For two consecutive years, the KPI has not been achieved, and Shenlan is getting anxious.
After integrating Huawei's intelligent driving technology, Deepal, an automobile brand, recently hired Jiang Hairong, an executive with a Huawei background, for a key position, aiming to make breakthroughs in marketing, user experience, and overseas markets at a faster pace. However, Jiang Hairong's new job won't be easy. What kind of sparks will this cross - border cooperation ignite?
On the same day that Jiang Hairong, the former CMO of Honor in China, officially announced his joining of Deepal, the Deepal S09, regarded as the strategic flagship model of Deepal, launched its long - range and ultra - fast charging version.
On September 8th, the long - range and ultra - fast charging version of the Deepal S09 was launched, with a price range of 239,900 to 309,900 yuan. Compared with its first release in May this year, the starting price remains the same, but the battery of the new version has been upgraded.
On the Dongchedi App, when comparing the 2025 Deepal S09 Rear - wheel Drive Ultra+ and the Rear - wheel Drive Ultra+ Long - Range version, both have a guide price of 279,900 yuan. However, the latter is equipped with the 53.49kWh CATL Xiaoyao extended - range hybrid battery, which is the first in the industry and has passed the new national standard certification. It outperforms in both range and charging time.
It was Jiang Hairong's first day as the president of the company. He attended a media communication meeting with Deng Chenghao, who was promoted to the chairman of Deepal. The two exchanged views with the media on future division of labor and cooperation, Deepal's development plan, and the current competitive landscape of the automotive market.
That was also the day when Jiang Hairong's work challenges began. Many old owners of the Deepal S09, after seeing the new version, felt betrayed, believing that Deepal was indirectly reducing prices, which violated Deng Chenghao's previous promise of "one - year price protection".
On the Black Cat Complaint Platform, an owner posted a message saying that they bought the Deepal S09 Four - wheel Drive Ultra Customized version on July 24, 2025, and signed a price - protection agreement. "Just over a month later, a long - range version came out with more features but the same price. This is sales fraud."
On September 10th, Deepal replied to the post, saying that they would contact the owner for communication and handling. However, the complaint progress on the platform has not shown that the issue has been resolved.
In the view of industry insiders, as Deepal has failed to meet its sales targets for two consecutive years, it may be too eager.
As a new - energy brand under Changan Automobile, Changan has set two requirements for Deepal in 2025: "achieving a positive profit cycle" and "becoming a leader in the industry". Deng Chenghao has also repeatedly stated that Deepal can achieve profitability when its monthly sales exceed 30,000 units.
From January to August this year, Deepal's monthly sales were 24,575, 18,738, 24,371, 20,138, 25,521, 29,893, 27,169, and 28,235 units respectively. Although it has entered the second echelon of new - force car companies, it still falls short of the 30,000 - unit target.
Based on the cumulative sales in the first eight months, the company has only achieved 55.17% of the target. With less than four months left, Deepal urgently needs to see changes in marketing.
This may be the toughest assessment that Jiang Hairong will face after joining Deepal.
01 Filling the Marketing Gap
This round of executive adjustments at Deepal took place against the backdrop of the executive team reshuffle at Changan Automobile after it became a new state - owned automotive enterprise. Most of Changan's new - round executive changes are internal adjustments, and Jiang Hairong is the only externally recruited executive so far.
Those familiar with the smartphone industry are no strangers to Jiang Hairong. He joined Huawei's mobile phone business in 2005, several years earlier than Yu Chengdong.
He started as a R & D engineer and later switched to the marketing field. He held several key positions within the Honor brand system, including the head of Honor's product marketing department and the head of Honor's overseas marketing department. In 2021, when Honor was spun off from Huawei and became independent, Jiang Hairong began to serve as the CMO of Honor in China, fully responsible for Honor's marketing in the domestic market until he left in January this year.
During his tenure at Honor, Jiang Hairong oversaw the comprehensive brand renewal of Honor in the Chinese market and proposed a marketing strategy driven by both "technology" and "emotion". During this period, Honor had many successful marketing cases.
