Omoda 5 prototype review

Chery-owned brand heads for the UK with a competitively priced Kona rival Yup, that’s right: it’s another Chinese brand that’s on the cusp of launching its offensive on UK shores.Hold the eye-roll for just a moment, though, because Omoda could well be of genuine interest, not least as it’s offering very competitively priced petrol cars as well as electric ones. Case in point: the Omoda 5 family SUV that you’re looking at here has a 1.6-litre petrol engine beneath its bonnet.Anyway, to go back to the start, Omoda is a new brand created by Chinese giant Chery for European domination. It has existed since 2022 and deliveries of the petrol 5 and electric Omoda E5 will start this summer from 64 UK dealers, including major franchises such as Peter Vardy and Listers.The 5 is the brand’s core family SUV model, coming in at a similar sort of price to the Nissan Juke and Ford Puma, even though its 4.42m length puts in more in league with the Nissan Qashqai and Ford Kuga.Styling-wise, the 5 is inoffensive and almost remarkable in its genericness. Pick a modern, swoopy SUV and there seems to be a cue somewhere on the 5 that likens to it. Toyota chiefs in particular may be raising some eyebrows.