We can rebuild it! Deepal S07 electric SUV gets “re-engineered” safety software, brand aims for “redemption”
The newly-arrived Chinese brand Deepal is re-engineering the safety software of its S07 electric SUV and hoping its own image will be rebuilt in the process.
Deepal’s debut model in Australia has been subject to significant criticisms related to the intrusiveness of its automated driver assist systems since it went on-sale late in 2024.
Over the air (OTA) updates overhauling the software were scheduled to begin rolling out to S07s owned by Deepal Australia this week, with privately-owned vehicles to be upgraded if all goes to plan.
READ MORE: Deepal E07 Review: Is this the EV to take on the Toyota Prado and Ford Ranger in one high-tech electric hit?
READ MORE: Look out Toyota Kluger! Luxury hybrid Deepal S09 three-row SUV claims 180km electric range
READ MORE: Advantage China? New Deepal S07 undercuts the Tesla Model Y by a cool $2000 – plus it beats the Tesla for driving range
Deepal Australia general Manager Comac Caffola announced the OTA plan last Friday night at the Melbourne motor show. Pricing for the E07 Multitrack and the opening of pre-orders for the S05 compact SUV were also announced.
Deepal is part of the giant Changan group in China and is distributed in Australia by Inchcape, which also handles Subaru, Peugeot and Foton.
In a post-speech interview with EV Central Caffola conceded the issues with the S07’s ADAS had been readily apparent internally as well as from media and public feedback.
“We experienced the intrusive safety features ourselves, and whilst they were set up with the best intent in mind we understood they didn’t suit the Australian consumer as well as they could have.
“So we set about immediately working with [Deepal]. They sent over their executive team from the Changan group, their engineers from Deepal and they came en masse to understand the product.
“They sat in the car, they drove it and they took every bit of feedback we gave them.
“Within 24 hours they had a project team working on it. They sent us a couple ideas on how to fix it and they have re-engineered the entire software.”
Caffola said the speed and depth of the response from Deepal and Changan would hopefully improve the perception of the brand here, which he conceded had taken a knock from the intrusive tuning and resultant bad publicity.
“It obviously had an influence,” he conceded. “We’d like to think the redemption arc of what we are doing now will absolutely recover confidence in the brand.
“Being a brand that listens to customers and takes action is more important. Being a brand that accepts we made a mistake with some of our systems, but I tell you what we heard you and we fixed them, that is really important.”
Intrusive ADAS systems are not unique to Deepal among Chinese brands and the inability to get them right across multiple models has also been a common issue.
But Caffola insisted Deepal wouldn’t be a repeat offender.
“We’d be crazy not to learn our lesson and then just go and make the same [mistakes] again,” he said.
“Everything we do and every bit of insight from the market we feed back into the product teams for all future products.
“So E07, we have a team of engineers coming here in the next two or three weeks purely to make sure that car is engineered properly.
“They’ll be testing all of the infotainment, all of the driver systems, all of the intelligent controls to make sure they work exactly as they need to.
“So it’s really important we learn.”
Software isn’t the only update Deepal Australia has recently made. It also announced in late February the doubling of service intervals from 10,000km to 20,000km and the abandonment of an initial 5000km service.