On July 5, 2023, at the launch of the Honor X50, Jiang Hairong dropped ten new phones on the spot, and all of them remained intact, making the "toughness" of the Honor X50 a well - known selling point.
During Jiang Hairong's tenure, Honor once topped the list of smartphone market share in China. Moreover, he promoted Honor's global market layout, successfully expanding it to 74 overseas markets. In more than a dozen countries such as Russia, France, Italy, and Saudi Arabia, Honor ranked among the top brands.
This ability to build both domestic and global brands is exactly what Deepal currently lacks.
Image source: Jiang Hairong's Weibo
Before Jiang Hairong joined Deepal, Deng Chenghao was in charge of both R & D and marketing. Deng Chenghao is a typical technology - oriented person. Before taking the helm of Deepal, he served as the general technical director of new - energy at Changan Automobile and the deputy general manager of the power development department. He led the development of three major vehicle platforms, EPA0, EPA1, and EPA2, laying the foundation for Changan's new - energy business.
There is no doubt about Deng Chenghao's technical skills. At the launch and delivery event of the Deepal S09 in May this year, he gave a more than one - and - a - half - hour off - the - cuff speech, deeply interpreting Deepal's brand strategy and technological achievements.
However, some people question that although Deepal's senior management is proficient in technology, they lack market communication skills.
Deng Chenghao himself is aware that 85% of Deepal's team are R & D personnel, and "they have good products but can't tell good stories".
"I think we can form a very good complementary and cooperative relationship." Deng Chenghao believes that Jiang Hairong and he complement each other in four aspects: first, in their thinking about the automotive and ICT (information and communication technology) industries; second, Jiang Hairong's in - depth understanding of intelligent connected products; third, one is good at product and technology, while the other is good at market and marketing; fourth, Jiang Hairong has overseas marketing experience, and Deepal is accelerating its globalization process.
In addition to Jiang Hairong's marketing experience, his experience at Huawei can bring a systematic methodology, which is also what Deepal needs.
It is reported that Deepal is building Huawei's IPD (Integrated Product Development) and IPMS (Integrated Product Marketing and Service) systems. "But the best way to learn is to bring in someone who has done this at Huawei. Coincidentally, all of his (Jiang Hairong) product practices at Honor in Huawei were centered around IPD and IPMS. This will be a huge leap for us in terms of system and process capabilities." Deng Chenghao said.
02 Lack of a Brand Label
Deepal is the core carrier of Changan Automobile's new - energy transformation. In 2017, Changan Automobile launched its third entrepreneurial journey and successively announced the "Shangri - La Plan", the "Beidou Tianshu Plan", and the "All - embracing" globalization strategy, aiming to transform the company into a smart mobility technology company.
In 2018, Changan Automobile established Changan New - Energy Automobile Technology Company. In April 2022, Changan Automobile officially launched its pure - electric brand, "Changan Deepal". In April of the following year, Changan New - Energy Automobile Technology Company was renamed Deepal.
Deepal belongs to the technology - driven category within the Changan system. A person in charge close to Changan's R & D system revealed that the current size of Deepal's R & D team is nearly 2,000, far larger than that of another new - energy brand under Changan Automobile, Avita, which has less than 1,000 R & D personnel. Even compared with Changan Automobile's global R & D center with less than 3,000 people, Deepal's R & D team is comparable.
This personnel structure has enabled Deepal to lead many of its peers in R & D efficiency. In the more than three years since the brand was launched, Deepal has introduced six new models - the Deepal SL03, Deepal S07, Deepal L07, Deepal S05, Deepal G318, and Deepal S09, and several of these models have been updated annually.
Deepal also has strong core - technology reserves. For example, Deepal's super - extended - range technology has evolved to version 2.0. The Deepal Super Extended - Range 2.0 system is highly integrated, with the highest power density among globally mass - produced multi - in - one products, and its electric drive assembly has the highest operating efficiency in the world.
