of a lot of car for your cash. 15 years ago, one of China’s multi-billion dollar entrepreneurs established the Skyworth group. Stephen Wong now heads up a company which makes everything from solar panels to home electronics and appliances to audio visual equipment. By 2020, his company was also manufacturing and exporting light commercial vehicles, minibuses and even HGVs and cars within its domestic market.

Fast forward to June 2025 and like more than a few other Chinese motoring brands (BYD, Jaecoo, Omoda, XPeng, Great Wall, Ora, Chery, Haval, Leapmotor, Geely, Yangwang), Skyworth, known as Skywell in the UK) has set its sights on the European car market.

It makes sense too. With electrification slowly pervading the European car market as trust in the technology builds, and with 80% of the world’s electric car batteries originating from China, the country has the ability to seriously disrupt the market.

In June 2025, one in 10 cars sold in the UK (18,944 registrations) were made in China, aided by the fact that the UK has not imposed high import tariffs, and the fact that it’s impossible to ignore that such vehicles are noticeably cheaper and well-made.

The bad news though, is that with such an influx of new models, consumers aren’t  too familiar with what’s available, who makes what or what a particular model looks like. And that means potential customers might be missing out on some well-specified, well-equipped and very inexpensive vehicles. 

This identity crisis is made worse as some brands are owned by parent companies (Chery’s UK brands include Jaecoo and Omoda; Leapmotor, Citroen, Peugeot and Vauxhall, are owned by Stellantis) and there has been some renaming of models of brands and models; Ora Funky Cat is now known more prosaically as the GWM Ora, for example.

Back to the Skywell B11 though. It’s 4720mm long. For reference that’s a bit longer than a Range Rover Evoque and just 1mm shorter than a Mercedes GLC. 

There’s just one trim level. It’s all electric, your choice is really just Standard Range (248 miles) or Long Range (304 miles). 

It’ll charge in about half an hour at a proper DC charging station, or about five hours from AC power. It’s front wheel drive, 60mph is reached in 9.6 seconds, and it’ll do a more-than-sufficient 93mph where legal. The Standard Range version costs £36,995 and the Long Range is just a fiver under £40,000.

Emitting zero CO2, both fall into the 3% BIK category for company car tax, and Skywell has its own range of incentives designed to match the UK government’s EV incentives for which Chinese brands are ineligible.

Given that the comparably-sized and similar-looking Mercedes GLC range kicks off at over £50,000 for a diesel vehicle (the firm’s electric offering was discontinued in 2023), UK motorists really ought to be sitting up and taking notice.

Granted, vehicles from German brands like BMW, Mercedes and Audi have brand cachet on their side, but cover up the badge and you’ll struggle to tell them apart.

Some motoring commentators reckon that the Skywell BE11 looks rather like other premium mid-size SUVs. I don’t object if the car looks like a more expensive brand, offers just as much space and the same level of quality and standard equipment.

First impressions are of a large-looking car that offers masses of space for rear passengers, plus a very large boot (689 litres). Up front there’s ample leg and kneeroom and plenty of headroom even with a very large (electrically-opening) panoramic roof.

Seats are supportive, and they’re covered in leather and suede, with copper contrast stitching and piping. On the dashboard there’s open pore wood trim, and plastics are sufficiently squidgy and thick as to give the impression of decent quality. 

Build quality is good too, with only the bottom of the door bins feeling a little more utilitarian: quite sensibly, probably given their tendency to be scuffed by shoes.

There’s a console-mounted rotary gear selector for the automatic transmission, and like the indicators and doors, it’s well damped with a solid thunk that also gives the impression of quality.

Standard kit includes a good 360° camera plus parking sensors which also give you a readout in centimetres as to how near an object may be. The screen is responsive to your touch too. Sunroof, windows, mirrors and seats adjust electrically and there’s an electric tailgate. There’s standard Apple CarPlay which connects and plays very nicely too.

The Skywell BE11 is a joy in town. The steering is the lightest you’ll ever experience, and parking is a cinch even though it’s quite a large car. Visibility is good too thanks to a decent high driving position.

Out of town the car isn’t designed to be sporty, but you get a decent feel for the road through the wheels, there’s enough poke for overtaking and you can tell that the ride has been engineered for comfort. 

What’s refreshing too is that the Skywell B11 is one of the few vehicles that doesn’t constantly nag you with alerts about staying awake, keeping in lane, driving too close or approaching a changing speed limit. It really just lets you get on with driving.

For a car that’s so well-equipped it’s strange that the cruise control is a standard, not an adaptive system, and there isn’t a blind spot monitoring system, but for those who find such systems a constant irritation, you’ll find it a nice antidote.

All in all, I can’t help thinking that there’s a really good opportunity for early adopters of the brand here. Fortune favours the bold, so they say, and for those pragmatic enough to consider an alternative to das-konventionell Deutsche autos, you’ll discover a vehicle that’s an absolute bargain, really practical, clean and cheap to run.

And with Skywell’s confidence underwritten by a standard 7-year/100,000 mile warranty plus an additional 8-year/155,000 mile warranty on the vehicle’s battery, you’ve peace of mind too. In terms of metal for money, you really can’t ignore the Skywell.

Skywell B11

Price: £36,995 (Standard Range).
Powertrain: 150kW, 72kWh Auto.
Performance: 93mph, 0-60mph 9.6 secs.
Range: 248 miles range, 36 min charge from 20-80% with DC Connection.
Equipment: 360° parking camera, front and rear parking sensors, cruise control, 128 colour ambient lighting, electric windows, door mirrors, seats and sunroof, automatic air conditioning, leather and suede upholstery, 19” alloy wheels.
Skywell’s B11 SUV is available to test drive at Chandlers of Belton and Horncastle. For more information call 01507 527211 or see www.chandlers.co.uk/vehicles

For the full feature see the November edition of Lincolnshire Pride at https://www.pridemagazines.co.uk/lincolnshire/view-magazines?magazine=November-2025