WHAT ARE CHANGAN’S CARS LIKE TO DRIVE?

Rendell found the two newcomers largely well sorted A tour around the Shanghai motor show in April was enough to convince you that China’s own-brand car makers have made phenomenal progress in the past decade.

Driving the latest products from Changan Auto, the five-seat CS55 and seven-seat CS95, just confirms that impression in their all-important and likeable on-road behaviour.

In driving manners, rolling refinement and interior quality, these two models bear comparison with equivalents from Dacia, Ford, Kia and Skoda.

The involvement of UK chassis engineers has clearly had a big influence of the fluency of the steering, compliance of the chassis, consistent weighting of controls and smoothness of brakes. The CS95 feels very well isolated from road noise, for example.

For the home market, though, with its madcap traffic and brutally potholed and undulating road surfaces, there is probably a limit to how far this dynamic excellence can be pursued.

With safety so high on the agenda for Changan, its engineers are promising a deep dive to explain why a CS55 test car rolled in a 30mph lane-change manoeuvre during our visit, after the journalist driving it switched off the ESP.

Stability control is standard on the CS55 and CS95, which are also well equipped with ABS, EBD, AEB, traction control, hill descent control, dual front airbags, side airbags and curtain airbags.

There is work to be done on powertrain refinement and transmission calibration, though. And Changan’s design studio in Italy needs to be given more freedom to find an authentic new styling theme that’s less Land Rover inspired.

But with the resources at Changan’s disposal, progress seems highly likely and rapid.