Deepal E07 2025 review - International preview drive

People (parents?) of a certain age will remember the Nickelodeon cartoon CatDog that ran from the late 1990s to the mid-noughties.

It centred on the unlikely adventures of a cat and dog sharing the same body, and I couldn’t help thinking of it on first meeting with the Deepal E07.

That’s because this SUV/ute mash-up combines the key attributes of two previously distinct automotive body styles. Family SUV business in the front and a ute party out the back.

Its shape and split-personality configuration give softer, less shiny Tesla Cybertruck vibes, and it’s coming here in the second half of 2025.

Deepal Australia invited us to its parent company, Changan’s enormous proving ground in Chongqing, China, for a brief preview drive.  

And although some fundamental questions around powertrain, spec and pricing are still open, we were able to gain a (qualified) first impression.

On the subject of local pricing, it‘s far from finalised. In fact, Deepal Australia is still working through the business case to determine whether it will offer the E07 in its range-extender EV form, as a pure-electric BEV, or both.

But, in China, it’s priced between the equivalent of $44,300 and $70,000 across seven trim levels. With an almost inevitable export market price bump, it will live in the same ball park as a bunch of premium dual-cab ute and mid-size to large SUVs here.

Set to be unique in the market, the EO7 (branded as a Changan Nevo or Qiyuan in China) has a signature party trick in the form of a two-stage electric sliding rear roof section and power tailgate with load-through capability once the rear seats are folded.

@carsguide.com.au Deepal’s E07 is family SUV business in the front, a ute party in the back and it’s coming here. #Deepal #E07 #car #carsguide #fyp ♬ original sound - CarsGuide.com.au

Sadly, the Australian Design Rules computer says no to the funky digital ‘interactive block’ between the headlights (sending messages like 'Pedestrians please go first') on the domestic market version we drove, and it will be replaced by an LED strip light when the car goes on sale here. Worth noting Deepal Australia is looking at different alloy rim designs, as well.

For those measuring up the garage for a potential fit, the E07 is 5045mm long, 1996mm wide and 1680mm tall with a 3120mm wheelbase. And thanks no doubt to that swoopy rear end it boasts an impressively slippery drag co-efficient of 0.237. 

The interior is nicely executed with a useful balance between appealing form and practical function. That said, the overall impression is minimalist, with nearly all functions operated through the central screen.

There’s no conventional instrumentation in front of the driver, with an enormous head-up display taking its place. And there’s a 15.4-inch floating media screen here in the centre of the dash.

The screen handles operation of the cargo doors, drive modes (including ride height control), nav, media, ventilation, vehicle settings and more. ‘Hi Deepal’ voice control is also on-board, but I’d prefer physical dials for audio and a/c control. 

And does that swoopy exterior relate to a livable interior?

Well, up front there’s tons of storage including a pair of cupholders in the centre console, cradles for your phone (including wireless charging) as well as a deep lidded box between the seats, bins in the doors with enough room for bottles, as well as connectivity for USB-A and USB-C.

There’s acres of space in the back, with plenty of headroom and limo-like legroom for me (183cm) sitting behind the driver’s seat set to my position.

There are no pockets on the seatbacks but there’s individual ventilation control, USB-C power, slots in the doors that will hold a bottle, as well as a pull-down centre armrest with a couple of cupholders included.

Boot (or is it tray?) capacity is 500 litres in the AWD, growing to around 1650 litres with the rear seats folded. In the latter set-up the bed is 1667mm long, and there’s also a 131-litre front trunk.

That’s handy, but bear in mind comparable SUVs from the Hyundai Tucson to a five-seat LandCruiser Prado offer more. 

And is the tray space as useful as a ute’s? No. But the multi-tool style flexibility is the key practicality pitch here.

The Deepal E07 offers range-extender (EREV) and battery-electric (BEV) variants, the former using a 105kW, 1.5-litre engine purely as a generator (without any drive going to the wheels).

Both versions include single-motor, rear-wheel-drive and dual-motor, all-wheel-drive configurations, with AWD in the frame for our market.

The AWD EREV produces a combined 362kW (231kW rear / 131kW front) while the AWD BEV produces a solid 440kW/645Nm.

The extended-range E07 features a 39kWh battery delivering a claimed 185-200km EV-only range to the Chinese CLTC standard and around 1000km overall, while the pure-electric E07’s drive battery is a 90kWh unit good for 551–701 km of (CLTC) range.

As a rule of thumb expect a 20 per cent drop in range from the relatively lenient CLTC rating if tested to the benchmark WLTP cycle.

Maximum DC charge rate for the BEV is 240kW and Deepal says a 30-80 per cent charge is possible in 15 minutes. AC charge rate is a relatively modest 7.0kW, with 11kW the more common AC capacity.

We had a relatively brief, preview drive at Changan’s sprawling (roughly 1500 hectare) proving ground which by its very nature is varied but almost synthetic in that the surfaces you’re going over are often quite extreme - everything from harsh Belgian blocks and stuttery bumps to potholes and a high-speed ring around the perimeter.

However, on the broader highway sections the E07 rode very nicely. On broken sections and undulations it seemed pretty soft, but overall, body control is good.

Suspension is by double wishbones at the front and multi-links at the rear with air suspension standard on the AWD version. Tyres on the example we drove were a sporty 265/45 21-inch Michelin Pilot Sport SUV model.

The steering is light but accurate and there’s a decent connection between the wheel in your hands and the front tyres, but we’ll reserve judgement until we get this car on home soil in the second half of this year. 

Zero to 100km/h acceleration in the dual-motor EV is a supercar-rivalling four seconds and it feels every bit that quick. The single motor gets to the same speed in a still rapid 6.7sec. Claimed top speed is 210km/h.

We’ll have to wait for details on active and passive safety tech, but stand by for high-level assisted driving with 11 cameras, five millimetre-wave radars, 12 ultrasonic radars and two lidar sensors fitted to top-spec models in the home market.

Expect Deepal to cover the E07 with the brand’s seven-year/160,000km warranty with 12 months roadside assist and separate eight-year/240,000km drive battery cover. Capped price servicing will almost certainly be offered.