In terms of battery technology, Deepal's first - created micro - nuclear high - frequency pulse heating technology has effectively solved the problem of battery performance degradation in extremely cold environments and won the 25th China Patent Gold Award. This is not only the first time in nearly 17 years that a company in Chongqing has won this award but also the second time in the history of the Chinese automotive industry. Unfortunately, Deepal has failed to make these technological highlights well - known to the public.
Lv Liang, an automotive marketing expert, analyzed for Caixin Weekly that although Deepal can be regarded as a "new - force" brand of Changan Automobile, it is fundamentally different from real new - force car companies. "NIO, XPeng, Li Auto, and Xiaomi all have their corporate spokespersons - Li Bin, He Xiaopeng, Li Xiang, and Lei Jun. They are themselves very topical and can bring popularity to their brands, but Deepal lacks such a corporate spokesperson."
"At the same time, Deepal doesn't have a brand label." Lv Liang believes that although many people dislike being labeled, it is very dangerous for a product not to have a label.
In the Internet era, consumers often get to know products through labels. For example, when people mention "a more affordable alternative to Dyson", they immediately think of Laifen. Relying on this label, Laifen has expanded its revenue scale by 20 times in just three years. During the "6·18" shopping festival in 2024, Laifen's sales on the Tmall platform even exceeded those of Dyson.
More recently, Leapmotor has been called "a more affordable Li Auto". If a person is called "a lower - end version of XX", they may get angry. However, Leapmotor's executives have repeatedly stated in public that they don't mind this label. The reason is simple: this label helps Leapmotor sell cars.
So, what is Deepal's label? It has tried to create one. For example, its original slogan was "Go Deepal when you're young", but combined with the marketing copy, it sounds more like a motivational quote.
Later, after Deepal cooperated with Huawei, its slogan became "With Deepal's super - extended - range technology on the left and Huawei's Qiankun intelligent driving on the right". "Huawei" can indeed be considered a label, but in fact, Deepal's cooperation with Huawei is not very in - depth.
Zhang Yuan, a Deepal salesperson, told Caixin Weekly that Deepal's in - vehicle systems are self - developed, and only the Deepal S09, L07, and S07 are equipped with Huawei's intelligent driving technology. There are many car brands in the market that are deeply bound to Huawei. Therefore, it is not very appropriate for Deepal to rely solely on the "Huawei" label.
03 In Need of a Blockbuster Model
After joining Deepal, Jiang Hairong's first task is to make more consumers talk about and remember Deepal. In other words, Deepal currently lacks a blockbuster model.
Currently, the best - selling model in the Deepal brand is the Deepal S05, with an average monthly sales volume of about 6,541 units from January to August this year. The second - best - selling model, the S07, has an average monthly sales volume of about 5,874 units. The monthly sales of the remaining L07, S09, and SL03 exceed 2,000 units, while the monthly sales of the Deepal G318 are around 1,000 units.
Originally, Deepal hoped to make the new S09 model launched this year a blockbuster. Before the long - range and ultra - fast charging version of the Deepal S09 was criticized by old owners, the car also encountered a small problem after its launch in May this year.
Some Deepal owners reported that the vehicle's central control screen would forcibly pop up a 5 - second startup advertisement, which read, "Thank you for your trust, dear 480,000 Deepal owners. Now, we are offering a 10,000 - yuan exclusive purchase coupon for the S09 to the first - generation owners." This seriously affected driving safety. It can be seen that whether the Deepal S09 can become a hit is very important for Deepal.
On the evening of May 27th, Deepal's official account and Deng Chenghao responded and publicly apologized. Deng Chenghao explained that during his offline visits, he found that many old owners were unaware of the exclusive purchase benefits, so he asked the team to promote them. He also promised that they would no longer push benefit reminders to users through the in - vehicle system in the future.
Unusual things about the Deepal S09 kept happening.
On the night of the S09's first launch, Deepal released a report stating that "as of 24:00 on May 22nd, the cumulative number of large - order bookings had exceeded 21,168".
However, what happened next was unexpected. From June to August, the monthly sales of the Deepal S09 were only in the range of 2,000 to 3,000 units. With more than 20,000 pre - orders, this sales performance is not