Chevrolet has added a diesel five-seat LS variant to its Captiva SUV range, and priced it £18,295.

Previously the entry-level LS spec was only offered with the 2.4-litre petrol engine, priced £16,995, and diesel variants started with the £20,395 LT variant.

The new model is significantly cheaper than Kia’s base model Sorento, the cheapest diesel Nissan X-Trail, and the five-seat Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 CRTD, but it is slightly slower and no automatic transmission is offered.

Captiva 2.0VCDi LS comes with air conditioning, alloy wheels, a glass-flip tailgate, electrically-adjustable heated door mirrors, adjustable driver’s seat, radio/CD player with MP3 socket, steering-wheel mounted audio controls, front, side and curtain airbags, remote control two-stage deadlocking and charcoal-effect roof rails.

The 2.0-litre 150PS common-rail diesel engine powers the front wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox, delivering a combined fuel economy figure of 38.7mpg .

CO2 emissions are 195g/km, and the car accelerates from 0-62mph in 11.5 seconds, with a top speed of 112mph.