South Africa recently got the big news that two new Chinese automakers will launch here before the end of 2025.
Changan Automobile confirmed that it will open up shop in South Africa this year, bringing with it a luxury sub-brand known as Deepal.
While neither company has officially announced which vehicles they intend to bring here, TopAuto discovered South African trademark filings for two Deepal models – the S05 and the S07 – serving as a good indicator that these will be the first units we get our hands on.
What’s in store
Deepal is a division of Changan that specializes in new-energy transport, including hybrids and battery-electric vehicles (BEVs).
This focus is on full display with the S05 – a crossover that is available as both a range-extender hybrid and a BEV.
Range extenders are an increasingly popular type of hybrid cars that do not use a combustion engine to directly power the wheels directly.
Instead, the engine functions like a generator to charge a battery that drives the e-motor, effectively giving it the benefits of a fully electric car without compromising on range.
In the case of the S05, a 1.5-litre petrol plant is used to charge a 27.3kWh CATL battery, which in turn powers a rear-mounted e-motor with an output of 163kW.
The battery is large enough to allow for 200km of electric driving, but charging it via the engine extender’s the crossover’s ability to travel to an impressive 1,234km.
If you’d prefer to go all in with an electric powertrain, the S05 is also available as a BEV with a more powerful e-motor producing 192kW.
Naturally, the BEV also comes with a much larger 56.1kWh cell, letting it drive 510km between trips to the nearest outlet.
The second model that Deepal has submitted for a trademark in South Africa is the S07, which as its name suggests, is the larger of the two cars.
The S05 is a C-segment crossover comparable in size to the VW T-Roc, while the S07 is a midsize SUV on par with the VW Tiguan.
Like its smaller counterpart, the S07 is available as both a range-extender hybrid and a BEV, though it understandably has a higher output to compensate for its bigger shape.
The hybrid also uses a 1.5-litre engine as its base, but this connects to a higher-capacity 31.7kWh battery and a rear e-motor with 177kW.
Despite the larger battery, it ends with roughly the same electric range of 200km courtesy of the added weight, but it can still travel for up to 1,200km when both the electric and petrol sources are fully utilized.
The BEV, meanwhile, features a single e-motor with 160kW and an 80kWh battery good for 650km of driving.
It’s worth noting that the S07 is already on sale in Australia while the S05 is slated to appear there later this year, which is another good sign that both of these cars make it to South Africa in the near future as well given the similarities between these markets.
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