Deepal dealer deluge coming as Chinese brand plays catch up to BYD, Geely
Deepal opened four dealerships in Australia when it launched here in late 2024, expanding its network to nine locations shortly thereafter.
In July, it's opening five more locations: one each in Wollongong and Penrith in New South Wales, as well as three in Melbourne (Bundoora, Deer Park and Glen Waverly).
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By the end of September, it aims to have dealerships in the following locations:
Liverpool in NSW
Werribee, Frankston, Lilydale and Geelong in Victoria
Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Toowoomba, Cairns and Townsville in Queensland
Darwin in the NT
Deepal promises its dealerships will offer a 'premium' experience with factory-trained technicians and expert aftersales care.
It has just one model available at the moment – its debut model in Australia, the S07 mid-size electric SUV – but is adding a smaller electric SUV called the S05 in the second half of 2025.
Both are distinctively styled but go head-to-head with a raft of similarly sized electric SUVs in the Australian market.
But the upcoming E07 'Multitruck', due on sale here in the third quarter of 2025, will have no direct competitors thanks to its unusual ute-cum-SUV body.
Featuring a retractable rear roof and an electric glass partition, the E07 Multitruck is launching here with a base price of $64,900 before on-road costs and will be available in both single-motor rear-wheel drive and dual-motor all-wheel drive forms.
In addition to rolling out new products, Deepal has committed to delivering 'significant' over-the-air software upgrades for existing owners, addressing areas such as infotainment system responsiveness, energy management, and voice command functionality.
Earlier this year, it rolled out updates to the S07's driver monitoring system and adaptive cruise control.
It also extended the electric SUV's service intervals from a short 10,000km to a more competitive 20,000km following criticism of its service schedule and pricing.
Deepal – imported here by Subaru distributor Inchcape – has thus far reported only 99 deliveries in Australia, however, it only started appearing in VFACTS industry sales reports in May 2025 despite commencing customer deliveries in December 2024.
Nevertheless, Deepal delivered just 32 examples of its S07 in June 2025, against 822 EX5s from rival Chinese brand Geely, which arrived in Australia even more recently.
The more affordable EX5, the Geely brand's only model on sale in Australia thus far, is sitting at 1845 deliveries year-to-date.
Leading the mid-size electric SUV segment in June were the Tesla Model Y (3457 deliveries), followed by the BYD Sealion 7 (1795 deliveries).
Even Leapmotor delivered 60 examples of its C10, which competes in the same segment, bringing the Chinese brand to 309 deliveries year-to-date.
The S07 did manage to outsell pricier rivals like the Ford Mustang Mach-E (28 deliveries in June) and Subaru Solterra (10).
Deepal introduced offers prior to the end of the financial year, bringing the price of model year 2024 (MY24) S07 vehicles down to $49,990 drive-away.
This offer has now been extended to August 31, 2025.
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