Skywell targets fleet sales for first electric SUV

The head of Skywell, the latest Chinese brand to target the UK market, is reporting strong fleet interest for the brand’s first launch.

David Clark, managing director of Skywell UK, believes the BE11 electric SUV will attract fleets and particularly salary sacrifice providers on a combination of a long specification, strong predicted residual values and an on-the-road price below the £40,000 expensive car supplement.

Clark admits, however that first-year UK sales for Skywell will be modest as the brand establishes itself and sets up a dealer network.

Like many of the new-to-the-UK Chinese brands Skywell is part of a much bigger conglomerate. The brand began life as the Nanjing Golden Dragon Bus Company, founded in 2020 and which grew to become one of China’s leading electric bus manufacturers.

In 2011 NGDB became part of the Skyworth Group, one of the world’s largest consumer electronics companies with an annual turnover of over £21bn. It has since successfully diversified into other automotive categories including trucks, vans and subsequently cars, the BE11 launching in China in 2020.

Skywell is now being imported into the UK by Innovation Automotive, which already distributes a small electric van for another Chinese brand, Dongfeng Motor (DFSK). Innovation expects first-year sales of the BE11 to number only around 800, partly due to setting up a dealer network. Clark described this as a conservative figure and added that the factory could supply more product if required.

Currently only around 10 outlets are in the process of being signed up to distribute Skywell product, Clark admitting that Skywell was “slightly behind the curve” of the aggressive network establishment activities of rival brands such as Omoda-Jaecoo which had immediate product to sell.

Aftersales focus

Skywell hopes to have an initial network of around 25 outlets by the Spring of 2025 and closer to 50 by the end of the year. Innovation Automotive has also used its background in commercial vehicles to ensure it has none of the issues with aftersales that have proven a stumbling block to some of the new Chinese brands. The company has established a major parts hub in Doncaster and agreed a relationship with Halfords, with 300 servicing sites already live and the availability of mobile servicing.

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As a result residual values are expected to be a major factor in favour of Skywell’s fleet ambitions, with CAP predicting values for the BE11 at 43% on 36 months/30,000 miles, significantly ahead of better-known potential rivals.

The BE-11 is available with two battery options, a Standard Range 72kWh and Long Range 86kWh unit with a maximum range of 304 miles. The car is priced at £36,995 for the Standard Range and £39,995 for the Long Range and this includes a seven-year/100,000-mile warranty plus an eight-year 155,000-mile warranty on the battery.

Just one trim level is available with no cost options, standard equipment on all versions of the BE11 including an opening panoramic ‘sky roof’, wireless phone charging, keyless entry, a 360-degree around-view monitor and a gesture-opening electric tailgate.

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Potential fleet buyers will likely note, however that contributing to the BE11’s low price are far fewer ADAS driver-aids – the model was first launched in China in 2020 and because it entered the European type-approval process before the latest regulations came into force, it lacks many of the electronic technologies present on more recent launches from rivals.

The BE11 has not undergone a crash-test programme from safety body Euro NCAP and Clark admitted that if it did it would not attract a five-star rating.

Skywell’s UK ambitions will ramp up in 2025 with the arrival of its first car designed specifically for Europe. The Q electric hatchback was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in September and is due on sale in the third quarter of 2025.

Skywell also showed the Skyhome large saloon at the Paris show though UK sales for this model are yet to be confirmed. However at around the same time as the launch of the Q, Skywell will enter the light-commercial vehicle market with a large electric van, the model name of which is yet to be revealed.

© Business Motoring  ·