CHINESE auto brand Ora has arrived in the UK and its first model is an all-electric supermini called the Funky Cat.

Targeting an upmarket audience, Ora is part of the Great Wall group and has its sights set high.

Priced from £31,995 the Funky Cat has a range of 193 miles on a full charge, a top speed of 99mph and a 0 to 62 mph acceleration time of 8.3 seconds.

It's a five-door compact hatch, roomy inside and has a 228 litre boot extending to 858 litres with the rear seats folded.

At 4.235 metres long the Funky Cat is larger than the likes of Peugeot's e-208 supermini and in First Edition guise is luxuriously appointed.

Leatherette upholstery, coloured interior trim and a smart-looking and highly functional double set of display screens set off the nicely roomy cabin.

Recharging to 80 per cent battery capacity from a home supply takes five hours and 24 minutes, three hours and 12 minutes from an 11kW public charger or just over 42 minutes from a 100kW rapid charger.

As the name suggests, its looks are rather feline with the nose set off by two large round headlights and overall it appears nice - and well - funky.

Aptly named then and with a touch of retro in its design the Funky Cat has plenty of fine characteristics.

On the road there are no complaints and acceleration can be rapid if necessary. The car is well built and well finished with no obvious corners cut in any department.

Standard kit includes adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition and lane change assistance while on the safety front it comes with rear cross traffic alerts, pedestrian and cyclist detection and automatic emergency braking.

There's also a surround view camera system, parking sensors and one-touch electric windows front and rear.

For a newcomer to the UK market the Funky Car is surprisingly complete and caters well for British tastes.

It is packed with technology which includes a facial recognition system in which you can save personal preferences with the car coming to life as soon as it recognises who is driving.

A voice control set up is another feature and can be used to search for nearby charging stations, sat nav control or certain web or app-based functions as well as other services.

Overall, the Funky Cat is quite a comprehensive package - well built, well finished and performs admirably.

It has achieved top safety ratings in the Euro NCAP test programme and there is little to fault the newcomer from China.

Ride quality is as good as any other EV and so is noise insulation which all adds up to making the Funky Cat a real ambassador for an upcoming Chinese auto electric onslaught.