When Skywell launched the BE11 in the UK late last year, it arrived with the confidence of a disruptor and the road manners of a rough first draft. The pitch was solid enough: an electric SUV roughly the size of a Nissan Ariya or Skoda Enyaq, priced about £3000 less, from a new Chinese brand with serious industrial backing. The execution, however, didn’t land. Reviewers were unconvinced, owners were vocal, and the BE11 quickly earned a reputation for feeling unfinished.

Now Skywell is back with what it calls a “comprehensive revision” for the 2026 model year. Translation: the BE11 has been sent back to the editor with red pen marks all over it. The changes don’t amount to a full rewrite, but they do address many of the car’s most obvious flaws—and they’re sweetened by a £5000 price cut that makes the BE11 harder to ignore.

Skywell, for the uninitiated, is a joint venture between Skyworth—one of the world’s largest consumer electronics groups—and Chinese electric bus specialist Nanjing Golden Dragon. That pedigree suggested technical competence, but early road tests told a different story. Autocar, for example, handed the BE11 a brutal two-star rating, citing mediocre efficiency, an unrefined ride, numb steering, and an infotainment system that felt more like a prototype than a production interface. In a market flooded with polished EVs, “sub-par” is not a word you want associated with your debut model.

Crucially, Skywell hasn’t torn up the mechanical blueprint. The BE11 still rides on the same basic platform, still uses a single front-mounted motor producing 201bhp, and still offers two battery options. The Standard Range version carries a 72kWh NMC battery good for a claimed 248 miles, while the Long Range model ups capacity to 86kWh and stretches that figure to 303 miles. On paper, nothing here moves the segment’s goalposts.

Where Skywell has focused its efforts is on comfort, usability, and—most conspicuously—technology. The headline change is the addition of advanced driver assistance systems, which were notably absent from the original car. Adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, and lane-keeping assistance now come as part of the package. According to Skywell, much of this system was developed and tuned on UK roads, an important detail if it translates into smoother, less intrusive calibration.

The absence of ADAS on the original BE11 wasn’t an oversight so much as a timing loophole. The car completed European type approval before July 2024, meaning it wasn’t required to meet the EU’s GSR2 regulations that now mandate such safety tech. That might have made regulatory sense, but in real-world terms it made the BE11 feel outdated the moment it arrived. This update closes that gap decisively.

Inside, Skywell has also addressed some of the day-to-day annoyances that early adopters complained about. Heated and ventilated front seats are now available, the driver’s seat gains electric adjustment, and USB-C ports are more generously scattered throughout the cabin. A 360-degree parking camera joins the options list, and buyers can now spec a much larger 15.6-inch central touchscreen—an acknowledgment that in this class, screen size still sells cars.

Whether the revised infotainment software itself is genuinely more intuitive remains the unanswered question. Hardware is easy; user experience is harder. Skywell claims improvements, but this is one area where the BE11 will live or die once reviewers get back behind the wheel.

Then there’s the price cut, which may be the most persuasive change of all. The Standard Range BE11 now starts at £31,990, down from £36,995. That drop repositions the Skywell as a genuine value alternative rather than a budget curiosity. At this price, its generous interior space—still one of its strongest attributes—becomes a much more compelling selling point.

Skywell’s UK operations are handled by Gloucestershire-based importer Innovation Automotive, and for a new brand trying to establish trust, that local presence matters. So does the willingness to listen. This update reads less like a routine facelift and more like a public admission that the original car missed the mark.

The BE11 still won’t trouble the best-driving EVs in the class, and it’s unlikely to win over enthusiasts with its steering feel or chassis finesse. But with more tech, more comfort, and a significantly lower asking price, it finally feels competitive rather than compromised.

In other words, Skywell hasn’t reinvented the BE11—but it has fixed enough of the footnotes to make the main story worth another read.

Source: Skywell