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Another cut-price automaker appears to be on the way toward an Australian launch, with Changan filing an approval with the road vehicle regulator for its Deepal S07 electric SUV.
While Changan, one of China’s largest state-owned automakers, has yet to officially speak about its Australian arrival, the brand is clearly building up to it.
Changan has been advertising jobs locally and has now submitted its vehicles for approval with regulators.
This comes after the company launched under its Deepal sub-brand in right-hand drive Thailand in early 2024. Changan even plans to produce Deepal vehicles in Thailand thanks to a new plant it is constructing there. It is due to start production in 2025 with a capacity of 100,000 units a year.
The vehicle granted type approval in Australia is the Deepal S07, an electric mid-size SUV which could rival the Tesla Model Y, BYD Atto 3 and Toyota bZ4X.
The type approval allows a manufacturer to begin import of said vehicle for sale. The Deepal S07 is described as a five-seater battery electric vehicle measuring 4750mm long by 1930mm wide, by 1625mm tall.
In Thai spec, it is equipped with a 190kW/320Nm electric motor driving the rear wheels. It has a 66.8kWh lithium-ion NMC battery pack offering 485km of driving range on the more lenient NEDC measuring standard. In Thailand, the single high-spec SUV available from its initial launch wears a price-tag equivalent to around $61,000 Australian dollars.
Interestingly, the Deepal S07 (and its L07 sedan relation) are the basis for Mazda’s upcoming electric vehicle duo, the Arata SUV and EZ-6 sedan thanks to a joint-venture relationship between the two companies. The EZ-6 revealed at the Beijing Motor Show was originally thought to be a Chinese domestic venture for Mazda, however the Japanese company subsequently announced that it would also be exported.
The announcement of a global roll-out, plus the prospect of a right-hand drive factory on Australia’s doorstep, could be more evidence the Mazda duo are headed here to revive an electric option to the Japanese marque’s line-up after the discontinuation of the MX-30 at the end of 2023.
As it stands, Mazda’s local division has said on the chances of receiving vehicles co-developed with Changan: “Australia remains one of the biggest global markets for Mazda, so of course we’ll be part of those conversations.”
Mazda will need more low- and zero-emissions vehicles imminently if it wants to comply with Australia’s New Vehicle Emissions Standards which will soon mean fines for brands unable to keep below a fleet emissions average for new vehicle sales.
A potential future option for vehicles based on this same Changan EPA1 platform as the Depal S07 is a range extender hybrid system which pairs a 1.5-litre petrol engine with either a 19 or 32kWh battery for 100 or 200km of EV-only driving range respectively.
Meanwhile, Deepal’s other vehicle is the tough G318 off-roader, although this does not appear to be available in right-hand drive yet.
The arrival of Changan will add to an exhaustive list of new Chinese automakers taking a shot at the already busy Australian market in 2025. While Chinese vehicle exports are facing steep tariffs in Europe and America as those large western markets look to protect their domestic manufacturing industries, slowing sales inside of China are forcing automakers to look to South East Asia and Australia as future growth markets.
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