Deepal revs up efforts to explore overseas market

Deepal is making foray into overseas markets, with Europe and Southeast Asia as major destinations, said the top executive of the Chinese NEV brand.

"Our models for the two markets are under development," said Chairman Wang Xiaofei. "The model for Southeast Asia will be launched later this year, and the one for Europe will follow in 2024."

Wang unveiled the plan on Friday at the ongoing Chengdu motor show. He said going overseas will be one of two major pillars of the brand's development.

Deng Chenghao, CEO of Deepal, said the carmaker aims to grow into a world-class NEV brand, with its sales to reach 1.5 million units.

He said the vehicle market will be a rat race because of rivalry between gasoline vehicles and NEVs, between established brands and startups and also between Chinese brands and international marques.

But Deng said Chinese brands have first-mover advantages in many aspects so overseas brands are less likely to dominate in the NEV sector as they did in the gasoline era.

Deepal is one of the fastest-growing NEV brands in China, with its first model launched in July 2022.

Deng said it expects the brand's sales by the end of this year to reach around 150,000 units.

Deepal is enriching its lineup with three models in 2024 and another two will follow in 2025.